Effects of Leader Support in the Work Unit on the Relationship between Work Spillover and Family Adaptation

This study examines the direct versus the buffering effect of leader support in the work unit on the relationship between work spillover and family adaptation. The analyses use data from a probability sample of 3,190 married soldiers in the U.S. Army who participated in the 1989 Army and Family Survey, and the data are analyzed by the gender of the respondent. Two types of work spillover are examined in the analysis (energy and time interference), and both internal and external types of family adaptation are hypothesized and supported by the empirical analysis. Only modest support is found for the buffering effect hypothesis. In support of the direct effect hypothesis, the findings indicate that leader support in the work unit decreases perceptions of work spillover, which is a preventive effect, and enhances perceptions of external adaptation, which is a therapeutic effect.