Women's Jobs and Family Adjustment

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
THIS study investigated the relationship between multiple characteristics of women's jobs and their family adjustment in a sample of 99 women in dual-earner families. Six work-related variables were considered simultaneously as predictors of family adjustment: intrinsic job gratification, satisfaction with job security, job-related mood, time spent at work, occupational prestige, and salary. The results were consistent with the hypothesis that women's paid work lives influence their family adjustment. Women's experiences of their work were significantly related to two of three measures of family adjustment. Salary was negatively associated with satisfaction with family relations for women in low-status occupations only. Time spent at work and occupational prestige showed no significant associations with reported adjustment. Of the three indicators of family adjustment, marital satisfaction appeared to be relatively immune from work influences. We hypothesized that the marital relationship may be less sensitive to women's paid work than are other aspects of their family relations.