We investigate the interaction between work and family throughout life, from young adults in the initial phase of working life, to senior employees on their way to retirement. NorLife aims to increase knowledge on how to maintain a sustainable, healthy, and equality promoting working life through the various life stages. We research topics such as:
- boundaries between work and family life
- digitalization in the workplace and at home
- employees with care responsibilities for children or old parents
- senior employees
- health and gender equality in the workplace.
An ageing population and lower fertility, as well as digitalization, all suggest a holistic approach to researching work and family life. By using quantitative and qualitative methods, we aim to answer research questions such as:
- How do new ways of organising work affect its boundaries with family life in a Nordic welfare context?
- Which challenges do employees experience when they have old parents in need of care?
- To what extent do pregnant women and parents face discrimination at their workplace?
- What is work-related mobile use outside office hours doing to us and our families?
- What type of shift arrangements suit healthcare personnel best when they have family care obligations ?
To answer these and other relevant questions about the relationship between work and family life, we have gathered a strong multidisciplinary team. It includes researchers of various disciplines, including sociology, psychology, health sciences, political science, criminology, jurisprudence, social anthropology, history, human geography, and philosophy.
Members of NorLife
Recent publications from NorLife researchers
Clayborne, Z.M., Colman, I., Kingsbury, M., Torvik, F.A., Gustavson, K., & Nilsen, W. (2021). Prenatal work stress is associated with prenatal and postnatal depression and anxiety: Findings from the Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Cohort Study (MoBa). Journal of Affective Disorders, 298, A, 548-554.
Gautun, H., Bratt, C. Caring too much? Lack of public services to older people reduces attendance at work among their children. Eur J Ageing 14, 155–166 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10433-016-0403-2
Gottschalk, JB, Heglum, MA, Nilsen, W, & Bernstrøm, VB. (2022) Can adolescent work experience protect vulnerable youth? A population wide longitudinal study of young adults not in education, employment or training (NEET), Journal of Education and Work, 35:5, 502 520, DOI: 10.1080/13639080.2022.2099534
Hugues Sampasa-Kanyinga, Nilsen, W., & Colman, I. (2018). Child abuse and work stress in adulthood: evidence from a population-based study. Preventive Medicine, 108, 60-66, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2017.12.029.
Nilsen, W., Skipstein, A., Østby, K., & Mykletun, A. (2017). Examination of the double burden hypothesis – A systematic review of work-family conflict and sickness absence, European Journal of Public Health, 27(3):465-471, https://doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/ckx054
Rodwell, L., Romaniuk, H., Nilsen, W., Carlin, J.B., Lee, K.J., & Patton, G.C. (2018). Adolescent mental health and behavioural predictors of being NEET: a prospective study of young adults not in employment, education, or training, 48(5), 861-871, Psychological Medicine,
Vangen, H. The Impact of Informal Caregiving on Labour Supply Before and After a Parent’s Death. Population Ageing 14, 201–228 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12062-020-09279-2
Vangen, H., Hellevik, T. & Herlofson, K. Associations between paid and unpaid work among Norwegian seniors: competition, complementarity or continuity?. Eur J Ageing 18, 479–489 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10433-021-00615-9
Østby, K. A., Mykletun, A., & Nilsen, W.* (2018). Explaining the gender gap in sickness absence. Occupational Medicine. Online first. https://doi.org/10.1093/occmed/kqy062
