Published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, the following cross-sectional study evaluates personal and professional factors associated with marital and parental satisfaction of physicians. A survey was sent to equal numbers of licensed male and female physicians in a Southern California county. Approximately half of the physicians reported high levels of marital satisfaction (63% of male physicians and 45% of female physicians). The gender difference disappeared after adjusting for age differences. Two factors were associated with high marital satisfaction: a supportive spouse and role conflict. The mean score for parental satisfaction was 3.43, and approximately two thirds of both male and female physicians reported at least moderate levels of parental satisfaction. The major factors associated with parental satisfaction were a supportive spouse, role conflict, salaried practice setting, marriage to a spouse working in a profession, and marriage to a spouse working as a homemaker. Number of hours worked was not found to be related to either satisfaction score, but rather to an intervening variable, role conflict.