When Resilience Does Not Protect: Work–Family Conflict and Marital Satisfaction Among Indonesian Fathers
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.29244/jfs.v11i1.72429Keywords:
Indonesian fathers, marital satisfaction, Protective factors, psychological resilience, work–family conflictAbstract
Rapid economic shifts in Indonesia force working fathers to navigate competing demands between traditional provider expectations and family involvement, yet their coping mechanisms remain under-researched. This study investigates how psychological resilience moderates the effects of work–family conflict (WFC) and perceived social support on marital satisfaction among Indonesian fathers. Data from married, employed fathers were collected through a quantitative cross-sectional design and analyzed using multiple regression. Surprisingly, WFC did not significantly predict marital satisfaction, nor did resilience buffer this relationship, indicating that resilience alone fails to shield fathers from work-family strain. Instead, marital satisfaction was heavily driven by perceived social support. More importantly, a significant interaction emerged between social support and resilience, revealing that the positive impact of social resources is strongly amplified for fathers with higher resilience. These findings suggest that while resilience does not directly protect fathers from role strain, it enables them to better capitalize on available social support to sustain marital well-being. Interventions should therefore focus on expanding accessible social support systems rather than generic resilience-building.
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