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.
Meet the researchers
Recent scientific publications from NorLife researchers
- 'Nilsen,W., Nordberg, T., Drange, I., Junker, N.M., Aksnes, S. Y., Cooklin, A., Cho, E., Habib, L., Hokke, S., Olson-Buchanan, J., & Bernstrøm, V. (2024). Boundary-crossing ICT use – A scoping review of the current literature and a road map for future research, Computers in Human Behavior Reports, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2451958824000770?via%3Dihub
- Nordberg, T., Drange, I., Bernstrøm, V. H., & Nilsen, W. (2024). Interdisciplinarity and communication across research employing different methods under the loupe: A bibliometric examination of the literature on boundary-crossing ICT use. The Information Society, 40(4), 277–293. https://doi.org/10.1080/01972243.2024.2355945
- 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.
- 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.
- Vangen, H. 2021. The Impact of Informal Caregiving on Labour Supply Before and After a Parent’s Death. Population Ageing 14, 201–228.
Vangen, H., Hellevik, T. & Herlofson, K. 2021. Associations between paid and unpaid work among Norwegian seniors: competition, complementarity or continuity?. Eur J Ageing 18, 479–489.
