Not All Roles Are the Same: An Examination Between Work-Family-School Satisfaction, Social Integration, and Negative Affect Among College Students

Abstract

With many adults returning to college, an increasing number of university students are balancing multiple roles including work, family, and school. The impact of strain from balancing these multiple roles was investigated considering student satisfaction within different domains (i.e., work, family, and school) as a predictor of students’ negative affect in a sample of working college students from across the country (via MTurk; N = 145). Participants were required to be enrolled in a university or college at least part time, employed at least part time, and living with another person. Results revealed that social integration was negatively associated with negative affect across domains. Work satisfaction was predictive of negative affect, and it was also moderated by social integration, β = -.93, t(136) = 2.08, p = .04. School and family satisfaction, however, were not significant predictors of negative affect, thus suggesting the unique roles of each specific domain. This work suggests it is important to focus on the unique experiences of modernday college students, and the challenges of balancing work, family, and school, in order to better support this rapidly growing unique group of individuals.