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Marital and parental satisfaction of married physicians with children

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Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate personal and professional factors associated with marital and parental satisfaction of physicians.

STUDY DESING: Cross-sectional study.

PARTICIPANTS: A survey was sent to equal numbers of licensed male and female physicians in a Southern California county. Of 964 delivered questionnaires, 656 (68%) were returned completed. Our sample includes 415 currently married physicians with children, 64% male and 36% female.

MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Ratings of marital and parental satisfaction were measured on a 5-point Likert scale, 5 being extremely satisfied. Prevalence of work and home life factors was also evaluated. The mean score for marital satisfaction was 3.92 (range 1.75–5.0). Approximately half of the physicians reported high levels of marital satisfaction (63% of male physicians and 45% of female physicians). The gender difference disappeared after adjusting for age differences. Two factors were associated with high marital satisfaction: a supportive spouse (odds ratio [OR] 10.37; 95% confidence interval [CI] 2.66, 40.08) and role conflict (OR 0.61; 95% CI 0.42, 0.88). The mean score for parental satisfaction was 3.43 (range 1.0–5.0), and approximately two thirds of both male and female physicians reported at least moderate levels of parental satisfaction. The major factors associated with parental satisfaction were a supportive spouse (OR 2.24; 95% CI 1.32, 3.80), role conflict (OR 0.35; 95% CI 0.23, 0.53), salaried practice setting (OR 2.14; 95% CI 1.21, 3.81), marriage to a spouse working in a profession (OR 2.14; 95% CI 1.21, 3.81), and marriage to a spouse working as a homemaker (OR 2.33; 95% CI 1.20, 4.56). Number of hours worked was not found to be related to either satisfaction score, but rather to an intervening variable, role conflict.

CONCLUSIONS: For physicians with children, our study indicates that minimizing the level of role conflict and having a supportive spouse are associated with higher levels of marital and parental satisfaction. Working in salaried positions and marriage to a spouse who is either working in a profession or who is a stay-at-home parent are also related to high parental satisfaction.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Received from the UCLA Department of Medicine, Los Angeles, Calif

    Carole M. Warde MD & Kushan Moonesinghe BS

  2. Department of Sociology, Los Angeles, Calif

    Walter Allen PhD

  3. Department of Family Medicine, Los Angeles, Calif

    Lillian Gelberg MD, MSPH

  4. Southern California Permanete Medical Group, 9449 E. Imperial Highway, 90242, Downey, CA

    Carole M. Warde MD

Authors
  1. Carole M. Warde MD
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  2. Kushan Moonesinghe BS
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  3. Walter Allen PhD
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  4. Lillian Gelberg MD, MSPH
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Additional information

Dr. Gelberg is a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Generalist Physician Faculty Scholar.

All conclusions in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of Permanente Medical Group, UCLA, the Stein/Oppenheimer Endowment, or the American Medical Women’s Association.

This work was supported in part by grants from the UCLA Academic Senate Committee on Research, UCLA Stein/Oppenheimer Endowment, and the Long Beach Chapter of the American Medical Women’s Association.

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Warde, C.M., Moonesinghe, K., Allen, W. et al. Marital and parental satisfaction of married physicians with children. J GEN INTERN MED 14, 157–165 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1525-1497.1999.00307.x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1525-1497.1999.00307.x

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