The effects of coping strategies on work-family conflict among working mothers: the case of Zonguldak

Developments like the increase in numbers of duel-earner coules, woman entrepreneurs and working mothers since 1980's appear as the factors boosting the ratio of working women in labor force. Notwithstanding these developments, the extant statistical data reveal the downtrend in the number of working women in terms of our country. This study examines how effectively work-family and family-work conflicts are managed by working mothers through the coping strategies and aims at offering suggestions for more effective management methods of work-family and family- work conflicts. Coping strategies are classified into problem-focused, emotion-focused and non-functional categories. Regression analysis has been preferred to search the relations between work-family conflict, family-work conflict and aforementioned coping strategies. The analyses have been conducted through a sample of 326 working mothers whose children receiving education from a pre-school institution, primary school, secondary school or high school. The results of these analyses indicate that working mothers need more support on organizational and social basis. Keywords: Work-Family Conflict, Family-Work Conflict, Coping Strategies, Working Mothers, Zonguldak.