title: Job satisfaction among health care workers: the role of gender and age.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  to analyze the influence of gender and age on the quality of the professional lives of health care professionals at a university hospital.
  
  
  METHODS
  a total of 546 professionals completed a general questionnaire that measured sociodemographic variables and evaluated job satisfaction using a scale adopted from the NTP 394 Job Satisfaction scale and translated into Spanish.
  
  
  RESULTS
  overall, 77.2% of the professionals surveyed were satisfied with the work they perform. With regards to gender, we found overwhelming evidence of the feminization of practically all health care professions included in the study, with higher levels of job satisfaction among women than men. Regarding age, 20-30-year-olds and professionals over 61 years old showed higher satisfaction levels than did middle-aged professionals. Higher levels of dissatisfaction were reported by professionals between 41 and 50 years old.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  we were able to detect the influence of gender and age on the level of job satisfaction, finding significant associations between job satisfaction and both of these variables. Generally, women expressed more satisfaction than men, and elderly professionals showed higher satisfaction compared to younger professionals. Management policies should focus on taking action to correct the conditions that produce dissatisfaction among certain groups of employees.
authors.affiliation: Facultad de Enfermería, Universidad de Murcia, Murcia, Spain.
authors.forename: César
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Carrillo-García
authors.affiliation: Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad de Alicante, Alicante, Spain.
authors.forename: María del Carmen
authors.initials: Mdel C
authors.lastname: Solano-Ruíz
authors.affiliation: Facultad de Enfermería, Universidad de Murcia, Murcia, Spain.
authors.forename: María Emilia
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Martínez-Roche
authors.affiliation: Facultad de Enfermería, Universidad de Murcia, Murcia, Spain.
authors.forename: Carmen Isabel
authors.initials: CI
authors.lastname: Gómez-García
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007588:Job Satisfaction; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010564:Personnel, Hospital / Q000523:psychology*; D012737:Sex Factors; D055815:Young Adult