{
  "id": 28305,
  "title": "Work-family conflict and mental health: A systematic review and meta-analysis",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/07/17/work-family-conflict-and-mental-health-a-systematic-review-and-meta",
  "topic": "health",
  "section": "Health & Medicine",
  "published": "2026-07-17T14:00:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "PLOS Medicine",
    "slug": "plos-medicine",
    "url": "https://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1005162"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Work-family conflict, the discord between demands of work and family life, has emerged as a significant global public health issue. Cross-sectional studies have consistently shown links between this conflict and poor mental health, but the long-term effects remain uncertain. To address this gap, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of longitudinal studies examining the relationship between work-family conflict and mental health outcomes. Our analysis included 112,714 participants from 52 studies, registered prospectively in PROSPERO. After a thorough search across multiple databases and backward citation searches, we confirmed the comprehensive inclusion of eligible studies. We assessed risk of bias using the Newcastle–Ottawa Scale and performed random-effects meta-analyses for outcomes with three or more comparable studies, converting effect sizes to standardized regression coefficients (β). Significant associations were found between both work-to-family and family-to-work conflict and various mental health outcomes, including depressive symptoms, burnout, and general mental distress. These associations remained significant even after adjusting for baseline mental health and other confounding factors. No significant differences were observed based on gender, follow-up duration, or geographical location. While publication bias was identified, sensitivity analyses confirmed the robustness of our findings. However, we must note that all studies were observational, so causal relationships cannot be definitively established. These results highlight the need for region-specific policies to promote work-family balance and mental well-being.",
  "summary": "by Dongyu Liu, Yanyan Ni, Tiffany S. W. Ma, Xiaoyan Fan, Yongle Zhan, Ivan H. L. Lam, Matthew C. L. Lui, Tarani Chandola, Ichiro Kawachi, Pim Cuijpers, Michael Y. Ni Background Work-family conflict, defined as a type of inter-role conflict where demands from work and family roles are incompatible, is a global public health concern. Cross-sectional studies consistently demonstrate associations…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}