In this study, the relationship between number of children, marital quality (measured by both spouse support and marital problems) and psychological distress, is examined. In a sample of employed Malay women (N= 225), using regression analyses, the results showed that spouse support moderated the relationship between number of children and distress, such that those with law spouse support reported higher levels of psychological distress with more children. Those with high spouse support, however, were not affected by the number of children. Marital problems, on the other hand, did not show any moderating effect. These findings are discussed with respect to recent work in this area.

Key words: children, marital quality, spouse support, marital problems, women's psychological distress, moderating effects