Marital Status, Career and Income as Indicators of Life Satisfaction Among Middle-aged Career Women in Hulu Langat, Selangor, Malaysia

Abstract

Life satisfaction is a subjective construct that varies according to gender, education level, age, income, marital status, and other demographic factors. Life satisfaction is an important issue among middle-aged women. They face various responsibilities, roles and expectation at this age. The objective of this article is to identify the differences in life satisfaction among middleaged Malay women from different educational level, marital status, career and income. This study applied a survey technique, which is a set of questionnaire which consisted of sociodemographic scale and life satisfaction scale (based on Life Satisfaction Index -Short Form by Barrette and Murk, 2006). Simple random sampling and purposive sampling have been used to obtain the responses. A total of 410 middle-aged career women in Hulu Langat, Selangor have participated in this study. The finding showed that life satisfactions among middle-aged women are different depending on their marital status, career and income. This was based on the result of ANOVA. Single women and widower who are working in private sector and of low-income level reported to have the lowest life satisfaction. This finding may provide input to the planning of programs to enhance the well-being and life satisfaction among middle aged career women.

Life Satisfaction Among Old Aged People Attending Fauji Foundation Hospital

“…In present study statistically significant relationship was found between life satisfaction and marital status. Score was highest in single person these results were contrary to researches done by Zakaria et al which showed ore life satisfaction with being married (p-value <0.05), 19 the difference might be due to marital status affecting their life decisions and positions. Our study showed statistically significant relationship between un employment and life satisfaction score, unemployed individuals were more satisfied with their…”

The Role of Socio-Demographics Profile and Work-Life Conflict on Life Satisfaction Among Working-Class Women in Sabah, Malaysia

“…This shows that Malaysia emphasizes the importance of attain education for better economic stability. From here, having good income and good education background provide securities to achieve better life satisfaction faced by working women (Marziah et al, 2018;Marziah et al, 2017). There is also the influence of marital status, especially married status, that contribute to safety especially among females that live in rural areas (Kohno et al, 2020).…”

“…Feeling safe is obtained when individuals achieve securities and free from feeling fear and anxieties (Hayre-Kwan et al, 2021;McLeod, 2020;Taormina et al, 2013;Waltemire et al, 2020). In this world today, when related to working women, they desire to gain good and stable income in career they pursue in, which contributes to high level of life satisfaction (Marziah et al, 2018). In addition, educational attainment among working women also have increased Salleh et al (2022) to reduce income gaps (Parvazian et al, 2017).…”

“…Middle-aged women specifically, seek meaningful connections and good social networks (Borzumato-Gainey et al, 2009;Degges-White et al, 2020). Regarding to marital status, especially among married women, are happier and have higher level of life satisfaction (Marziah et al, 2018). Marriage is a good practice for every human being especially in terms of emotional fullfillment (Isa et al, 2020).…”

Exploring the Relationship between Spiritual Well-Being and Marital Satisfaction among Urban Malays in Malaysia

“…Many studies on marital satisfaction in Malaysia focus on variables other than spiritual well-being and religiosity. For example, emotional intelligence (Hoesni et al, 2018), general happiness (Hoesni & Zakaria, 2019), quality of life (Ismail, Azlan & Yusof 2015), psychological disorders (Wan Azlan et al, 2018), love (Hoesni et al, 2016), demographics, for example, marital status, career and income (Zakaria, Abdul Kadir & Baharudin 2017), gender (Hoesni et al, 2013), job satisfaction and performance at work (Nasir & Amin 2010), personality traits and the risk of divorce (Bahareh et al, 2013), anxiety in communicating (Hoesni, Manap, & Zakaria, 2020) and positive communication in marriage (Hoesni, Manap, & Zakaria, 2017). As a result, more studies delving into the aspects of spirituality and marriage are needed to understand the psychology of marriage in the Malaysian context.…”