The Effects of Family Responsibilities on the Work Commitment and Job Performance of Non-Professional Women

Abstract

Tests 4 competing hypotheses about the effects of family life on a woman's job performance & work attitudes, using questionnaire data collected from a sample of 94 nonprofessional women in a large midwestern US financial institution. Their managers also provided job performance ratings. Of the hypotheses tested (diffusion of energy, spillover effect, compensatory effect, & motherhood demands), results best supported the motherhood demands hypothesis: women with children were significantly lower in occupational commitment relative to those without children. Also, contrary to expectation, women with younger children outperformed those with older children.