The paths to mental health: An exploratory study of husbands and wives in dual‐career families

Abstract

This exploratory study tried to trace the links among three sets of exogenous variables—individual differences, work and non‐work factors—two endogenous variables—job satisfaction and life satisfaction, and the dependent variable, mental health, for husbands and wives in dual‐earner families to see if there were differences in the paths for the two groups. Data were collected from 166 non‐traditional families and the 332 responses were analysed to establish the links. It was found in this cross‐sectional study that, while both job satisfaction and life satisfaction had direct influences on the mental health of the husbands, such was not the case for the wives. For the wives, life satisfaction and two of the exogenous variables—multiple role stress and number of children—had significant direct links to their mental health. The implications of the findings of this exploratory cross‐sectional study for future research in the area are discussed.