A Systematic Review of Research on Working Parents: From Representation to Resilience

Being a parent significantly impacts workplace experiences, with diverse and intersecting identities, including gender, sexual orientation, marital status, and family structure, playing a crucial role in shaping these experiences. However, work-family literature has largely concentrated on mothers in heterosexual, married couples, and the growing diversity of parent identities remains understudied. To map current knowledge and highlight gaps to inform more inclusive research and workplace policy, this systematic review addresses four questions: (1) How are parents with different genders and family characteristics represented in the workplace literature? (2) What are the key foci and findings regarding intersecting social identities? (3) What challenges and biases do diverse working parents face based on their gender and career stage? (4) What strengths associated with parenthood have been explored? Our analysis of 181 journal articles from Industrial/Organizational Psychology, Organizational Behavior, and related fields reveals limited attention to diverse family structures, intersecting social identities, and later career stages of working parents, as well as a lack of strength-based approaches. We identify critical avenues for future research aimed at addressing current gaps and broadening theoretical understanding.Keywords: Parenthood, motherhood, fatherhood, intersectionality, strength