Change in job conditions,change in psychological distress,and gender: a longitudinal study of dual-earner couples

Building on the Job-Strain Theory, we estimated three relationships in a random sample of 201 full-time employed men and women in dual-earner couples interviewed three times over a 2-year period. We first estimated the main effects relationships between change over time in employees' experiences of job demands and job control and change over time in psychological distress. Then we estimated the interaction effects relationship of change in job demands on the relationship between change in job control and change in distress. Finally, we estimated the interaction effects of gender on these relationships. Job control was disaggregated into two conceptually distinct job conditions: skill discretion and decision authority. Controlling for other potentially stressful job conditions such as pay adequacy, job security, and relations with supervisor, as well as trait anxiety (an indicator of negative affectivity), change over time in job demands and skill discretion, but not decision authority, was related to change over time in psychological distress. Equally, for full-time employed women and men in dual-earner couples, if concerns about having to do dull, monotonous work increase over time, distress increases; if concerns about having to work under pressure of time and conflicting demands increase over time, distress increases. Finally, neither average skill discretion nor change over time in skill discretion moderated the relationship between job demands and psychological distress. Thus, at every level of skill discretion, high job demands were related to high distress. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Stress and mental strain in hospital work: Exploring the relationship beyond personality

This study focuses on the relationship between job stressors and mental strain in hospital work, adjusting for differences in personality traits. Questionnaires were obtained from 760 full-time employees. Fourteen scales of job stressors were clustered into four factors: professional latitude, clinical demands, workload problems and role difficulties. A mental strain index was derived from the addition of three sub-scales: depression, anxiety and irritation. Two personality traits were measured: Locus of Control (Rotter) and Striver-Achiever (Sales). The four job demand factors were dichotomized into high-low grouping variables. A 2⁴ factorial analysis of covariance was conducted, using the two personality traits as covariates, in order to test and adjust for trait-related strain. Results show that Locus of Control adjusted differences in mental strain appear significantly related to work stressors. A direct relationship was found with role difficulties, professional latitude and workload problems. Moreover, high levels of role difficulties and low levels of professional latitude interact significantly with adjusted levels of mental strain. The Striver-Achiever trait, however, appears most strongly correlated with workload problems but not with mental strain. We believe that this exploratory analysis suggests that the stressor-strain relationship might be best conceived as a combination of direct and complex pathways, relating facets of both job demands and of personality with outcomes, under a cognitive and conditional paradigm.     

The changing significance of different stressors after the announcement of bankruptcy: a longitudinal investigation with special emphasis on job insecurity

The author investigates the effect of job insecurity and other job stressors on the mental health of steel workers. Levels of job stress and mental health were measured seven years before and seven months after the company at which they worked had gone into receivership, a method that can be described as a quasi‐experimental field study with a sample of blue‐collar non‐supervisory male workers. Two out of four job stressors were found to be at a lower level when the second wave of research took place. Regression analyses showed that the correlation between these job stressors and psychosomatic complaints is now lower than during the first wave but that they reach the former level when job insecurity is added. Job insecurity was mainly connected to an increase in psychosomatic complaints and in anxiety. Self‐esteem, depression, and irascibility showed no important relationship to job insecurity when the variables were controlled for mental health status before the onset of job insecurity. Social support, opportunities in the labor market, and duration of contract in the company are identified as moderating the relation between mental health and job insecurity. One conclusion is that positive health effects due to reduction in the stress level may be offset by acute job insecurity. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The relationship of occupational injury and use of mental health care

Introduction: Symptoms of depression and anxiety are a common consequence of occupational injury regardless of its cause and type. Nevertheless, mental health care is rarely covered by workers’ compensation systems. The aim of this study was to assess the use of mental health care post-injury. Methods: We used a subsample of patient-care workers from the Boston Hospital Workers Health Study (BHWHS). We matched one injured worker with three uninjured workers during the period of 2012–2014 based on age and job title (nurse or patient-care associate) and looked at their mental health care use pre- and post-injury using medical claims data from the employer sponsored health plan. We used logistic regression analysis to assess the likelihood of mental health care use three and six months post-injury controlling for any pre-injury visits. Analyses were repeated separately by job title. Results: There were 556 injured workers between 2012 and 2014 that were matched with three uninjured workers at the time of injury (n = 1,649). Injured workers had a higher likelihood of seeking mental health care services than their uninjured counterparts during the six months after injury (OR = 1.646, 95% CI: 1.23–2.20), but not three months post-injury (OR = 0.825, 95% CI: 0.57–1.19). Patient-care associates had a higher likelihood to seek mental health care post-injury, than nurses (OR: 2.133 vs OR: 1.556) during the six months period. Conclusions: Injured workers have a higher likelihood to experience symptoms of depression and anxiety based on their use of mental health care post-injury and use is more predominant among patient-care associates; however, our sample has a small number of patient-care associates. Practical Applications: Treating depression and anxiety as part of the workers’ compensation system has the potential of preventing further physical ailment and improving the return to work process regardless of nature of injury.     

On the subjective experience and correlates of downtime at work: A mixed‐method examination

In the current paper, we studied downtime at work. Downtime represents a unique aspect of work time, as employees have low workload and more discretion about their activities but are still paid to be at work. Despite its prevalence and potentially significant implications for productivity and well‐being, the experience of downtime has not been a focus in the literature. To study this phenomenon, we first used a qualitative method involving 15 focus groups. Results from 95 employees showed that downtime is distinct from formal breaks and withdrawal behavior and is generally a negative subjective experience. Categories of antecedents of experience and downtime activities were classified. Next, to further explore the phenomenon, and based on Study 1 and relevant literature, we proposed several hypotheses and tested them using an experience sampling method. Results from 86 employees (across 5 workdays and 689 data points) indicated that the amount of downtime was negatively related to day level job satisfaction, job performance, and subjective health. The duration of relaxation activities during downtime mitigated the negative effects of downtime on fatigue. The effects of enjoyment level of the activities, job autonomy, work engagement, and boredom proneness were also examined. Implications, limitations, and future research are discussed.     

Leadership,followers' mental health and job performance in organizations: A comprehensive meta‐analysis from an occupational health perspective

The present meta‐analysis investigates the associations between leadership, followers' mental health, and job performance by taking into account different groups of leadership constructs including transformational leadership, relations‐oriented leadership, task‐oriented leadership, destructive leadership, and leader–member exchange. Six categories of mental health‐related outcomes are considered representing both negative and positive mental health states of followers, namely, affective symptoms, burnout, stress, well‐being, psychological functioning, and health complaints. Meta‐analytic models are used to estimate the association between these categories of leadership and mental health. Our results reveal that transformational leadership, a high quality of relations‐oriented and task‐oriented leadership behavior, as well as a high quality of leader–follower interaction are positively associated with mental health. In contrast, destructive leadership is strongly negatively associated with mental health. In addition, the mediation effects of leadership on job performance via mental health are estimated. Results partially support the mediating role of mental health concerning the relationship between leadership and job performance. Our results emphasize the importance of leadership as an occupational health factor, and they may serve as basis for the planning and designing of occupational health policies and interventions despite existing research limitations. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Psychosocial risks in small enterprises: the mediating role of perceived working conditions in the relationship between enterprise size and workers’ anxious or depressive episodes

Purpose. The relationship between enterprise size and psychosocial working conditions has received little attention so far but some findings suggest that conditions are more favorable in small enterprises. This could have a positive impact on workers’ mental health. The objective of this study was to test the mediating effect of perceived working conditions in the relationship between enterprise size and anxious or depressive episodes. Methods. Data from the 2010 SUMER – Surveillance Médicale des Expositions aux Risques professionnels (French periodical cross-sectional survey) were analyzed; N?=?31,420 for the present study. Anxious or depressive episodes were measured with the hospital anxiety and depression scale and the perceived working conditions were psychological demand, decision latitude and social support as assessed with Karasek's job content questionnaire. The indirect effect was tested according to the method proposed by Preacher and Hayes. Results. In a multivariate logistic regression, the risk of anxious or depressive episodes was found to be lower in micro enterprises (2–9 employees). Formal tests pointed to a significant indirect effect of enterprise size on mental health through perceived working conditions, with a larger effect for psychological demand. Conclusion. This study highlights perceived working conditions as an explanation of the effects of enterprise size.     

Expressed and suppressed anger as predictors of health complaints

In this study, associations were examined of expressed and suppressed anger with anxiety, depression, and somatic complaints in a sample of owner/managers of smaller businesses. A direct relationship between suppressed anger — anger-in — and the three health complaints was found. Also, anger-in moderated the relationship between the responsibility for people stressor and both anxiety and depression. Further, expressed anger — anger-out — moderated the relationship between responsibility for people and depression. In each interaction, responsibility for people related more strongly with the health complaint when anger-in or anger-out was high than when it was low.     

The relationship between job experiences and psychological distress: A structural equation approach

Using structural equations, we estimated the relationship between employees' experiences of seven job conditions, that have been identified as potential job stressors, and psychological distress in a random sample of 504 full-time employed men and women in dual-earner couples. The seven job conditions were: skill discretion, decision authority, schedule control, job demands, pay adequacy, job security, and relations with supervisor. We found that two job conditions — skill discretion and job demands — were related to psychological distress, whereas five other conditions were not. These findings lend partial support to Karasek's job demand — job control model. In our analysis, skill discretion, one of the two components of job control (referred to jointly as decision latitude) was related to distress, however, decision authority, the second component, was not. A third aspect of control, schedule control, was also unrelated to distress. For full-time employed women and men in dual-earner couples, the additive effects of feeling concerned about having to do dull, monotonous work and having to work under pressure of time and conflicting demands were associated with psychological distress. Finally, the magnitude of the relationships between these job experiences and psychological distress did not differ between men and women.     

An appraisal perspective of justice,structure, and job control as antecedents of psychological distress

Through the application of cognitive appraisal theory, this study unifies the emergent themes of studying justice in relation to organizational context, as well as justice in relation to employee feelings of psychological distress. A sample of 677 employees from 72 organizations was used to test hypotheses related to justice, job control, mechanistic structure, and employee feelings of anxiety and depression. We found procedural justice, within a primary appraisal role, to be a highly effective tool for minimizing psychological distress. In combination with both distributive justice as well as a mechanistic structure, procedural justice can help to minimize feelings of anxiety and depression, but in different manners for each variable. Further, a strong influence of job control upon both procedural justice and, ultimately, depression and anxiety highlighted its role as a perceived means for avoiding or minimizing the harm of a potential stressor. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Team job‐related anxiety and creativity: Investigating team‐level and cross‐level moderated curvilinear relationships

Researchers have examined the effects of individual job‐related anxiety on employee attitudes and behaviors but have yet to examine whether team job‐related anxiety would have similar or different effects. Building on prior research on negative group affective tone and creativity, we propose that team job‐related anxiety has an inverted U‐shaped curvilinear relationship with both team and individual creativity. Furthermore, we posit that team cooperativeness moderates those curvilinear relationships. Using a two‐wave research design and matched employee‐supervisor data from 290 employees nested in 65 teams, we found support for the proposed inverted U‐shaped relationships. Moreover, the intermediate level of team job‐related anxiety was associated with higher individual creativity in teams with higher cooperativeness. We conclude the study with a discussion of the theoretical and practical implications of our findings.     

Development of statistical models for predicting muscle and mental activities during repetitive precision tasks

This study was conducted to develop muscle and mental activities on repetitive precision tasks. A laboratory experiment was used to address the objectives. Surface electromyography was used to measure muscle activities from eight upper limb muscles, while electroencephalography recorded mental activities from six channels. Fourteen university students participated in the study. The results show that muscle and mental activities increase for all tasks, indicating the occurrence of muscle and mental fatigue. A linear relationship between muscle activity, mental activity and time was found while subjects were performing the task. Thus, models were developed using those variables. The models were found valid after validation using other students’ and workers’ data. Findings from this study can contribute as a reference for future studies investigating muscle and mental activity and can be applied in industry as guidelines to manage muscle and mental fatigue, especially to manage job schedules and rotation.     

Workaholism and mental health among Polish academic workers

The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between workaholism and mental health among 126 Polish academic workers. The participants' mean age was 45.9 years, 51.6% of them were women. The participants completed 2 questionnaires: the work addiction risk test and the general health questionnaire. Even though 66% of the subjects were classified in the group of moderate-to-high risk of workaholism, the overall state of mental health was categorized as average. The results revealed that workaholism was associated with poorer mental health. Employees with higher levels of workaholism had worse state of health, i.e., more somatic symptoms, higher levels of anxiety, insomnia, social dysfunction and symptoms of depression. Emotional arousal/perfectionism was the strongest predictor of the state of general health and was mostly responsible for harmful effects on mental health. However, the general effect of workaholism on health was not as strong as expected.     

A refutation of Karasek's demand – discretion model of occupational stress with a range of dependent measures

Karasek's (1979) demand–discretion model of occupational stress has been highly influential but has been criticized as confounding social class variables (Payne and Fletcher, 1983), ignoring the curvilinearity of relationships (Warr, 1991), and because it has inconsistently predicted heart disease (Ganster and Fusilier, 1989). The present study examines the ability of the model to predict raised blood pressure (a risk factor in the development of CHD), anxiety, depression, job and life satisfaction, in a large heterogeneous sample of over 3000 people. It examines the predictability of the model for men and women, taking occupational classification (manual and non-manual workers) into account, to allow some control over social class confounding. It also examines nonlinear relationships in the data. The study showed that demands and discretion do separately predict psychological strain, job and life satisfaction, though they account for a very small percentage of the variance. There was no evidence of interactive effects which are central to the model. Where the model was able to predict blood pressure, relationships were consistently in the opposite direction to that hypothesized. There was also little evidence of curvilinear relationships. Interpersonal support was found to add significantly to the predictability of the dependent variables. The findings cast doubt on Karasek's model and suggest that emphasis should be shifted to those models which are more encompassing of support factors.     

Job demands,job resources,and their relationship with burnout and engagement: a multi‐sample study

This study focuses on burnout and its positive antipode—engagement. A model is tested in which burnout and engagement have different predictors and different possible consequences. Structural equation modeling was used to simultaneously analyze data from four independent occupational samples (total N = 1698). Results confirm the hypothesized model indicating that: (1) burnout and engagement are negatively related, sharing between 10 per cent and 25 per cent of their variances; (2) burnout is mainly predicted by job demands but also by lack of job resources, whereas engagement is exclusively predicted by available job resources; (3) burnout is related to health problems as well as to turnover intention, whereas engagement is related only to the latter; (4) burnout mediates the relationship between job demands and health problems, whereas engagement mediates the relationship between job resources and turnover intention. The fact that burnout and engagement exhibit different patterns of possible causes and consequences implies that different intervention strategies should be used when burnout is to be reduced or engagement is to be enhanced. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Does job insecurity lead to impaired well‐being or vice versa? Estimation of cross‐lagged effects using latent variable modelling

Although research suggests that job insecurity is associated with impaired employee well‐being, there is insufficient empirical evidence to draw any causal inferences since most studies are cross‐sectional and thus do not control for previous levels of health symptoms. We used longitudinal questionnaire data to investigate the direction of the relationship between job insecurity and health complaints. After controlling for prior levels of mental and physical health complaints and five other variables that could potentially confound the results (gender, age, organizational tenure, family status, and education), the results of latent variable modelling showed that the cross‐lagged effect of job insecurity on mental health complaints, one year later, was significant whereas the reversed effects of mental and physical health complaints on subsequent insecurity were non‐significant. However, there was no significant cross‐lagged effect of job insecurity on physical health complaints. The results provide empirical support for the theoretical notion that job insecurity leads to health complaints, and imply that prior levels of health should be taken into consideration in order to explain the relative effect of perceived job insecurity on the physical and mental health of the workforce. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The measurement of job control

Subjective or perceived control over job-related activities or events is a frequently measured construct in organizational stress research. Karasek (1985) assessed perceived control as both decision authority and skill discretion at work (job decision latitude). Ganster (1989b; Dwyer and Ganster, 1991) developed a multidimensional or general measure of worker control, as well as a specific measure of work predictability. Because little published psychometric data exist for these scales, we investigated the item-level measurement properties of Karasek's and Ganster's measures. We hypothesized two separate, two-factor solutions, decision authority and skill discretion, for the job decision latitude scale, and general control and predictability, for the work control scale. The dimensionality of both measures was assessed in multiple, independent samples using confirmatory factor analyses (LISREL) with maximum likelihood estimation. Simultaneous solutions across samples were used to determine the fit of the factor models to the data. The hypothesized two-factor solutions were confirmed for both Karasek's and Ganster's scales, although item refinement is indicated. We also investigated the relative independence between Karasek's and Ganster's scales and found a lack of independence between the general control and decision authority items in one sample. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Social support and occupational stress: Effects of talking to others

Employees' social support was examined using both the traditional global measures of emotional/instrumental support and more focused measures based on the contents (positive, negative, and non-job) of verbally transmitted support. Contents were more closely related to global emotional support than to global instrumental support, with non-job and positive communications especially strongly associated with emotional support, and they accounted for more variance in strains than did the global measures.     

Leader–member exchange: Moderating the health and safety outcomes of job insecurity

IntroductionJob insecurity has been repeatedly linked with poor employee health and safety outcomes. Although research on high quality leader–member exchange (LMX) has demonstrated many beneficial effects, no research to date has examined the extent to which positive LMX might attenuate those adverse health and safety-related consequences of job insecurity. The current study extends research in this area by specifically examining the buffering impact of LMX on the relationship between job insecurity and safety knowledge, reported accidents, and physical health conditions. Furthermore, the study also examines whether positive LMX mitigates the typically seen negative impact of job insecurity on supervisor satisfaction.MethodsThe hypotheses were tested using survey data collected from 212 employees of a mine located in southwestern United States.ResultsAs predicted, job insecurity was related to lower levels of supervisor satisfaction, more health ailments, and more workplace accidents, and was marginally related to lower levels of safety knowledge. Results indicated that LMX significantly attenuated these observed relationships.ConclusionsThe quality of the dyadic relationship between supervisor and subordinate has a significant impact on the extent to which job insecurity is associated with adverse health and safety outcomes.Practical applicationsPractical implications for supervisor behavior and developing high quality LMX are discussed in light of today's pervasive job insecurity.