Self-esteem and the occupational stress process: Testing two alternative models in a sample of blue-collar workers.

Blue-collar workers (4,506 men and 939 women) participated in a survey comparing 2 alternative models, one assuming the level of self-esteem (SE) to result to a significant extent from the strain induced by occupational stressors and the other stating that the level of SE is a determinant of stressor perception and experienced strain. The results of multiple regression analyses did not support the latter model, whereas the 1st model was partially supported: Monotony was associated with increased strain and decreased SE among younger (≤ 35 yrs) male participants and older (≥ 35 yrs) female participants. These observations were made in the context of psychological strain symptoms but not in the context of physiological strain symptoms. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Traffic congestion, Type A behavior, and stress.

Conducted a quasiexperimental study to assess the effects of routine exposure to traffic congestion on the mood, physiology, and task performance of automobile commuters. Traffic congestion was conceptualized as an environmental stressor that impedes one's movement between 2 or more points. 61 male and 39 female industrial employees were assigned to low-, medium-, or high-impedance groups on the basis of the distance and duration of their commute and were classified as either Type A or Type B on the Jenkins Activity Survey, a measure of coronary-prone behavior. As expected, subjective reports of traffic congestion and annoyance were greater among high- and medium-impedance commuters than among low-impedance individuals. Also, commuting distance, commuting time, travel speed, and number of months enroute were significantly correlated with systolic and diastolic blood pressure. Contrary to prediction, medium-impedance A's and high-impedance B's exhibited the highest levels of systolic blood pressure and the lowest levels of frustration tolerance among all experimental groups. Results are discussed in terms of the degree of congruity between commuters' expectancies and experiences of travel constraints. (48 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Aging and everyday memory: A cross-cultural study.

Performance on computer-simulated, everyday memory tasks was found to deteriorate with age in 434 Belgian (aged 14–88 yrs) and 434 American Ss matched on gender and age. This age-related memory decline was reasonably consistent across samples. Difficulties in cross-cultural research and the advantages of ecologically valid measurement instruments are discussed. Instruments included a grocery list selective reminding test, the Wechsler Memory Scale, the Benton Visual Retention Test, and the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social support and the impact of job loss in dislocated blue-collar workers.

Direct and buffering effects of social support were investigated for 41 persons who worked in the timber industry an average of 14 yrs before losing their job because of layoffs. Severity of financial concerns and length of unemployment were assessed as stressors. Locus of control, self-esteem, depression, and global psychological symptoms (Brief Symptom Inventory) were examined as stress symptoms. The 6 types of support measured by the Social Provisions Scale (C. E. Cutrona and D. W. Russell, 1987, 1990) were tested for direct effects on stress symptoms and for interaction (buffering) effects with the stressors in predicting symptoms. Financial concerns and several types of support had strong direct effects on symptoms. Significant buffering effects were found for reassurance of worth support, which provides persons with the sense that others acknowledge their competencies and abilities. Strategies to increase this type of support are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Children's gender-related inferences and judgments: A cross-cultural study.

This study compared the gender-related inferences and judgments of elementary school children (N?=?542) of 2 different age groups (3rd graders and 5th graders) from 2 different cultures: Taiwan, a traditional collectivistic culture, and Israel, an individualistic and less traditional culture. The children were presented with 4 stories, 2 about a male target and 2 about a female target with either traditionally masculine or traditionally feminine interests, and were asked to make cognitive and emotional-motivational inferences and judgments about them. Culture played an important role in children's gender-related inferences and judgments. Specifically, Taiwanese children distinguished more than did Israeli children between male targets behaving stereotypically and counterstereotypically. The findings are analyzed within the framework of the differences between the 2 cultures. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Control over stress, Type A behavior pattern, and response to stress.

Examined (a) differences in physiological response of Type A and Type B individuals to conditions that varied in both controllability and consistency of controllability over an aversive stimulus and (b) whether Type A relative to Type B individuals use more denial and/or projection in cognitively coping with arousing situations as well as whether they differ in being preoccupied in such situations. 96 male undergraduates were randomly assigned to 1 of 4 conditions: no control over shock, consistent control over shock, intermittent control over shock, and low stress. Type A and B behaviors were assessed with the Activity scale of the Thurstone Temperament Schedule. Results indicated that relative to Type B Ss, Type A's manifested (a) greater pulse rates and systolic and diastolic blood pressure in the consistent control condition, (b) greater systolic blood pressure in the no-control condition, and (c) greater diastolic blood pressure in the intermittent control condition. Type A's also used more denial and projection across the 3 high-stress conditions but did not differ in how preoccupied they were as compared to Type B's. (39 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A cross-cultural study of achievement motivation.

The CPI has shown promise in American studies of scholastic achievement, contrasting with typical findings in predicting achievement from personality appraisals. A theoretical issue concerns choice of concepts, whether these should reflect states of distress and disturbance or differential components of interpersonal adequacy. In the latter vein, the CPI emphasizes positive variables of presumably universal relevance. A study of academic achievement in Italy was undertaken, testing 204 males and 137 females from 4 high schools in 3 cities. The achievement motive scales of the CPI (Ac and Ai) correlated +.32 and +.35 with grades for males and +.33 and +.29 for females. A multiple regression equation including Ac, Ai, and Fx gave predictive validities of +.43 and +.45. (18 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Work-related risk factors and employee substance use: Insights from a sample of Israeli blue-collar workers.

Although studies have found evidence that certain workplace conditions in North American enterprises may serve as risk factors for alcohol and illicit drug use, little is known regarding the generalizability of these findings to enterprises in other countries. To address this gap, we collected data from a random sample of 569 blue-collar workers employed in nine different facilities of one of Israel's largest manufacturing firms. The results of zero-inflated Poisson and ordered probit regressions partly confirmed earlier findings reported in North America, with a heightened rate of a substance use among those perceiving (a) more permissive drinking norms, (b) lower supervisor ability to handle substance use problems, (c) greater exposure to job hazards, and (d) lower levels of coworker interactions. Permissive drinking norms were also found to moderate the associations between the other risk factors and substance use. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Type A behavior and aspirations: A study of parents' and children's goal setting.

Although Type A behavior is recognized as an independent risk factor for coronary heart disease, little is known about its antecedents. In order to learn more about the achievement-striving component of Type A, this study investigated both children's goal setting and their parents' aspirations. Type A children did not have higher aspirations than did Type B children for their performance on an experimental task. Examination of parental aspirations as correlates of Type A scores in two samples of children indicated that mothers did not report different aspirations for their Type A and Type B children. However, fathers did report setting high goals for their Type A sons and perceived that these goals were not attained by them. Paternal aspirations were not consistently related to Type A behavior in daughters. These findings suggest that the father may play an important role in the development of Type A behavior in sons. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stress, coping and psychological illness: A cross-cultural study.

This cross-cultural research study aimed to explore the relationship of stress and coping with psychological illness or symptoms among university students in Canada and India. The predictor variables were stress (hassles and life experience), 8 ways of coping (Folkman & Lazarus, 1988), and selected personal-social variables, namely, locus of control, self-esteem, and social support. The criterion variables were 9 psychological symptoms of the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI; Derogatis & Spencer, 1982). The results revealed that the Indian students reported more psychological symptoms compared to the Canadian students. Stepwise multiple-regression analyses also revealed considerable differences between the 2 samples with respect to the contribution of predictor variables in accounting for variance in the BSI scales. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Gender differences in beliefs and achievement: A cross-cultural study.

Gender differences on tests of achievement in reading and mathematics, and on tests of cognitive ability, were assessed. Ss were children in kindergarten and Grades 1 and 5 in elementary schools in Taiwan, Japan, and the US (ns?=?1,975 to 4,266). Few gender differences were observed on curriculum-based tests of math computation and reading. Boys were more effective, however, in solving word problems and in answering questions involving estimation, visualization, and measurement. Cognitive tests revealed some gender differences at the 5th-grade level in all 3 cultures. Children and their mothers tended, as early as the 1st grade, to believe that boys were better at math and girls were better at reading. Children in the 3 cultures differed consistently in their scores in reading and math, but there were very few interactions between gender and location. The lack of frequent significant interactions between gender and location indicated the gender effects for both achievement scores and ratings were equivalent across Chinese, Japanese, and American contexts. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Type A behavior, components, and outcomes: A study of Canadian employees.

This study examined the relationship of global Type A behavior and its components (time pressure and hard-driving competitiveness) with individual and organizational outcomes. Data were collected by means of a structured questionnaire from hospital employees (n=175) and telecommunication employees (n=110) in a large Canadian city. Global Type A behavior and its 2 components were significantly related to job stress, health problems, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and turnover motivation in both samples. Limited support for the differential effects of Type A component measures on outcomes was found. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A cross-cultural study of correlates of crime.

In a sample of 48 nonliterate societies, frequency of theft and personal crime were separately correlated wtih a number of variables which were suspected to be casual factors in the development of crime. Lack or limitation of opportunity for the young boy to form an identification with his father was associated with both types of crime. A high degree of socialization anxiety in childhood and a high degree of status differentiation in adulthood were significantly associated with theft only; a general adult attitude of suspicion and distrust was more decidedly associated with personal crime. (17 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interest in ethnic information: A cross-cultural developmental study.

A total of 159 White, Indian, and Chinese Canadian kindergartners and 1st graders were introduced to 3 picture book characters from each of 5 ethnic groups: Indian, Black, White, Chinese, and Eskimo. These books were then used as stimulus materials for measuring the children's self-identification, information seeking, role taking, and social perception. The information-seeking measures were found to be related in a very minor way to attitude. However, it is proposed that the stage of development of self-identification influenced the child's selection of ethnic information. (French summary) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A cross-cultural study of industrial research performance.

To determine the cultural generality of selected U.S. findings, questionnaire data covering working environment, job behavior, and personal history variables were obtained from 220 British scientists. Responses for 120 Ss were analyzed against 3 criteria of research performance: (1) supervisory ratings of research creativity, (2) number of patent specifications, and (3) number of technical publications. The significant variables for each criterion were used to develop scoring keys which were cross-validated on the remaining 100 scientists. The resulting tetrachoric correlations were .64, .73, and .60 for rated creativity, patents, and publications, respectively. Examples of significant items are presented and the findings are related to prior U.S. studies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Type A behavior, personality hardiness, and cardiovascular responses to stress.

Type A behavior and hardiness were examined as predictors of cardiovascular responses to stress in 68 male undergraduates. Systolic and diastolic blood pressure (SBP and DBP) and heart rate were monitored while subjects performed a difficult mirror-tracing task. Type A assessments based on the Structured Interview, but not those based on the Jenkins Activity Survey, were associated with significantly enhanced SBP and DBP elevations. Hardiness was associated with significantly reduced DBP responsiveness. In addition, a significant interaction indicated that the Type B-high hardiness group showed the least DBP reactivity. A near-significant interaction (p?=?.06) suggested that Type B-high hardiness subjects also reported the least anger. Further exploration of the data indicated that the challenge component of hardiness accounted for its relationship to DBP reactivity. These results have implications both for the psychophysiologic study of Type A behavior and for understanding the health-promoting effects of hardiness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex differences in occupational stress: A meta-analytic review.

Meta-analysis was performed on 15 studies that examined sex differences in occupational stress. Contrary to previous qualitative literature reviews, these results indicate that there are no sex differences in experienced and perceived work stress. Moderator analyses were conducted. Because null results were obtained, a discussion of empirical and theoretical shortcomings in the sex-occupational stress literature was presented for consideration by future researchers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of occupational stress management intervention programs: A meta-analysis.

A meta-analysis was conducted to determine the effectiveness of stress management interventions in occupational settings. Thirty-six experimental studies were included, representing 55 interventions. Total sample size was 2,847. Of the participants, 59% were female, mean age was 35.4, and average length of intervention was 7.4 weeks. The overall weighted effect size (Cohen's d) for all studies was 0.526 (95% confidence interval = 0.364, 0.687), a significant medium to large effect. Interventions were coded as cognitive-behavioral, relaxation, organizational, multimodal, or alternative. Analyses based on these subgroups suggested that intervention type played a moderating role. Cognitive-behavioral programs consistently produced larger effects than other types of interventions, but if additional treatment components were added the effect was reduced. Within the sample of studies, relaxation interventions were most frequently used, and organizational interventions continued to be scarce. Effects were based mainly on psychological outcome variables, as opposed to physiological or organizational measures. The examination of additional moderators such as treatment length, outcome variable, and occupation did not reveal significant variations in effect size by intervention type. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A study of occupational stereotypes.

124 college students checked 5 of a list of 112 adjectives that best described members of each of 10 occupational groups. The correlation between degree of stereotypy (index based on frequency of adjective choices) and order of preference for the occupations was 0.79. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)