Retaining Women Air Force Officers: Work, Family, Career Satisfaction, and Intentions

Despite efforts to improve women’s military representation, mid-career female officers attrit at twice the rate of male peers. Research and theory suggest women’s turnover is influenced by family life including marriage and parenthood. But previous research has grouped women together, failing to ext...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Armed forces and society 2020-10, Vol.46 (4), p.677-695
Main Authors: King, Erika L., DiNitto, Diana, Salas-Wright, Christopher, Snowden, David
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Air force
Armed forces
Attrition
Careers
Families & family life
Family support
Job satisfaction
Labor force
Life satisfaction
Marriage
Military officers
Occupational choice
Parents & parenting
Peers
Public policy
Recruitment
Wives
Women
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Summary:Despite efforts to improve women’s military representation, mid-career female officers attrit at twice the rate of male peers. Research and theory suggest women’s turnover is influenced by family life including marriage and parenthood. But previous research has grouped women together, failing to extrapolate which factors influence retention of women with different family types. Thus, this study explored a single career point (mid-career) at different family intersections (married, unmarried, with, and without children) to elucidate work and family factors associated with female officers’retention decisions. Using 2011 Air Force survey data (n = 1,309), regression models tested four hypotheses regarding work and family factors associated with different subgroups’ military life satisfaction and career intentions. Findings indicate that after accounting for satisfaction, work factors were insignificant for all subgroups, but family factors (as hypothesized) were significantly associated with married women’s career intentions. Results suggest that policies targeting family support/satisfaction may improve retention.
ISSN:0095-327X
1556-0848
DOI:10.1177/0095327X19845024