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In this study we examine whether and why daily work stressors are associated with sleep quality and sleep quantity. We draw on the effort-recovery model to test daily relationships between challenge and hindrance work stressors and sleep quality and quantity through physical and psychological fatigue, and vigor. We analyze daily diary data from 98 working sole mothers collected over seven days. The within-person daily hypotheses linking challenge and hindrance stressors to sleep via energetic mediators in our model were not supported. Exploratory analysis revealed several of our hypotheses were supported at the between-person level. Challenge and hindrance stressors were differentially related to psychological fatigue and physical fatigue such that hindrance stressors were positively associated, and challenge stressors were negatively associated. Challenge and hindrance stressors were differentially related to vigor such that hindrance stressors were negatively associated, and challenge stressors were positively associated. Across individuals, challenge and hindrance stressors were indirectly related to sleep quantity through these energetic mediators. This study answers calls for more investigations into mechanisms linking work stressors and sleep, and emphasizes the importance of examining phenomena at multiple levels of analysis. Theoretical and practical implications for the challenge-hindrance framework and effort-recovery model, including the appropriate timeframe for study, are discussed. 

Work recovery reflects the replenishment of personal resources depleted by working, which has implications for employee health and wellness. However, work scheduling factors have received very limited attention in the recovery literature, despite that recovery is a dynamic process widely recognized to be influenced by contextual factors that define and influence the work role. After first conducting a narrative review of whether and how work scheduling factors are accounted for in existing theories of work recovery, we conduct a systematic review of existing work recovery research to identify any past empirical consideration of work scheduling factors in the recovery research base. We then harness the results of this systematic review to develop a taxonomy of work scheduling and related contextual factors that may be relevant to the process of recovery from work. We discuss the theoretical, practical, and methodological implications that emerged from our narrative and systematic reviews, providing guidance for how this newly developed taxonomy can be applied to understanding the implications of scheduling dynamics for work recovery across a range of different work contexts. 

Working sole mothers (i.e., non-partnered women who work) may experience elevated family demands that impose barriers to pursuing health behaviors during their daily leisure time. We aimed to map the process through which evening family demands influence leisure-time health behaviors in this priority population of employees, in an effort to identify targets for intervention development and health disparity reduction. Conducting a seven-day daily survey study in a sample of 102 working sole mothers, we supported perceptions of control over leisure time as a key mechanism linking evening family demands to leisure-time exercise. Furthermore, we identified the individual difference of present-focus (i.e., a tendency to focus on current experiences) as a key factor that alters how evening family demands affect control over leisure time, which ultimately mitigates the detrimental influence of these demands on evening exercise engagement. In contrast, we did not find evidence to support relationships of evening family demands with the health behaviors of leisure time consumption of alcohol or high sugar, high fat foods via control over leisure time. We discuss how our findings advance theory regarding how family demands influence health and inform practical efforts to reduce health disparities that working sole mothers face. 

Abstract While many employees read and respond to work‐related e‐mails in the evenings after work, the mechanisms through which after‐hours e‐mailing influences well‐being remain poorly understood. In particular, there has been limited consideration of whether different characteristics of after‐hours e‐mails (frequency, duration, perceived tone) may trigger work‐related rumination that influences employee well‐being at bedtime (i.e., the end of the post‐work period). To address this gap in the literature, data were collected from 59 employees during a 5‐day daily survey period. We expected after‐hours e‐mail frequency, duration, and perceived tone to indirectly relate to employee vigour and fatigue at bedtime (two common well‐being criteria) via affective rumination and problem‐solving pondering (two major forms of work‐related rumination). Our results indicated that a more negatively perceived after‐hours e‐mail tone influenced both vigour and fatigue via affective rumination. Further, our findings suggested diverging implications of after‐hours e‐mailing frequency and duration for problem‐solving pondering, with longer duration and more frequent after‐hours e‐mailing co‐varying with higher and lower levels of this form of rumination, respectively. These findings demonstrate the importance of considering various characteristics of after‐hours e‐mailing and corresponding implications of work‐related rumination when studying employee well‐being.