Some methodological considerations for the behavioral genetic analysis of work attitudes.

In a recent article, R. D. Arvey et al (see record 1989-25020-001) argued that about 30% of the variance in job satisfaction was accounted for by workers' genetic make-ups. To demonstrate this, they examined a group of monozygotic twins who had been reared apart. Although this method has been used widely in behavioral genetic research, it contains many hidden threats to validity, which could render suspect numerical estimates of either environmental or genetic effects. We examine some of the threats associated with this type of twin research, emphasizing the problems involved in quantifying the heritability of job satisfaction. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Importance of shared genes and shared environments for symptoms of depression in older adults.

The Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression scale was administered to 68 identical and 161 fraternal twin pairs reared apart and 114 identical and 138 fraternal pairs reared together to ascertain relative genetic and environmental contributions to individual differences in self-reported depressive symptoms. Intraclass correlations and model fitting indicated that genetic influences explained 16% of the variance in the total depression scores and 19% for the Psychomotor Retardation and Somatic Complaints subscale, but heritability was minimal for the Depressed Mood and Well-Being subscales. Influence of family rearing context played a substantial role in explaining twin similarity, whereas unique life experiences accounted for the greatest proportion of variance. Significant age group differences were observed, with heritability greater in twins of 60 years of age or older than in twins under 60, especially for Psychomotor Retardation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Heritability of interests: a twin study

The authors administered inventories of vocational and recreational interests and talents to 924 pairs of twins who had been reared together and to 92 pairs separated in infancy and reared apart. Factor analysis of all 291 items yielded 39 identifiable factors and 11 superfactors. The data indicated that about 50% of interests variance (about two thirds of the stable variance) was associated with genetic variation. The authors show that heritability can be conservatively estimated from the within-pair correlations of adult monozygotic twins reared together. Evidence for nonadditive genetic effects on interests may explain why heritability estimates based on family studies are so much lower. The authors propose a model in which precursor traits of aptitude and personality, in part genetically determined, guide the development of interests through the mechanisms of gene-environment correlation and interaction.     

Inheritance of general intelligence.

Describes the author's extensive research of the relative influence of hereditary factors on general cognitive ability. Analysis of measures of intelligence for family members related by varying degrees of kinship identified 4 types of factors: common and specific genetic and environmental influences. A model was then developed to represent the mode of mental inheritance, based on the theory of polygenic inheritance of bodily characteristics. The total phenotypic variance was divided into 4 mathematical components, represented by correlations between (a) monozygotic twins reared apart (genetic factor), (b) children and 1 of their parents (dominance factor), (c) fathers and mothers (assortative mating factor), and (d) monozygotic twins reared together and those reared apart (environmental factor). Application of the equation to actual data indicates that intelligence and bodily characteristics are influenced to much the same extent by very similar genetic characteristics. It is concluded that there is a general factor which enters into every type of cognitive process and differs according to the individual's genetic constitution. (40 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Afferent mechanism of cortical myoclonus studied by proprioception-related SEPs

This questionnaire study examined perceived sources of stress and satisfaction at work among 121 mental health staff members. Five factors were derived from principal component analysis of sources of work stress items (stress from: role, poor support, clients, future, and overload), and accounted for 70% of the total variance. Four factors were derived from the items related to sources of job satisfaction (satisfaction from: career, working with people, management, and money), accounting for 68% of the variance. The associations of these factors with sociodemographic and job characteristics were examined, and they were entered as explanatory variables into regression models predicting mental health, burnout, and job satisfaction. Stress from "overload" was associated with being based outside an in-patient ward, and with emotional exhaustion and worse mental health. Stress related to the "future" was associated with not being white. Stress from "clients" was associated with the "depersonalization" component of burnout. Higher job satisfaction was associated with "management" and "working with people" as sources of satisfaction, whereas emotional exhaustion and poorer mental health were associated with less "career" satisfaction.     

Augmentation of therapeutic antitumor immunity by B16F10 melanoma cells transfected by interferon-gamma and allogeneic MHC class I cDNAs

A sample of 66 monozyogtic twins reared apart (MZA) and 51 dizygotic twins reared apart (DZA), and 101 nontwin individuals (mostly spouses of the twins) who participated in the Minnesota Study of Twins Reared Apart (MISTRA) from 1979 to 1995 completed a self-report food frequency questionnaire. Intraclass-correlations and model-fitting analyses indicated that approximately 30% of the variance in the self-report of diet was attributable to genetic factors, with random environmental factors and measurement error responsible for the remaining variance. Spouse correlations were moderate. To investigate the effects of living together during marriage, the absolute differences between husband and wife on the dietary variables with years of marriage were correlated. None of the correlations were significant. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses also indicated that no convergence occurred during marriage. These results suggest that sharing a current family environment exerts minimal influence on individual differences in self-reported diet.     

Discriminant validation of measures of job satisfaction, job involvement, and organizational commitment.

Discriminant validity of measures of job satisfaction, job involvement, and organizational commitment was empirically evaluated using data collected from a sample of 577 full-time employees of a 327-bed Veterans Administration Medical Center. The {lisrel vi} computer program was used to conduct a confirmatory factor analysis of items from measures of these three concepts and to evaluate relations between other job-related variables and the three attitudinal measures. Results of these analyses indicated that the measures of job satisfaction, job involvement, and organizational commitment assess empirically distinct concepts. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Pay, equity, job gratifications, and comparisons in pay satisfaction.

In an investigation of the determinants of pay satisfaction, we held telephone interviews with 248 fully employed men in Dane County, Wisconsin, asking about their income, job satisfaction, and other economic and demographic matters. The social and industrial-organizational psychology literature suggests that pay satisfaction could be influenced by at least four major considerations: the economic benefits received on the job, the extent to which earnings are regarded as fair or deserved, comparisons with other people's pay, and noneconomic job satisfactions. Measures of these possible determinants were established by a factor analysis of 29 items, and the index of pay satisfaction was based on another factor analysis of 8 items. Using these factors and several demographic variables in a multiple regression analysis, we found that three of our four types of psychological determinants made major contributions to predicting pay satisfaction, with the most powerful set of predictors being equity considerations, although material benefits associated with living standards and intrinsic job satisfaction were also major predictors. Social comparisons contributed virtually nothing. Small, significant effects were found for age, occupation, education, and past unemployment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Satisfactions and interests.

The problem of defining satisfaction and the difficulties in distinguishing interests and satisfactions are indicated. "Aside from the final, consummatory activity, satisfaction cannot be identified in terms of activities, as can interests… . Because opinion items are not as stable as interest items, it is doubtful that they can be as useful as interest items in predicting future behavior." 5 characteristics of interests are that they: are acquired, are persistent, vary in intensity, function in acceptance-rejection behavior, are indicated in readiness to act. "Interest tests are diagnostic because no two persons have acquired the same lists of activities nor are the activities classified in the same manner as liked or disliked. Moreover, people engaged in an occupation have to a marked degree similar interests, and so people in one occupation can be differentiated from members of other occupations." Major topics are: job satisfaction and job success; opinion, attitude, interest, and satisfaction; measurement of motivation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On the heritability of job satisfaction: The mediating role of personality.

In this article the authors investigate the extent to which traits reflecting individual differences in personality and affectivity explain or mediate genetic influences on job satisfaction. Using estimates of the dispositional source of job satisfaction according to 2 dispositional frameworks--the five-factor model and positive affectivity-negative affectivity (PA-NA)--and behavioral-genetic estimates of the heritabilities of job satisfaction and the dispositional factors, the authors computed the proportion of genetic variance in job satisfaction that is explained by these trait frameworks. Results indicate that the affectivity model is a stronger mediator of genetic effects on job satisfaction than the five-factor model. PA and NA mediate about 45% of the genetic influences on job satisfaction, whereas the five-factor model mediates approximately 24% of these genetic effects. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Traits and metatraits: Their reliability, stability, and shared genetic influence.

Metatraits measure individual differences in construct relevancy, whereas traits measure individual differences in construct extremity. 24 traits and metatraits were examined in this study using 157 pairs of identical twins reared together, 95 pairs of identical twins reared apart, 211 pairs of fraternal twins reared together, and 228 pairs of fraternal twins reared apart obtained from the Swedish Adoption/Twin Study of Aging (see N. L. Pedersen et al, 1991). Reliability and stability analyses of the metatraits revealed generally lower reliability and stability across time compared to traits. Quantitative genetic analyses of the relationship between traits and metatraits indicated that approximately 69% of the metatrait's genetic variance is shared with the trait, with 31% of its genetic variance unique to the metatrait. These results suggest that metatraits provide a useful additional view of personality. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Does affective disposition moderate the relationship between job satisfaction and voluntary turnover?

J. Weitz (1952) argued that job dissatisfaction would be more predictive of turnover if it was considered in light of an individual's predisposition to be satisfied with everyday life events. In the present study it was hypothesized that affective disposition moderates the relationship between job satisfaction and voluntary turnover. With data collected from a sample of nurses, support was indicated for the hypothesis. The more positive the disposition of the individual, the stronger the relationship that was observed between job dissatisfaction and turnover. Furthermore, individuals dissatisfied with their jobs but positively disposed to life in general were the individuals most likely to quit. Implications of the results for future research and practice are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Neuroticism, extraversion, and related traits in adult twins reared apart and reared together.

The relative importance of genetic and environmental factors for neuroticism, extraversion, and impulsivity, and monotony avoidance were estimated in a sample of 99 monozygotic and 229 dizygotic pairs of twins reared apart (TRA) and a matched sample of 160 monozygotic and 212 dizygotic pairs of twins reared together (TRT). The average age was 58.6 (SD?=?13.6); 72% of the twins were 50 or older. Model-fitting analyses verified the importance of genetic factors for all four measures; from 23% to 45% of the total variation was attributable to genetic sources. There was considerable evidence that these factors were operating in a nonadditive manner for extraversion and impulsivity. Shared environment accounted for less than 10% of the variance, some evidence for selective placement was found for neuroticism. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Subordinate participation and reactions to the appraisal interview.

Conducted 2 studies which examined relationships of subordinate participation in an appraisal interview to reactions to the appraisal and subordinate satisfaction. In Study 1, 25 managers rated their last appraisal on (a) helpfulness and (b) the Wexley et al measure of psychological participation, and then rated their overall satisfaction with supervision. The lack of significant intercorrelations among the psychological participation items indicated that different concepts of participation were represented. Items representing participation in interaction correlated significantly with appraisal helpfulness and satisfaction, while control of goal setting did not correlate significantly. In a 2nd field study, 56 hourly employees and 1st-level managers in a bank rated (a) their appraisal on certain characteristics, (b) their satisfaction with the appraisal, and (c) their job satisfaction. The invitation to participate was most predictive of appraisal satisfaction. The occurrence of goal setting correlated significantly with both appraisal and job satisfaction. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

EAS temperaments during the last half of the life span: Twins reared apart and twins reared together.

In this first behavioral genetic study of personality in the last half of the life span, results are reported using the powerful adoption/twin design that compares identical and fraternal twins reared apart and identical and fraternal twins reared together. Traits studied were the EAS temperaments (emotionality, activity level, and sociability), traits that show substantial genetic influence in childhood. It was hypothesized that the EAS traits would also show significant genetic influence later in life and that most of the environmental variation would be nonshared—that is, twins reared together would show no greater resemblance for the EAS traits than twins reared apart. Both hypotheses are supported. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Incremental validity of an empirically based measure of job characteristics.

We tested the assertion of Stone and Gueutal (1985) that an empirically based measure of job characteristics can explain more of the variance in job satisfaction criteria than measures based on a priori formulations. Our second purpose was to assess whether job satisfaction mediates the relation between job characteristics and intent to leave. Surveys were administered to 742 male and female employees of a chemical manufacturing company. Results of multivariate analyses indicated that (a) job dimensions not considered by the frequently used Motivating Potential Score (MPS) operational definition of job scope contributed significantly to the explanation of variance in satisfaction with the work itself, satisfaction with other job facets, and general job satisfaction (p?p?p?     

Job satisfaction reconsidered.

Discusses 6 latent assumptions underlying current research on job satisfaction and analyzes their role in producing incomplete and unrealistic approaches to job satisfaction. It is suggested that these assumptions have induced researchers to (a) overlook important barriers to job satisfaction and sources of intrinsic satisfaction, (b) underestimate the importance of extrinsic sources of satisfaction, and (c) ignore the powerlessness→ alienation hypothesis. New topics for research and new roles for psychologists are suggested as steps toward the development of more comprehensive approaches to job satisfaction. Some speculations about the implications of the analysis for applied social science in general are advanced. (40 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Work-group versus individual differences in attitude.

To determine the relative magnitude of group and individual differences in job attitudes, responses to a 20-item Likert-type attitude scale were obtained from 190 employees, sampled from 38 work groups in 3 manufacturing plants. The hypothesis that the work groups did not differ in job attitudes was tested by an analysis of variance. The observed work-group differences in attitudes were not significant, and the lowest and highest work-group means in each of the 3 plants were not significantly far apart. In these 3 plants, at least, the more appropriate unit for administrative action or for research study on employee attitudes seems to be the individual, not the work group. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of community characteristics on measures of job satisfaction.

Data concerning various aspects of female clerical workers' job satisfaction and group productivity were gathered from the employees of 300 catalog order establishments. Measures were also obtained of the prosperity, unemployment, slums, productive farming, and decrepitude of the communities in which the catalog order establishments were located. Analysis of these data indicated: (1) average satisfaction scores and group productivity were unrelated in general, (2) satisfaction scores were negatively related to community prosperity, and (3) pay satisfaction scores tended to be more negatively related to community prosperity than did other aspects of job satisfaction. An explanation of these findings in terms of frames of reference and alternatives available to the workers is offered. (17 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)