A Fishbein-Ajzen model of intention to work following childbirth

This research identifies factors which influence college women's intention to work during the first 3 years following childbirth. It uses a model, derived from M. Fishbein and I. Ajzen (1975, Belief, attitude, intention, and behavior, Reading, MA, Addison-Wesley) as modified by P. M. Bentler and G. Speckart (1979, Psychological Review, 86, 452–464), which proposes that intentions are a function of own work experience, vicarious experience with a working mother, subjective normative pressure, and attitudes. Data collected via a mailed questionnaire from 202 white women and analyzed using maximum likelihood estimation of structural equation parameters supported the fit of the model. Attitudes had the strongest influence on intentions.