Factors Influencing Pediatrician Life Satisfaction

To examine pediatrician life satisfaction and to identify the factors most likely to influence life satisfaction.

Using data from the American Academy of Pediatrics Pediatrician Life and Career Experience Study, a national longitudinal study with multiple cohorts, we identified the strongest predictors of life satisfaction using the most recent year of data. We then examined these predictor variables reported longitudinally by the same pediatricians each year, 2012-2024. Yearly participation ranged from 75% to 94%. We specifically used mixed-effects logistic regression for longitudinal data to test whether changes in predictor variables were associated with improvements in life satisfaction.

Analyses included 19 043 observations from 1772 pediatricians. In 2024, 58.3% of pediatricians reported that they were very satisfied and 7.0% reported that they were completely satisfied with their lives. Six factors were identified as the most promising to influence pediatrician life satisfaction positively: reduced frustration at work, improved general health, reduced feeling stressed at home, increased satisfaction with time for friends, reduced sadness or depression, and increased feeling that work is rewarding.

Our longitudinal study analyses, although not able to establish causality definitively, suggest factors with potential to improve pediatrician life satisfaction.