Authors: Naomi Yoshitake Yi Sun Masumi Sugawara Satoko Matsumoto Atsushi Sakai Junko Takaoka Noriko Goto
Publish Date: 2016/07/05
Volume: 25, Issue: 12, Pages: 3147-3155
Abstract
The present study aimed to examine the relationship between sociodemographic factors and domains of quality of life QOL among married adults in Japan who were either rearing or expecting their first child Our research focus was on whether different sociodemographic variables interacted with each other in predicting the firsttime parents’ QOLIn total 4374 mean age = 349 years SD = 84 range 18–71 communitybased married couples pooled from two surveys provided their sociodemographic information ie age years of education and annual income and responded to the brief version of the QOL instrument developed by the World Health Organization WHOQOLBREF in Psychological Medicine 283551–555 1998Series of multilevel regression analyses revealed that household annual income and education were associated with all domains of QOL and other sociodemographic variables worked in a domainspecific manner In addition the effect of educational attainment on psychological domain was significant for mothers only whereas the effects of household income on psychological and environmental domains were stronger for the younger below age 26 than the older over 43 couplesThe effects of sociodemographic factors at couple as well as individual levels on the firsttime parents’ QOL were examined for the first time in Japan using couple data In addition to corroborating previous findings on the main effects concerning these variables the present study demonstrated the complex patterns of interaction across different levels These findings provide evidence for the need for financial and health measures targeted at specific parent populations
Keywords: