ABSTRACT
Changes in work and family life during the past century have made balancing work and family roles more stressful for families, and more changes are expected. In 2000, the Lisbon European Council clarified the goals of the European Union for raising the employment of women and openly encouraged the replacement of the male-breadwinner model with some variation of dual earning. As dual earning becomes more prevalent, a growing proportion of families in the European Union are experiencing difficulty in finding a satisfactory balance between the demands of paid work and family life, and consequently are experiencing rising levels of work–life conflict.
