Switching Off Mentally: Predictors and Consequences of Psychological Detachment From Work During Off-Job Time.

Psychological detachment from work refers to the off-job experience of "switching off" mentally. It is hypothesized that a high degree of workload encountered during the work day has a negative impact on subsequent detachment processes and that psychological detachment from work is positively related to well-being. Eighty-seven individuals from various occupations provided questionnaire and daily survey measures over a period of 3 working days. Multilevel analysis showed that workload was negatively related to psychological detachment from work during evening hours. Psychological detachment from work was associated with positive mood and low fatigue. The negative relationship between psychological detachment and fatigue was particularly strong on days with high time pressure. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Routine and the Perception of Time.

The authors investigated the influence of routine on people's estimation of time, testing the hypothesis that duration is remembered as being shorter when time is spent in a routine activity. In 4 experiments and 2 field studies, the authors compared time estimations in routine and nonroutine conditions. Routine was established by a sequence of markers (Study 1), variation of the task (Studies 2 and 3), or the number of repetitive blocks (Study 4). As hypothesized, the duration of the task was remembered as being shorter in routine conditions than in nonroutine ones. This trend was reversed in experienced (prospective) judgments when participants were informed beforehand of the duration-judgment task (Study 3). In Studies 5 and 6, the authors examined remembered duration judgments of vacationers and kibbutz members, which provided further support for the main hypothesis. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Recovery from work shifts: How long does it take?

Although regulations on work hours usually include a minimum weekly rest period, there is little empirical evidence concerning recovery from work. Shift-working nurses (N?=?61) used a handheld computer for 28 days to complete self-ratings, cognitive-performance tasks, and a sleep diary. Many measures were worse on rest days that followed a night shift rather than a day shift and tended to be worse on 1st rest days compared with subsequent rest days. Alertness was lowest on the 1st rest day following a night shift. Social satisfaction was better on workdays that were preceded by 2 rather than 1 rest day. Reaction time (RT) decreased over consecutive night shifts and tended to increase over rest days following night shifts. The results are interpreted as being consistent with the combined adaptive costs of fatigue and adjustment to and from a nocturnal routine. The practical implications for scheduling rest days are considered. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Short-term effects of occupational stressors on daily mood and health complaints.

Related daily changes in 2 job conditions, workload and social interaction with co-workers and supervisors, to daily mood and health complaints. 52 air-traffic controllers (ATCs) completed measures of subjective well-being and perceived job conditions on 3 consecutive days; objective indicators of daily workload (air traffic volume and visibility at the airport) were also obtained. The results indicate that increases in job stressors are associated with a same-day deterioration in physical and psychological well-being. On days in which workload was perceived to be high, ATCs reported more health complaints and moods that were more negative and less positive. On days in which there was greater air traffic volume (objectively measured), ATCs reported moods that were more negative. On days in which interactions with co-workers and supervisors were described as more distressing, ATCs reported moods that were more negative and less positive. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Meetings and More Meetings: The Relationship Between Meeting Load and the Daily Well-Being of Employees.

Meetings are an integral part of organizational life; however, few empirical studies have systematically examined the phenomenon and its effects on employees. By likening work meetings to interruptions and daily hassles, the authors proposed that meeting load (i.e., frequency and time spent) can affect employee well-being. For a period of 1 week, participants maintained daily work diaries of their meetings as well as daily self-reports of their well-being. Using hierarchical linear modeling analyses, the authors found a significant positive relationship between number of meetings attended and daily fatigue as well as subjective workload (i.e., more meetings were associated with increased feelings of fatigue and workload). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Workload and the trajectory of marital satisfaction in newlyweds: Job satisfaction, gender, and parental status as moderators.

Stress, on average, is bad for relationships. Yet stress at work is not always associated with negative relationship outcomes. The premise of the current study was that associations between workload and trajectories of marital satisfaction depend on circumstances that may constrain or facilitate partners' ability to negotiate their multiple roles. We hypothesized that the covariance between changes in workload and marital satisfaction over time should be moderated by (a) the extent to which spouses like their work, (b) their parental status, and (c) their gender. Analyses drawing upon eight waves of data on workload, work satisfaction, and marital satisfaction from 169 newlywed couples assessed over four years confirmed these predictions. Specifically, across couples, demands at work covaried positively with marital satisfaction for spouses who were more satisfied with their jobs. For nonparent couples, increases in husbands' workload covaried with increases in marital satisfaction for both spouses. For parent couples, however, increases in husbands' workload covaried with declines in marital satisfaction for both spouses. Unexpectedly, for parent couples, increases in wives' workload corresponded with increased marital satisfaction. Finally, consistent with predictions, wives were more affected by their husbands' workload than vice versa. Thus, tension between work and marriage is not inevitable, instead depending on circumstances that facilitate or impair performance in multiple roles. Couples, employers, and practitioners should recognize the role that external circumstances play in determining how work and marital life interact. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

The moderating role of goal orientation in the workload-frustration relationship.

Goal orientation was hypothesized to moderate the relationship between quantitative workload and frustration. Based on data from 460 graduate students, two forms of goal orientation moderated this relationship. Specifically, it was found that workload was positively related to frustration for people with high levels of avoiding goal orientation, but not for those with low levels of avoiding goal orientation. In addition, it was found that the positive effect of workload on frustration was weaker for people with high levels of mastery goal orientation than for those with low levels of mastery goal orientation. Both theoretical and practical implications of the current findings are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Localization of mRNAs for synaptojanin isoforms in the brain of developing and mature rats

STATEMENT OF PROBLEM: Knowledge of mastication is based on studies that use jaw tracking equipment in nonroutine settings. Ethologists would argue that such data probably does not reflect routine masticatory function. If jaw movements could be tracked noninvasively, then the hypothesis that jaw tracking equipment and nonroutine settings alter mastication could be investigated. PURPOSE: This study quantitatively evaluated the relationship between chin and jaw movements during a gum-chewing task. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Masticatory chin and jaw movements of 50 subjects were tracked in the x-, y-, and z-axes for 15 seconds, which resulted in approximately 15 chewing cycles obtained per subject. For each chewing cycle, magnitude and timing of displacement, velocity, and acceleration extrema in each axis were computed for both jaw and chin movement data. Extrema means were calculated for each 15-second trial. The respective means representing chin versus jaw movements were compared with linear regression and correlation analyses. RESULTS: All mean extrema were significantly correlated (r range 0. 30-0.99; P <.05). Magnitude correlations were larger than timing correlations for acceleration extrema. In contrast, magnitude correlations were smaller than timing correlations for displacement extrema. The highest correlation occurred for chewing rate. CONCLUSIONS: Chin and jaw movements were correlated during chewing; however, only chewing rate was highly predictable from chin movement data.     

Interplay of concurrent positive and negative interpersonal events in the prediction of daily negative affect and fatigue for rheumatoid arthritis patients.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine the interaction of daily concurrent positive interpersonal events (PIE) and negative interpersonal events (NIE) on the daily experience of negative affect and fatigue in a sample of men and women with rheumatoid arthritis. Two hypotheses were made. The blunting hypothesis predicted that NIE would nullify the beneficial influence of PIE on outcome measures, and the buffering hypothesis predicted that PIE would offset the adverse influence of NIE. Design: Participants completed up to 30 consecutive daily diaries. Multilevel modeling was used to examine the day-to-day dependencies among study variables. Main Outcome Measures: The primary outcomes were daily negative affect and fatigue. Results: In support of the blunting hypothesis, on days when NIE were diminished, PIE were associated with a greater reduction in fatigue. In contrast, consistent with the buffering hypothesis, on days when PIE were elevated, NIE were associated with a lesser increase in negative affect. Conclusion: The examination of concurrent PIE and NIE provides a unique perspective on the role of interpersonal events in affective and physiological outcomes, beyond that which can be gained from the examination of either type of event in isolation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)