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Individual Differences in How Work and Nonwork Life Domains Contribute to Life Satisfaction: Using Factor Mixture Modeling for Classification

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Abstract

This study used factor mixture modeling to investigate individual differences in how life satisfaction is construed. Referring to the cognitive regulation of well-being we aimed to identify individuals for whom work and nonwork life domains contribute differently to overall life satisfaction. In a sample of 1,704 working adults two subgroups with different response patterns were identified. In the first subgroup work and nonwork life domains contributed equally to overall life satisfaction. In the second subgroup satisfaction with nonwork rather than work-related life domains were important sources of life satisfaction. Furthermore, participants in the second group processed negative affect from the work domain in ways that enabled them to maintain high levels of life satisfaction. We examined the external validity of class assignment and replicated our findings in a second sample. How factor mixture modeling can be used to uncover cognitive mechanisms that operate in evaluations of life satisfaction is discussed.

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Notes

  1. Note that Sample 1 consisted of a larger proportion of highly educated individuals than Sample 2. This may explain why class sizes differed between the two samples. Using logistic regression to examine subgroup membership in a multivariate framework, we found that educational attainment positively predicted membership in subgroup 1 (Sample 1 and 2). Furthermore, higher personal net income and higher occupational status (Sample 1), as well as higher job satisfaction and weaker turnover intentions (Sample 2), positively predicted membership in subgroup 1. This may explain why subgroup 1 was of larger size in the more highly educated sample.

  2. The relationship of age and sex to subgroup membership was not consistent across the two samples. Conducting a logistic regression to predict subgroup membership we found sex to be unrelated to membership in Sample 1, whereas women were more likely to belong to subgroup 2, in Sample 2. Age was unrelated to group membership in Sample 2, whereas older participants were more likely to belong to subgroup 2, in Sample 1. To explain these inconsistent findings we want to point out that age and sex are cover variables that are correlated with third variables such as occupational status and job type. This is all the more relevant as we studied convenience samples that were recruited from different contexts. Our focus was on replicating the finding that meaningful patterns exist in how life satisfaction is construed.

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Acknowledgments

Study 1 was supported by DFG grant GO 1107/4-1 to Anja S. Göritz. Study 2 was supported by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research and the European Social Fund as part of the “demopass project” (grant 01FA0712).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Jacobs Center on Lifelong Learning and Institutional Development, Jacobs University Bremen, Bremen, Germany

    Heike Heidemeier

  2. Institute of Psychology, RWTH Aachen University, Jaegerstraße 17-19, 52056, Aachen, Germany

    Heike Heidemeier

  3. Work and Organizational Psychology, University of Freiburg, Engelbergerstraße 41, 79085, Freiburg, Germany

    Anja S. Göritz

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Heidemeier, H., Göritz, A.S. Individual Differences in How Work and Nonwork Life Domains Contribute to Life Satisfaction: Using Factor Mixture Modeling for Classification. J Happiness Stud 14, 1765–1788 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-012-9409-4

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