“I Am Never off Duty”: Mothers’ Perspectives and Memorable Messages About Managing Work-Family Tension

Memorable messages contain important understandings of familial relationships and role expectations that can provide insight into how individuals experience work-family tension. This study examines how mothers recall particularly memorable messages they have shared with others about this tension and investigates the strategies mothers use to manage this tension. We coded work-family tension expressions based on efficacy in tension management and locus (individual or shared), categorizing messages into four frames: efficacious or inefficacious management of individual or shared tension. Results showed that mothers most frequently produced messages that were efficacious and individual, with messages that were efficacious and shared occurring least frequently. However, mothers showed some variation in framing depending upon the relationship type. Actions mothers took in response to the tension fell within several identified themes (including boundary management, self-development, and emotion management), and were explored for the ways they align with and disrupt societal-level messaging about work-family tension. Based on the message framing and strategies identified regarding work family tension, we suggest possibilities for disruption to unproductive messages and opportunities for the invocation of productive messages to aid in work-family tension management.