BACKGROUND: Previous studies have demonstrated that self-control is positively related to life satisfaction, but this association in Chinese employees and its underlying mechanism are less commonly investigated.
OBJECTIVE: In this preliminary study the relationships between self-control and life satisfaction and the mediating effect of job satisfaction were tested.
METHOD: Participants were 482 full-time employees (188 male, 294 female) from different cities in China. They answered self-report questionnaires online that assessed self-control, job satisfaction, and life satisfaction. Path analyses were conducted and bootstrap technique was used to judge the significance of the mediation.
RESULTS: Self-control was positively related to both job and life satisfaction. More importantly, job satisfaction significantly mediated the association between self-control and life satisfaction. Furthermore, there was no significant difference in the size of the mediating effect between intrinsic and extrinsic job satisfaction.
CONCLUSIONS: Results of this preliminary study provide further evidence of the positive association between self-control and life satisfaction. Job satisfaction is found to mediate this relationship.
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