H mental health outcomes (Garies, Barnett, Ertel, Berkman, 2009; Grzywacz Bass, 2003). In other words, experiences of work amily purchase 4F-Benzoyl-TN14003 enrichment may activate safety regions of the brain while the individual is experiencing work amily conflict, thereby potentially lessening its impact on mental health through down-regulation of the SNS or the HPA axis. Although the absence of social neuroscience research focused on work amily experiences renders speculative both of the explanations above, they are nonetheless instructive for identifying the neural mechanisms and corresponding shifts in physiology involved in linking a social experience like work amily interference or enrichment with a health outcome. High-priority areas for research–The extension of findings from neuroscience research to inquiries into the intersections of paid work and parenting point to several fruitful areas for collaborative research between family scientists and neuroscientists. A linchpin area for collaborative research is the development of alternative protocols for applying neuroscience tools to the study of work, family, and health. One alternative is the creation of a Stroop paradigm that captures distinct work amily experiences. This would require the collection and testing of alternative images that capture the essence of work?family conflict (e.g., a frenzied mother with a briefcase in one hand and a crying child in the other; a calendar page on which are written a flight and a child’s performance at the same time), and developing alternative conditions (e.g., your child recently commented about how much you travel vs. threats of layoffs that are circulating at your employer) and tasks (e.g., identify which role pressure you would attend to) to enable inquiry. Once a work amily conflict paradigm has been created it can be applied to answer a wide variety of research questions. When connected with fMRI or another form of brain imaging, the task could be used to determine the brain regions activated by discrete types of work?family conflict and under which conditions. In the specific context of parenting, it would be useful to know if a time-based form of conflict (e.g., having to be out of town the same day as a child’s state soccer tournament) is appraised differently based on child characteristics (e.g., age, gender), Pemafibrate site structural features of the family (e.g., the working parent experiencing the conflict is the noncustodial parent), or qualities of the parent hild relationship (e.g., whether the child openly discloses disappointment). Other imaging studies could delineateFam Relat. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2017 February 01.Author Manuscript Author Manuscript Author Manuscript Author ManuscriptGrzywacz and SmithPagewhether work interference with family results in similar neural activation as family interference with work, and other research could explore variability in the regions of the brain used when family is protected from the conflict, as opposed to when work is protected from the conflict. The ambiguous potential of selection biases could begin to be evaluated by comparing individuals with and without paid employment, or in different types of paid employment, and empirically quantifying variation in neural activation associated with work amily conflict. Researchers could design studies to test results from imaging studies in real-life situations. For example, a researcher who knows that activation of brain regions believed to process threats.H mental health outcomes (Garies, Barnett, Ertel, Berkman, 2009; Grzywacz Bass, 2003). In other words, experiences of work amily enrichment may activate safety regions of the brain while the individual is experiencing work amily conflict, thereby potentially lessening its impact on mental health through down-regulation of the SNS or the HPA axis. Although the absence of social neuroscience research focused on work amily experiences renders speculative both of the explanations above, they are nonetheless instructive for identifying the neural mechanisms and corresponding shifts in physiology involved in linking a social experience like work amily interference or enrichment with a health outcome. High-priority areas for research–The extension of findings from neuroscience research to inquiries into the intersections of paid work and parenting point to several fruitful areas for collaborative research between family scientists and neuroscientists. A linchpin area for collaborative research is the development of alternative protocols for applying neuroscience tools to the study of work, family, and health. One alternative is the creation of a Stroop paradigm that captures distinct work amily experiences. This would require the collection and testing of alternative images that capture the essence of work?family conflict (e.g., a frenzied mother with a briefcase in one hand and a crying child in the other; a calendar page on which are written a flight and a child’s performance at the same time), and developing alternative conditions (e.g., your child recently commented about how much you travel vs. threats of layoffs that are circulating at your employer) and tasks (e.g., identify which role pressure you would attend to) to enable inquiry. Once a work amily conflict paradigm has been created it can be applied to answer a wide variety of research questions. When connected with fMRI or another form of brain imaging, the task could be used to determine the brain regions activated by discrete types of work?family conflict and under which conditions. In the specific context of parenting, it would be useful to know if a time-based form of conflict (e.g., having to be out of town the same day as a child’s state soccer tournament) is appraised differently based on child characteristics (e.g., age, gender), structural features of the family (e.g., the working parent experiencing the conflict is the noncustodial parent), or qualities of the parent hild relationship (e.g., whether the child openly discloses disappointment). Other imaging studies could delineateFam Relat. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2017 February 01.Author Manuscript Author Manuscript Author Manuscript Author ManuscriptGrzywacz and SmithPagewhether work interference with family results in similar neural activation as family interference with work, and other research could explore variability in the regions of the brain used when family is protected from the conflict, as opposed to when work is protected from the conflict. The ambiguous potential of selection biases could begin to be evaluated by comparing individuals with and without paid employment, or in different types of paid employment, and empirically quantifying variation in neural activation associated with work amily conflict. Researchers could design studies to test results from imaging studies in real-life situations. For example, a researcher who knows that activation of brain regions believed to process threats.
