Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, Vol 53, Issue 5 P287-P293, Copyright © 1998 by The Gerontological Society of America
The age and job satisfaction relationship: does its shape and strength still evade us?
D Bernal, D Snyder and M McDaniel
Psychology Department, University of Akron, Ohio, USA. [email protected]
Many investigations have examined the relationship between age and job
satisfaction. However, various types of relationships have been reported
across studies: positive linear, negative linear, U-shaped, inverted
U-shaped or inverted J-shaped, or no significant relations. Such
conflicting results have left the true nature of the relationship
unresolved. The present study used a large national probability sample of
workers (N = 1,095) to investigate the shape and strength of the age- -job
satisfaction relationship. Results indicated a significant but weak
positive linear age--job satisfaction relationship. That is, age failed to
explain a substantial proportion of linear variance in our job satisfaction
measure. This indicates that age, as a chronological variable, is not a
viable predictor of job satisfaction. Future research attempting to explain
age differences in job satisfaction should instead focus its attention on
other more pertinent psychological variables associated with the underlying
aging process.
