Abstract: Although the notion that work engagement, a positive, fulfilling, work-related state of mind that is characterized by vigor, dedication, and absorption, can cross over from one individual to his or her spouse has been around for decades, there has been little, if any, empirical research on the relationship between dual-earner couples’ work engagement and their children’s academic engagement. The Conservation of Recourse (COR) theory posits that individuals are intrinsically motivated to obtain, retain, foster, and protect resources they value, and they will invest resources in significant others to produce an anticipated return. Based on this theory, we argue that dual-earner couples’ work engagement is positively related to their children’s social support and academic self efficacy, which can be considered as a resource investment process; Children’s social support and academic self efficacy, in turn, are positively related to their academic engagement, which can be considered as a resource gain process. Thus, we establish a mediation model linking dual earners’ work engagement and their children’s academic engagement with children’s social support and academic self efficacy as the mediators. In order to verify this model, a total of 326 dual earner families were recruited in Hunan Province on a voluntary basis. The couples were requested to fill in the questionnaires measuring work engagement and social economic status, and their children were requested to fill in the questionnaires measuring academic engagement, social support from their parents, and academic self efficacy. The correlation analysis shows that most correlations between variables of interest in this study are significant (p < .05) and in the expected direction, and the confirmatory factor analysis shows that the hypothesized model fits the data very well ( = 234.45, df = 162, RMSEA = 0.04, CFI = 0.94, TLI= 0.93). After controlling for some important individual-level variables (e.g., sex, age, and social economic status), dual earner couples’ work engagement are positively related to their children’s social support (γ=0.41, SE = 0.08, p < 0.05; γ=0.46, SE = 0.09, p < 0.05) and academic self efficacy (γ=0.19, SE = 0.07, p < 0.05; γ=0.19, SE = 0.07, p < 0.05) , which in turn are positively related to their academic engagement (γ=0.18, SE = 0.07, p < 0.05; γ=0.19, SE = 0.09, p < 0.05; γ=0.27, SE = 0.11, p < 0.05), indicating that children’s perceived social support and academic self efficacy play a mediating role in the relationship between dual-earner couples’ work engagement and their children’s academic engagement.The bootstrap analysis further shows that there is a significant gender difference between fathers and mothers in the mediating effect for social support (BC95% CI = [-0.14, 0.10], p > 0.05) and academic self efficacy (BC95% CI = [-0.06, 0.07], p > 0.05). A better understanding of the relationship between dual-earner couples’ work engagement and their children’s academic engagement is of theoretical and practical importance. Theoretically, this study suggests that the effect of dual earner couples’ work engagement on their children’ academic engagement can be re-conceptualized as a resource investment and gain process. Also, this study can have important managerial implications for family education. It becomes clear from our study that children’s academic behavior can be affected by their parents’ work behavior, which emphasizes the importance to take into account parents’ work environment and behaviors in dealing with children’s academic behaviors.

Key words: work engagement, academic engagement, resource gain, dual-earner couples

摘要： 基于资源保存理论，采用工作投入问卷、关系网络问卷、学业自我效能感问卷、学业投入问卷对326个双职工家庭的父母及其初中生子女进行调查，探讨父母工作投入对初中生学业投入的影响。结果表明：（1）父母工作投入、父母社会支持、子女学业自我效能感、子女学业投入两两之间呈显著正相关；（2）父母社会支持和子女学业自我效能感在父母工作投入影响子女学业投入中起中介作用；（3）父母社会支持和子女学业自我效能感的中介效应不存在显著的性别角色差异。从资源保存理论来看，父母工作投入对子女学业投入的影响，在一定程度上反映了资源在家庭系统内的投资和增益过程。

关键词: 工作投入, 学业投入, 资源增益, 双职工家庭