Predicting job satisfaction: Findings from the British Cohort Study

Abstract

This study examines factors influencing adult job satisfaction (JS) measured at age 42 years, using a large and nationally representative dataset of 4593 adults (48.5 % females) in the UK. Correlational analysis showed that parental social status measures (at birth), childhood intelligence (at age 10), teenage internal locus of control (at age 16), adult-achieved education (at ages 34) and occupation (at age 38) were all significantly and positively associated with adult job satisfaction at age 42. Structural equation modelling showed that parental social status, teenage locus of control, and adult-achieved education and occupation, all had significant and direct effects on adult job satisfaction, accounting for 19 % of the total variance. The strongest predictor of adult job satisfaction was occupational prestige. Further, significance of mediation tests showed that both adult-achieved education and occupation were mediators as well as predictors, that the effect of childhood intelligence on JS mainly mediated through adult-achieved education and occupation. Implications are considered.