Psychological distress and workload as predictors of satisfaction with life in Peruvian female university professors with a family burden

Abstract

This study aims to determine whether psychological distress and workload predict satisfaction with life in Peruvian female university professors caring for dependent relatives. A total of 157 Peruvian female university professors aged 26–58 years who were caring for dependent relatives (M = 40.50; SD = 7.72) participated in the study. Of the female university professors participating in the study, 87.3% worked in a private university. The Psychological Distress Scale (K6), the Workload Scale (ECT) and the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) were applied to them. Through a multiple regression analysis, it was found that psychological distress (β = .559, p < .01) and workload (β = .173, p < .01) are variables that significantly predict satisfaction with life in university professors who are also housewives (adjusted R2 = .43), being psychological distress the variable with the highest predictive power. These findings provide evidence for the usefulness of considering both psychological distress and workload as predictors of satisfaction with life in female Peruvian university professors.

Keywords

• Psychological distress
• Workload
• Satisfaction with life
• University professor