“Satisfying work also seems to be an important ingredient in mental health and life satisfaction,” (Meeus, Dekovic & Iedema, 1997; Tait, Padgett, & Baldwin, 1989) p.104.
In choosing an occupation, one decision is to credit family influences, education, intelligence, gender, and personality. I agree that intelligence, gender and personality can be a major role in choosing ones job or career; However, I disagree that family influences play a major role. Moreover, I disagree that children tend to choose the occupation at the same general social class level as their parents, as mentioned on p. 104 under the heading Role of Worker. Although several of my friends have had mothers that were schoolteachers, they wanted to do anything but, teach. One would think that at the adolescent stage, children grow into their own individual personalities. They strive to find their own identities, apart from their parents, in many facets of their lives, one being that of an occupation or job: I attribute this to human nature.
In recognizing that we all have our own distinctive personalities, we also view occupation and jobs different according to our gender. Most females simply do not desire to be truck drivers, police officers or construction workers, although there are many that do and find these professions both rewarding and self full filling. There are also men stylist who work in hair salons, but not often very many.
Secondly, in referencing jobs overtime as mentioned on p. 106, many studies show that job satisfaction is at its lowest in early adulthood and rises steadily until retirement (Glen & Weaver, 1985). I would have to agree with (e.g., Bedeian, Ferris, & Kacman. 1992), that, some research points to the possibility that this pattern is the effect of time on the job rather than age. Many young adults are both excited and driven to succeed after attaining the goal of graduating from college and then landing jobs that allow them to be both creative and prosperous. They can plainly see bright futures, rapidly approaching, in their efforts to work extremely hard to reach higher goals.
Nevertheless, I do agree with another view of work sequences where a series of stages is described on p. 107, proposed originally by Donald Super (Super 1971, 1986). Super describes the trail stage between 18 and 25 and the establishment stage between 25 to age 45. See p. 106 figure 4.1 referencing the Holland’s Personality Types and Work Preferences Proposed by Levinson, in light of Donald Super.
Finally, the Sex differences in Work Patterns suggest the periods of focusing on family responsibility. The theory that caught my attention, and may have more validity than one would want to admit, is the notion that the great majority of women move in and out of the work force at least once, often many times (Drobnic, Blossfeld, & Rohwer, 1999). P.108. With the responsibility of child baring, female problems, relationship highs and lows, having to take care of family and sometimes friends, it’s a wonder that women can stay focused on an occupation or job for any long period of time. On p. 109, it refers to women as having conflict between family and work roles because of the way sex roles are defined in most cultures: I would have to agree.
