Marital and parental satisfaction of married physicians with children

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate personal and professional factors associated with ma rital and parental satisfaction of physicians. STUDY DESIGN: 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 questionnaire s, 656 (68%) were returned completed. Our sample includes 415 currently mar ried 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. Prev alence 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 physic ians and 45% of female physicians). The gender difference disappeared after adjusting for age differences. Two factors were associated with high marit al 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 app roximately 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 (QR 2.24; 95% CI 1.32, 3.80 ), role conflict (OR 0.35; 95% CI 0.23, 0.53), salaried practice setting (O R 2.14; 95% CI 1.21, 3.81), marriage to a spouse working in a profession (O R 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 r elated to either satisfaction score, but rather to an intervening variable, role conflict. CONCLUSIONS: For physicians with children, our study indicates that minimiz ing the level of role conflict and having a supportive spouse are associate d with higher levels of marital and parental satisfaction. Working in salar ied positions and marriage to a spouse who is either working in a professio n or who is a stay-at-home parent are also related to high parental satisfa ction.