Life Domain Predictors of Satisfaction with Personal Efficacy

Abstract

Data from a sample of northwestern Wisconsin residents reveal that satisfaction with personal efficacy is tied to satisfaction with the activity domains of spare time activities, work, family, and spiritual life, with the resource domain of health, and in some cases, of income and education, and with the consumption domain of standard of living. Sex differences in the domain predictors reflect the primacy of work-related factors for men and of family-related considerations for women. Age differences relate to the primacy of family and work satisfactions in the active years of life, and of satisfactions with health and spiritual life in maturity. Satisfaction with the ascribed resource of health is the prime predictor for the lower income groups, while satisfactions with the achieved resources of education and income, and with organizational involvement, contribute significantly to the highest income group only. In general, satisfaction with personal efficacy is derived most from domains in which the self is the locus of control as well as the locus of causality. General implications of these findings are discussed.