The role of gender and negative affectivity in stressor appraisal and coping selection.

Individual differences in stress may arise from many sources. This study investigated the role of gender and negative affectivity (NA) in stressor appraisal and coping selection. Differential exposure to stressors was controlled by requiring participants to rate the stressfulness of identical hypothetical scenarios. As predicted, women rated the scenarios as more stressful than men, and perceptions of stressfulness increased with participant NA. Women endorsed the use of emotion-focused coping strategies more than men, even when perceived stressfulness was controlled. NA predicted use of both emotion- and avoidance-focused coping, although only the latter association remained significant after controlling for stressor appraisals. Gender × NA interaction effects were not significant. Implications for the prediction and management of stress are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Positive affectivity and negative outcomes: the role of tenure and job satisfaction

In this study, the authors proposed and tested a 3-way interaction among positive affectivity (PA), job satisfaction, and tenure in predicting negative employee outcomes. Specifically, the authors predicted that the relationship between job satisfaction and negative outcomes would be stronger for high PAs and that this relationship would be more pronounced for longer tenured employees. Results support this 3-way interaction in predicting job search behavior, physical health complaints, and counterproductive employee behavior. In particular, the relationship between job satisfaction and negative outcomes was most strongly negative for high-PA individuals with longer tenure. The authors discuss the implications of these results and some directions for future research.     

High-quality work, job satisfaction, and occupational injuries.

The authors investigated whether and how 1 element of a high-performance work system, namely high-quality jobs (composed of extensive training, variety, and autonomy), affects occupational injuries. On the basis of data from the Australian WIRS95 database (N = 16,466; Department of Workplace Relations and Small Business, 1997), high-quality jobs exerted a direct effect on injuries and an indirect effect through the mediating influence of job satisfaction. Conceptual, methodological, and practical issues are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Responses to formal performance appraisal feedback: The role of negative affectivity.

This study examined the effects of performance appraisal feedback on job and organizational attitudes of tellers (N=329) in a large international bank. Negative affectivity moderated the link between favorable appraisal feedback and job attitudes. Among the higher rated performers, attitudes were improved 1 month after being notified of favorable appraisal results (Time 2). Improved attitudes persisted 6 months after the performance appraisal (Time 3) among tellers with low negative affectivity but not among those with high negative affectivity. Among the lower rated performers, mean levels of attitudes did not change significantly during the study. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relation of negative affectivity to self-reports of job stressors and psychological outcomes.

A total of 250 new women teachers participated in a longitudinal study of the influence of negative affectivity (NA) on the relation of self-report work-environment measures to psychological outcomes. Three "neutrally worded" work-environment measures were specially constructed to minimize confounding with NA. The work-environment measures were moderately related to postemployment depressive symptoms, job satisfaction, and, among Whites but not among a principally Black and Hispanic subsample, motivation. Correlation and regression coefficients were largely unchanged when the preemployment psychophysiologic symptoms scale and the Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression Scale (L. S. Radloff; see record 1979-10129-001), factors that tap NA, were controlled. Findings suggest NA does not overly distort the relation of some self-report work-environment measures to depressive symptoms, satisfaction, and motivation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Coping, negative affectivity, and the work environment: Additive and interactive predictors of mental health.

The present study tested the hypothesis that direct coping would moderate relations between work stress and mental health outcome, whereas suppression (a form of emotion-focused coping) would show an overall effect on outcome. Data on coping, perceived work demand and support, and affective symptoms were obtained from trainee teachers (N?=?157). The results supported the hypothesis. Gender differences also were observed; men reported more use of suppression than did women. In addition, negative affectivity (NA) was examined as a confounding variable and as an index of reactivity in stress–outcome relations. NA acted to inflate associations between work perceptions and affective symptoms, but it was also a significant moderator variable; high NA subjects showed greater reactivity to work demand than did low NA subjects. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On the role of positive and negative affectivity in job performance: A meta-analytic investigation.

Although interest regarding the role of dispositional affect in job behaviors has surged in recent years, the true magnitude of affectivity's influence remains unknown. To address this issue, the authors conducted a qualitative and quantitative review of the relationships between positive and negative affectivity (PA and NA, respectively) and various performance dimensions. A series of meta-analyses based on 57 primary studies indicated that PA and NA predicted task performance in the hypothesized directions and that the relationships were strongest for subjectively rated versus objectively rated performance. In addition, PA was related to organizational citizenship behaviors but not withdrawal behaviors, and NA was related to organizational citizenship behaviors, withdrawal behaviors, counterproductive work behaviors, and occupational injury. Mediational analyses revealed that affect operated through different mechanisms in influencing the various performance dimensions. Regression analyses documented that PA and NA uniquely predicted task performance but that extraversion and neuroticism did not, when the four were considered simultaneously. Discussion focuses on the theoretical and practical implications of these findings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Symposium: Family caregiving to dependent older adults: Stress, appraisal, and coping.

Articles presented in this 1987 APA symposium adopt a stress, appraisal, and coping framework for conceptualizing the experience of family caregiving. Each article emphasizes 2 themes: (a) caregivers' adaptation to the chronic demands of in-home caregiving and (b) factors that mediate the relationship between caregiving stress and caregiver's adaptation. The articles presented in this symposium illustrate both the utility of this theoretical approach to studying caregiving stress and the difficulty inherent in its use. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The role of negative affectivity in the association between attributions and marital satisfaction.

Structural equation modeling with latent variables was used to test whether negative affectivity, or the cross-situational tendency to experience and express negative thoughts and feelings, correlates with spouses' attributions for relationship events and accounts for the association between attributions and satisfaction. 80 married couples completed measures of marital satisfaction, attributions, and negative affectivity. Spouses high in negative affectivity tended to make maladaptive attributions, but spouses' attributions were unrelated to the level of negative affectivity reported by the partner. Attributions and marital satisfaction remained associated among husbands and wives after controlling for negative affectivity. These findings clarify the link between attributions and marital satisfaction and raise the possibility that negative affectivity contributes to the attributions that spouses make for negative events in marriage. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stress, appraisal, and coping in child sexual abuse: A theoretical and empirical review.

A review of theories to predict the mental health effects of child sexual abuse suggests that existing models have not adequately defined stress and coping constructs and have not specified how those variables might interact with other environmental factors. This article outlines a transactional model that conceptualizes sexual abuse as a stressor consisting of a series of abuse events, abuse-related events, and disclosure-related events that each tend to increase risk for maladaptive outcomes. The model also proposes that cognitive appraisals and coping responses mediate the effects of these events, that developmental and environmental factors may moderate relationships between sexual abuse stressors and victim responses, and that victims' initial responses may effect subsequent levels of abuse-related stress. Empirical studies relevant to the major components of this model are reviewed, and the implications of these findings for future research are considered. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Expectancy models of job satisfaction, occupational preference and effort: A theoretical, methodological, and empirical appraisal.

The development and refinement of expectancy theory is described, and empirical support for the valence and effort models is reviewed. Findings indicate more support for the former model than the latter one. A number of methodological, empirical, and theoretical issues are raised and discussed. It is stressed that conceptualizations and applications of the theory have been poorly designed. A variety of remedies are suggested. (78 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stress, coping, and marital satisfaction in couples with a depressed wife.

Evaluated the relationships among psychological distress, perceived stress, marital satisfaction, and coping in 20 couples in which the pregnant wife suffered major depression, 20 couples in which the pregnant wife suffered minor depression, and 40 control couples in which the pregnant wife was nondepressed. Consistent with a systems conceptualization of depression, the depressed Ss and their husbands both reported greater dissatisfaction in their marriages and used more dysfunctional coping strategies than did the nondepressed control couples. Whereas both the minor and major depressed Ss differed from the nondepressed Ss with respect to psychological distress and perceived stress, only husbands of the minor depressed Ss differed significantly on these measures from husbands of the nondepressed Ss, reporting greater distress and a higher level of perceived stress. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Status, job satisfaction, and factors of job satisfaction of state institution and clinic psychologists.

"In this report we will compare psychologists with other mental hygiene professionals—psychologists in state schools and hospitals with psychologists in clinics." Ss were 80 psychiatrists, 80 psychologists, 80 social workers, 80 teachers, 80 nurses (40 of each group in state institutions and 40 in nonstate institutions) and, in addition, 59 upper middle class and 51 lower middle class Ss. There is "limited support for the hypothesis which states that status and job satisfaction are related." The hypothesis that "the status of state institution psychologists is lower than that of clinic psychologists, is generally substantiated." The hypothesis that "there are differences in the job satisfaction of the two groups of psychologists finds some support." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stress and health outcomes: The mediating role of negative affectivity in female health care workers.

The current study explored the interrelationships among occupational stress, family stress, poor physical health, and psychological distress and examined the mediating role of negative affectivity (NA) in the stress and health process. A cross-sectional, nonexperimental design was used and a convenience sample of 271 female health care workers was recruited from northeastern Ohio. Data were collected with a self-reported questionnaire, scanned using Teleform Software, and electronically transferred to the SPSS format. Data analyses were performed in three separate phases: preliminary, measurement model, and structural model analyses (using structural equation modeling). Results suggested that occupational stress had a significant effect on psychological distress, and family stress had a significant impact on both poor physical health and psychological distress. NA partially mediated the effect of occupational stress on psychological distress. The effects of family stress on poor physical health and psychological distress were also partially mediated through NA. The indirect to total effect ratios were 30%, 17.15%, and 28%, respectively. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Correctional psychologist burnout, job satisfaction, and life satisfaction.

Corrections is a stressful environment, but do correctional psychologists experience greater levels of occupational burnout and life stress than other public sector and nonpublic sector psychologists? Data collected from 203 doctoral level psychologists including correctional (CR; n = 44), Veteran's Affairs (VA; n = 56), public psychiatric hospital (PPH; n = 54), and university counseling centers (CC; n = 49) indicated that CR psychologists do experience significantly more occupational burnout relative to VA and CC psychologists. Furthermore, CR and PPH psychologists reported significantly less job satisfaction than CC psychologists. Although psychologists working in PPH settings reported significantly lower levels of life satisfaction than VA and CC psychologists this was not the case for CR psychologists. Professional identity related to occupational setting emerged as a significant predictor of occupational burnout. Implications of these findings are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relationships of job and family involvement, family social support, and work–family conflict with job and life satisfaction.

A model of the relationship between work and family that incorporates variables from both the work-family conflict and social support literatures was developed and empirically tested. This model related bidirectional work-family conflict, family instrumental and emotional social support, and job and family involvement to job and life satisfaction. Data came from 163 workers who were living with at least 1 family member. Results suggested that relationships between work and family can have an important effect on job and life satisfaction and that the level of involvement the worker assigns to work and family roles is associated with this relationship. The results also suggested that the relationship between work and family can be simultaneously characterized by conflict and support. Higher levels of work interfering with family predicted lower levels of family emotional and instrumental support. Higher levels of family emotional and instrumental support were associated with lower levels of family interfering with work. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stress, appraisal, coping, and social support as predictors of adaptational outcome among dementia caregivers.

A stress and coping model was used to study predictors of individual differences in caregiver adaptation. A total of 54 family caregivers of elderly dementia patients completed interviews and questionnaires assessing the severity of patient impairment and caregiving stressors; caregiver appraisals, coping responses, and social support and activity; and caregiver outcomes, including depression, life satisfaction, and self-rated health. Correlational and regression analyses supported the utility of the stress and coping model. Appraisal, coping responses, and social support and activity were significant predictors of caregiver outcome, even when severity of caregiving stressors was statistically controlled. The importance of a multidimensional approach to assessing caregiver outcomes was supported by regression analyses indicating that each caregiver outcome was predicted by different patterns of stressors, appraisal, coping, and social support and activity. Results are discussed in terms of a stress and coping model of caregiving, and clinical implications for work with caregiving families. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Dimensions of work satisfaction in the occupational choices of college freshmen.

Intercorrelations among 21 items presumed to cover 3 areas of work satisfaction, based on responses of 200 college freshmen, were subjected to a cluster analysis. 3 independent factors emerged: managerial-aggressive, status-need, and organization-need. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Should negative affectivity remain an unmeasured variable in the study of job stress?

We predicted that the dispositional construct negative affectivity (NA) would be related to self-report measures of job stress and job strain and that observed relationships between these stress and strain measures would be inflated considerably by NA. Results of a study of 497 managers and professionals were largely consistent with those expectations. Thus, we discuss implications for NA as both a methodological nuisance and a substantive cause of stressful work events, and conclude that NA should no longer remain an unmeasured variable in the study of job stress. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)