Child-care satisfaction: linkages to work attitudes, interrole conflict, and maternal separation anxiety.
Analysis of a 20-item measure of child-care satisfaction (CCS) revealed 3 interpretable factors: Caregiver Communication, Dependability, and Attentiveness. These CCS factors were used, along with employer sensitivity to child-care needs and spousal support, in hierarchical multiple regressions to predict various measures of work attitudes and role strain. Replicated across 2 samples of employed women, the CCS factors demonstrated differential patterns of relationships in which Caregiver Attentiveness was associated with lower professional-self role conflict and higher levels of affective organizational commitment and job satisfaction, whereas Caregiver Communication was associated with lower levels of both professional-parent conflict and maternal separation anxiety. These findings support the position that CCS is central to the functioning of employed mothers in both work and family domains.
Buffardi
L C
LC
Psychology Department, George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia 22030, USA. buffardi@gmu.edu
Erdwins
C J
CJ
D000328:Adult; D001010:Anxiety, Separation / Q000523:psychology*; D002654:Child Care / Q000523:psychology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003220:Conflict, Psychological; D005260:Female; D005783:Gender Identity; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007389:Internal-External Control; D007588:Job Satisfaction; D010555:Personality Inventory; D012944:Social Support; D014931:Women, Working / Q000523:psychology*