Effect of Job Transfer on American Women, 1977-1979

This study was conducted to investigate the reasons why some employees and their families are willing to move and others are not, to examine what conditions make moving easy or difficult, and to assess the effects of a mobile lifestyle. Ten Employee Relocation Council member companies were invited to participate by providing the independent researchers with the names of employees who had been transferred in the previous three to five years. The companies were representative of U.S. companies at large. Approximately 3,000 names were submitted, and employees from each of 10 participating companies were randomly selected and invited to be participants. Questionnaires were mailed in the fall of 1977, and of the 500 families identified, 348 or 70% responded. These employees were then recontacted in the fall of 1979. Second wave questionnaires were returned by 80% of the first wave families. The first wave questionnaire sent to each employee included a separate instrument for the spouse (in this sample, all wives), and the children (completed by a parent). The measures consisted of predominantly short answer or Likert scale items, with no open-ended questions. Aside from demographic information, questionnaires from both waves covered attitudes toward and satisfaction with moving and work, a physical symptoms checklist, and stress and self-esteem scales. The spouse's questionnaire (similar to the employee's) included additional items on the family, the impact of the husband's job on the family, and on social networks. The questionnaire about the children assessed variables within the physical, behavioral, academic, social, and emotional spheres. The second wave data included similar questions, with additional items pertaining to the job transfer. The Murray Research Archive holds sample questionnaires/coding forms and four files of numeric file data: (1) children of transferred employees; (2) employees themselves; (3) couples, time 1; and (4) couples, time 2.