Factors Influencing Family Life Satisfaction among Parents in Malaysia: The Structural Equation Modeling Approach (SEM)

Abstract

The study attempts to investigate the factors that influence family life satisfaction (FLS) among parents in Malaysia. The study modeled the variable of parental involvement, family functioning, family resilience and time with family as independent constructs. Data for the study was gathered from nationally representative survey of “Family Well-Being Index” study conducted by National Population and Family Development Board Malaysia. Response from 2808 sampled households which involved about 1484 (52.8%) fathers and 1324 (47.2%) mothers of having a child aged at least 13 years old were utilized for the purpose of the current study. A Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was employed by using Analysis of Moment Structure (AMOS) software. The study found all the modeled independent constructs tested had a significant and direct influence on family life satisfaction among the respondents except for parental involvement construct. The findings of the study suggests that some improvement should be made for the parental involvement constructs which covers different aspects of family life satisfaction which will lead the measurement model be more heterogeneous.