Grateful Yet Overloaded: Gratitude and Work-Family-School Conflict Among Indonesian Female Students

Abstract

Female university students who simultaneously manage academic, occupational, and family responsibilities are vulnerable to work-family and school conflict (WFSC), yet the role of gratitude in this three-domain conflict remains insufficiently examined. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between gratitude and WFSC among female students at University X who were employed and fulfilled family roles as wives, mothers, or single mothers. A quantitative cross-sectional correlational design was used. Data were collected through structured self-report questionnaires from 96 participants selected using purposive sampling and were analyzed using descriptive statistics, reliability testing, assumption testing, and Pearson’s product–moment correlation. The findings showed that most participants reported moderate levels of gratitude and WFSC. Gratitude was negatively but very weakly associated with WFSC, and the relationship was not statistically significant (r=−.119, p=.124, one-tailed). These results indicate that gratitude was not significantly related to lower three-domain role conflict in the present sample, although it may remain relevant as a psychological and spiritual coping resource that supports emotional regulation, positive appraisal, and meaning-making. Practically, interventions for female students with multiple roles should combine gratitude-based psychological and spiritual support with academic flexibility, family cooperation, workplace support, and stress-management strategies. The originality of this study lies in examining gratitude in relation to WFSC among Indonesian female students who simultaneously occupy work, family, and academic roles, thereby distinguishing the adaptive function of gratitude from the structural conditions that generate role conflict.