Sex Roles, Vol. 41, No. 3/4, 1999 Roles and Women’s Well-Being: Some Preliminary Findings from Malaysia Noraini M. Noor 1 International Islamic Uni versity This study examines the relationship between roles (work and family) and well-being (happiness and symptoms of distress) in a sample of employed Malaysian women, made up of both Malays (N 5 288) and Chinese (N 5 92). The two groups were similar in terms of their socioeconomic status, as measured by education, occupation, and family income. Both quantitati ve and qualitati ve analyses were used. Results of the quantitati ve analysis showed that after controlling for the demographic variables of age, race, and occupa- tional group as well as the personality variable of negati ve affectivity, job autonomy predicted both measures of well-being. Happiness was also pre- dicted by spouse support. The qualitati ve results pro vided another aspect into women’s perceptions of their roles. The women’s replies to questions on their preference for employment, their husbands’ preference for them to work, their reasons for working, the importance of work and family, child care, and their o verall reports of work and family richly complemented the ®ndings of the regression analysis. These ®ndings are discussed with respect to the general literature on women’s roles and well-being as well as within the context of the Malaysian society. Women make up approximately half the population of Malaysia (about 10 million women, Se venth Malaysia Plan, 1996±2000 ). Although 48% of the women fall within the working age group (15±64 years), they only comprise one third of the total labor force ( Seventh Malaysia Plan, 1996±2000). However, since its independence in 1957, women’s entry into the paid labor force has been dramatic, from 30.8% in 1957 to 47.1% in 1995 ( Seventh 1 To whom correspondence should be addressed at the Department of Psychology, International Islamic University, Jalan Gombak, 53100 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 123 0360-0025/99/0800-0123$1 6.00/0 Ó 1999 Plenum Publishing Corporation