Abstract
The general thesis from which this paper derived is that objective conditions are related to perceptions and evaluations of those conditions, but that such relationships are mediated by personal characteristics such as expectation and aspiration levels, and other motivational factors. The specific relationship examined is that between work status and overall life satisfaction among women. Although there is little difference in average levels of life satisfaction expressed by housewives and by women working outside the home, substantial differences emerge when women are distinguished by their motivation with respect to paid work: among women who want jobs, working women are more satisfied with their lives than are housewives; while among those who would prefer not to work, housewives are more satisfied. Evidence is also found in support of a hypothesis that work tends to be less central to the overall quality of women's lives than is true for men.
Similar content being viewed by others
Bibliography
Bradburn, Norman M., The Structure of Psychological Well-being, Chicago, Aldine, 1969.
Campbell, Angus, Philip E. Converse and Willard L. Rodgers, The Quality of American Life: Perceptions, Evaluations and Satisfactions, New York, Russell Sage, 1976.
Cantril, Hadley, The Pattern of Human Concerns, New Brunswick, N. J., Rutgers University Press, 1965.
Duncan, Beverly and Mark Evers, ‘Measuring Change in Attitudes toward Women's Work’, pp. 129–155 in K. C. Land and S. Spilerman (eds.), Social Indicator Models, New York, Russell Sage, 1975.
Flax, Michael J., A Study in Comparative Urban Indicators: Conditions in 18 Large Metropolitan Areas, Washington, D.C., The Urban Institute, 1972.
French, John R. P.Jr., Willard L. Rodgers and Sidney Cobb, ‘Adjustment as personenvironment fit’, pp. 316–333 in G. V. Coelho, D. Hamburg and J. Adams (eds.), Coping and Adaption, New York, Basic Books, 1974.
Gurin, Gerald, Joseph, Veroff and Sheila, Feld, Americans View Their Mental Health, New York, Basic Books, 1960.
Lebergott, Stanley, ‘Labor force and employment trends’, pp. 97–143 in Eleanor B. Sheldon and Wilbert E. Moore (eds.), Indicators of Social Change, New York, Russell Sage, 1968.
Levitin, Teresa, Robert P. Quinn and Graham L. Staines, ‘Sex discrimination against the American working woman’, American Behavioral Scientist 15 (1971), 237–254.
Marans, Robert W. and Willard L. Rodgers, ‘Toward an understanding of community satisfaction’, pp. 299–352 in Amos H. Hawley and Vincent P. Rock (eds.), Metropolitan America in Contemporaty Perspective, New York, Halsted Press, 1975.
Office of Management and Budget, Social Indicators, 1973, Washington, D.C., U.S. Government Printing Office, 1973.
Robinson, John P. and Philip E. Converse, ‘Social change reflected in the use of time’, pp. 17–86 in Angus Campbell and Philip E. Converse (eds.), The Human Meaning of Social Change, New York, Russell Sage, 1972.
Rodgers, Willard L. and Philip E. Converse, ‘Measures of the perceived overall quality of life’, Social Indicators Research 2 (1975), 127–152.
Waldman, Elizabeth and Kathryn R. Gover, ‘Marital and family characteristics of the labor force’, Monthly Labor Review 95 (1972), 4–8.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
This paper is based on data from a study, ‘Monitoring the Quality of American Life’, that was funded primarily by the Russell Sage Foundation. A fuller report of the findings from this study is provided in Campbell, Converse, and Rodgers (1976).
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Rodgers, W.L. Work status and the quality of life. Social Indicators Research 4, 267–287 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00353134
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00353134