Quality of Life of Dual-Career Commuter Couples: Emotional and Financial Stress of UiTM Pahang Staff and Their Spouse

Abstract

Dual-career couples who live apart or commuter couples are becoming a phenomenon in Malaysia. Nowadays, there are more opportunities for women to pursue their own career. There are situations where the husband and wife have to live apart in order to manage each one's career. There are many studies have been conducted by previous researchers to investigate the quality of life among dual-career commuter couples, but no known research has been conducted using quantitative approaches. This study is aimed to investigate the quality of life of dual-career commuter couples measured based on emotional and financial stress using a self-administered questionnaire with five-point Likert Scale range as `Strongly Disagree' through `Strongly Agree'. Data were collected from 100 respondents, either the wife or husband or both chosen at random among a list of Universiti Teknologi MARA Pahang's staffs and their spouse who are categorized as dual-career commuter couples. Research hypotheses were tested using structural equation modelling (SEM) with Analysis of Moment Structures software (AMOS 21). The findings indicated that emotional and financial stress has a significant and direct effect on quality of life where 58 % of the variations in these variables explain the changes in quality of life. Commuter family has a positive impact but in long term, it will affect the quality of life of the couples, including the children.