The family life cycle: a forgotten variable in the study of women's employment and well-being.
One hundred and sixteen working-class housewives, part-time and full-time employees were compared on a range of well-being measures in three different lifestages. A group of factory employees was contrasted with a 'mixed occupation' group for a comparison of type of employment. The general contention that the association between employment and well-being would vary with position in the life cycle was confirmed for distress, physical illness and some of the satisfaction measures. Only one measure (personal competence) suggested that employment had a positive influence on well-being irrespective of lifestage. Young employees working for longer hours and older housewives were both defined as 'cases' by the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12). However, their profiles on the other well-being variables were very different.
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D001294:Attitude to Health; D005190:Family / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D005783:Gender Identity; D006801:Humans; D007588:Job Satisfaction; D008016:Life Change Events; D008875:Middle Aged; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D010549:Personal Satisfaction; D012649:Self Concept; D012923:Social Class; D014931:Women, Working / Q000523:psychology*