Preferences to reconcile family and professional life versus reality: an international comparison

Majda Cernic Istenic, Institute of Medical Sciences, SRC SASA
Andrej Kveder, Institute of Medical Sciences, SRC SASA

As dual-earner family becomes increasingly normative, many individuals are managing a complex configuration of roles as workers and parents. An increasing amount of research suggests that a substantial proportion of men and especially women experience conflict between work and family roles. The relationship between the actual combination of these roles and the expressed priorities of their reconciliation in order to improve the quality of both the family and working life have not been fully explored, especially not within an international framework. Our contribution will be focused on the respondents’ actual and desired combination of working time (full- or part-time) and the number of children in European countries participating in the Population-Policy-Acceptance-Study 2000-2003. Combined indicator will be compared against the respondents’ classification according to their values on children and family life. The comparative study intends to explain the respondents’ value orientation relating to their actual and desired family-working life combination.