The relationship between family life satisfaction and job satisfaction for employed Hispanic and Anglo women

Work and family life traditionally have been portrayed as separate domains. With changing social, demographic, and economic trends, this perspective has been challenged. However, the nature of the relationship between work and family life remains unclear.

The purpose of the present study was to examine the relationship between family life satisfaction and job satisfaction of Hispanic and Anglo women in the paid labor force. Employees from participating companies, agencies, and organizations in one southern state completed a mailed questionnaire distributed by contact persons within each worksite. This study was confined to a subset of 291 Hispanic and 655 Anglo females. Family life satisfaction and job satisfaction were measured using 7-point Likert-type, facet-specific scales developed for the study. Principal components analysis and factor analysis with varimax rotation were used to identify underlying patterns of responses to 27 items measuring family life satisfaction. The five factors identified were family cohesiveness, family/personal time, life status, parent-child concerns, and external support. Twenty-one items measuring job satisfaction were reduced to three factors: intrinsic factors, extrinsic factors, and independence/autonomy.

The nature of the relationship between family life satisfaction and job satisfaction was investigated using Linear Structural Relations (LISREL) with unweighted least squares. One of LISREL's merits is that it may be used to examine the plausibility of theoretical models using non-experimental data. Analysis of covariance was used to analyze differences between Hispanic and Anglo females on measures of family life satisfaction and job satisfaction.

LISREL findings supported the major hypothesis that family life satisfaction and job satisfaction are positively related to each other. Thus, a revised spillover model of a family life-job satisfaction relationship was identified. This reciprocal hypothesis was also supported by sub-groups of Hispanic and Anglo females. In addition, results indicated that family life satisfaction was a stronger predictor of job satisfaction than the reverse.

Analysis of covariance revealed significant differences between Hispanic and Anglo females on family life satisfaction and job satisfaction. Overall, Hispanic females had higher mean scores on measures of family life satisfaction and job satisfaction than Anglo females.