Two studies of male manual workers are described, in which eight scales relevant to the quality of working life are introduced and assessed. The scales build upon previous work, but are designed to remedy certain conceptual and operational deficiencies. They cover work involvement, intrinsic job motivation, higher order need strength, perceived intrinsic job characteristics, job satisfaction, life satisfaction, happiness, and self‐rated anxiety. In addition, components of job satisfaction and life satisfaction, derived through cluster analyses, are also identified. The scales are shown to have good internal reliability and to be factorially separate. Comprehensive psychometric data are provided as a base‐line for future applications.

New instruments are described for the measurement of both job‐related and non‐job mental health. These cover two axes of affective well‐being, based upon dimensions of pleasure and arousal, and also reported competence, aspiration and negative job carry‐over. Baseline data are presented from a sample of 1686 job‐holders, and earlier uses of the well‐being scales are summarized. The instruments appear to be psychometrically acceptable, and are associated with demographic and occupational features in expected ways. For example, older employees report greater job‐related well‐being; occupational level is positively correlated with job depression‐enthusiasm but negatively associated with job anxiety‐contentment; depression‐enthusiasm is more predictable from low‐to‐medium opportunity for skill use and task variety, whereas anxiety‐contentment is more a function of workload or uncertainty.

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It is generally believed that job satisfaction increases linearly with age. However, there are persuasive arguments, and some empirical evidence, that the relationship is Ushaped, declining from a moderate level in the early years of employment and then increasing steadily up to retirement. This paper investigates that relationship, using survey responses from a large sample of British employees. For overall job satisfaction, sat-Journal of Vocational Behavior, 30, 330-346. Social Research. S u w q 1990-1 992. Colchester, Essex: ESRC Research Centre Press.