The Effects of Work-Related and Boundary-Related Stress on the Emotional and Physical Health Status of Ordained Clergy

This research is the second component of a three-part series that explores the relationship between stress and health in the clerical profession. The first article (Wells, Journal of Religion and Health 51(1):215–30, 2012) determined that there is an association between two different sources of stress in the clerical profession (work-related stress and boundary-related stress). This research explores the association between these two sources of stress and two different measures of health (emotional health and physical health). Utilizing the same dataset from the previous research (Wells, Journal of Religion and Health 51(1):215–30, 2012), and simple and multiple regression, this research determined that there is a positive association between the two sources of stress (work-related stress and boundary-related stress) and the two measures of health (physical health and emotional health). African-American and obese clergy exhibited lower levels of physical health as stress increased. Clergy with children and those with higher levels of education exhibited lower levels of emotional health as stress increased. African-American clergy consistently exhibited higher levels of emotional health than their White colleagues did. Finally, age and length of time in ministry are associated with higher levels of emotional health but lower physical health status.     

The Moderating Effects of Congregational and Denominational Support on the Impact of Stress on Clerical Emotional and Physical Health Status

This research is the third component of a three-part series that explores the relationship between stress and health in the clerical profession. The first article (Wells J Relig Health 51:215–230, 2012) determined that there is an association between two different sources of stress in the clerical profession (work-related stress and boundary-related stress). The second article (Wells Pastor Psychol 62:101–114, 2013) determined that there is an association between the two sources of stress and two differing measures of health (emotional health and physical health). This third and final article establishes congregational and denominational support as possible moderators of the effects of both sources of stress on emotional and physical health. The same dataset utilized in the two previous studies is used in this research. Simple and multiple regression are utilized. This research determined that support from both the congregation and the denomination moderates or lessens the negative effects of stress on clerical health status.     

Work-related Stress,Self-efficacy,and Well-being of Female Clerical Workers

This study examines individual differences (self-efficacy, marital status) and environmental factors (work stressors, personal and work supports) as predictors of two measures of well-being (trait anxiety and work performance). The data were collected from 56 female clerical workers employed by a large university. Multiple regression analyses showed that individual differences and environmental factors were significant predictors of well-being. For the criterion variable trait anxiety, self-efficacy and perceptions of work stress significantly contributed to the explained variance. However, the relationship between work stress and trait anxiety was greater for single than for married women. Self-efficacy and perceptions of work stress also predicted work performance impairment; that is, women with diminished selfefficacy and high work stress tended to report greater impairment of work performance. These results are discussed in relation to an individual counseling approach to the study and remediation of work-related stress for female clerical workers.     

Make it to work (and back home) safely: the effect of psychological work stressors on employee behaviour while commuting by car

Despite empirical data suggesting that commuting accidents are a major problem worldwide, research on employee behaviour while commuting by car is scant. In particular, our understanding of the antecedents of unsafe commuting behaviour is limited mainly to demographic variables and work-related physical stressors. Our study addressed this lacuna by investigating the association between work-related psychological stressors and unsafe commuting behaviour. In addition, we developed and validated a scale for measuring commuting norms and considered the permissiveness of these norms as a mediator in the stressor-commuting behaviour association. The results, based on data collected from 216 employees in a large manufacturing plant at 2 points in time, indicated that abusive supervision and work–family conflict were both positively related to unsafe commuting behaviour, and that the permissiveness of commuting norms partially mediated these relationships. The potential role of work organizations in educating employees about commuting behaviour and driving safety is discussed.     

African American Professionals: Coping with Occupational Stress in Predominantly White Work Environments

Mail survey data from 112 African American professionals working in predominantly White work settings (human service and business) were examined to test hypotheses regarding the potential influences on job satisfaction of routine and race-related work stressors, personal workplace spirituality, internal locus of control, and work-related and nonwork related social resources. No significant differences of these variables were observed for type of work setting or for gender. Consistent with predictions, job satisfaction was related to routine work stressors, race-related stressors, internal locus of control, and work-related social support, but not to workplace spirituality or nonwork social support. Evidence was limited for predictions based on the buffer model: in only a few tests did personal and social resource variables moderate the relation between stressors and job satisfaction. Findings are discussed in relation to minority work stress.     

Technology‐Related Pressure and Work–Family Conflict: Main Effects and an Examination of Moderating Variables

With the increased use of computers for completing work, as well as the interconnectivity that the technology enables, more and more workers are experiencing technology‐related pressure. Although it is known that this pressure occurs, especially for employees who complete the majority of their work on computers, little is known about the outcomes that result from it. This study attempts to fill this void by examining work–family conflict (WFC) as a potential consequence stemming from technology‐related pressure. Additionally, we examine negative affectivity, social stressors, and job control as moderators of the technology‐related pressure/WFC association. We investigated these relationships in a sample of 283 workers, all of whom complete the majority of their work on the computer.     

工作家庭两不误为何这么难？基于工作家庭边界理论的探讨

为探讨工作家庭冲突对员工工作态度和行为倾向的影响, 以国内某大型制造企业集团位于北京、杭州、西安等地7家分公司的545名员工为样本, 采取问卷调查法在两个不同时段获取数据, 考察了角色压力(角色冲突、角色模糊和角色超载)在工作干涉家庭和家庭干涉工作这两种对偶冲突模式与员工工作满意度和离职意向之间的中介作用机制。结果显示：角色压力在工作家庭冲突与工作满意度和离职意向之间起到完全中介作用, 工作满意度在角色压力和离职意向之间起到部分中介作用。结论有助于分析工作家庭冲突的深层原因并采取恰当的干预策略, 降低工作家庭冲突对员工工作态度和行为倾向的负面影响。     

A META-ANALYSIS OF WORK DEMAND STRESSORS AND JOB PERFORMANCE: EXAMINING MAIN AND MODERATING EFFECTS

We quantitatively integrated 169 samples ( N = 35,265 employees) that have been used to investigate the relationships of the following 7 work-related stressors with job performance: role ambiguity, role conflict, role overload, job insecurity, work–family conflict, environmental uncertainty, and situational constraints. Overall, we obtained a negative mean correlation between each job performance measure and each stressor included in our analyses. As hypothesized, role ambiguity and situational constraints were most strongly negatively related to performance, relative to the other work-related stressors. Analysis of moderators revealed that (a) the negative correlation of role overload and performance was higher among managers relative to nonmanagers; (b) publication year moderated the relation of role ambiguity and role overload with performance, although in opposite directions; (c) the correlations obtained for published versus unpublished studies were not significantly different; and (d) using the Rizzo et al. scale of role ambiguity and role conflict decreased the magnitude of the correlations of these stressors with performance, relative to other scales. Theoretical contributions, future research directions, and practical implications are discussed.     

Negative Affectivity, Role Stress, and Work-Family Conflict

This study examined the mechanisms by which negative affectivity (NA) influences two directions of work-family conflict: work interference with family (W> F conflict) and family interference with work (F> W conflict). We found that NA indirectly affected W> F conflict through its effect on job stress and indirectly affected F> W conflict through its effect on family stress. In addition, the positive relationship between family stress and F> W conflict was stronger for high-NA individuals than for low-NA individuals. The implications of these findings were discussed and directions for future research were presented.     

The Crossover of Work‐Family Conflict From One Spouse to the Other1

In a secondary analysis of data from 220 women serving in the U.S. Air Force and their spouses, we examined the effects of job and family stressors on work‐family conflict (WFC) and family‐work conflict (FWC), focusing on the crossover of these experiences from one spouse to the other. We found positive relationships of WFC with both job and family stressors for wives and with job stressors for husbands. We also found that job and family stressors predicted FWC for wives, but not for husbands. Furthermore, spouse's support buffered the relationship between one's job stressors and the experience of WFC for wives but accelerated these relationships for husbands. Our findings support the bidirectional crossover of WFC from one spouse to another.     

Chinese Cultural Collectivism and Work-Related Stress: Implications for Employment Counselors

The influence and damage of work-related stress on employees from different cultures may well be the same, but the form of stressors may not be so. Stress is influenced by cultural and social variables such as values, attitudes, and perceptions. The collectivism-individualism construct was suggested to measure cultural variables and attempt to explain the differences of some social behaviors between Eastern and Western people. Eastern cultures like the Chinese and the Japanese are collectivistic, whereas Western cultures such as the American and Canadian are individualistic. As members of an Asian collectivistic society, Hong Kong Chinese workers tend to interpret and handle work-related stress differently from Westerners, despite the fact that they have been exposed to western business practices. Like Asian Americans, they are often caught between their collectivistic tradition and an increasingly competetive individualistic market place. Employment counselors should take cultural issues into consideration as they provide consultation or counseling services to people who are searching for satisfying work environments.     

Child Characteristics as Moderators of the Association Between Family Stress and Children's Internalizing, Externalizing, and Peer Rejection

We examined child characteristics of coping strategies, age, and gender as moderators of the association between family stressors and internalizing, externalizing, and peer rejection in a sample of 228 3rd–5th grade children. Consistent with previous research, children in the current study who experienced a higher number of family stressors were significantly less well-accepted by classmates. This association was not moderated by children's coping strategies or child age. Child gender did moderate the association between family stressors and internalizing behavior. Specifically, as the number of stressors increased, internalizing behavior decreased among girls, but not boys. The results are discussed in terms of the role of child variables in explaining the variability in children's responses to family stress.     

The Relationship Between Trajectories of Family/Cultural Stressors and Depression and Suicidal Ideation Among Substance Using Mexican-American Adults

We used an intersectional minority stress perspective to examine the association between family/cultural stress and mental health among substance-using Mexican-Americans. Employing a unique longitudinal sample of 239 socioeconomically disadvantaged, non-injecting heroin-using Mexican-Americans from San Antonio, Texas, we examined how culturally relevant stressors are related to depression and suicidal ideation. First, we identified depression and suicidal ideation prevalence rates for this disadvantaged sample. Second, we determined how cultural stress is experienced over time using stress trajectories. Third, we evaluated how family/cultural stressors and stress trajectories are related to depression and suicidal ideation outcomes. Results showed high rates of baseline depression (24 %) and suicidal ideation (30 %). We used latent class growth analysis to identify three primary stress trajectories (stable, high but decreasing, and increasing) over three time points during 1 year. We found that the increasing stressors trajectory was associated with higher rates of depression and suicidal ideation, and that stress trajectories had unique relationships with mental illness. We also showed that baseline stressors, sum stressors, and high but decreasing stressors maintained positive associations with mental illness after controlling for baseline depression. Our results highlight the importance of focusing on within-group, culturally specific stressors and addressing both operant and cumulative stressors in the study of mental health for marginalized populations and suggest the importance of early intervention in minimizing stressors.     

Differential Effect of Inter-Role Conflict on Proactive Individual’s Experience of Burnout

Purpose

This study examined how proactive personality interacts with inter-role conflict, measured as work?Cfamily conflict and family?Cwork conflict, to predict burnout, measured as emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment.

Design/Methodology/Approach

Participants were 171 clerical employees. Hierarchical multiple regression was used to test whether proactive personality moderated the relationship between inter-role conflict and forms of burnout.

Findings

Family?Cwork conflict was not associated with burnout, but work?Cfamily conflict explained 30% of unique variance in emotional exhaustion and 9% in depersonalization. Proactive personality explained 12% of variance in personal accomplishment. Three-way interactions indicated that at high levels of work??family conflict and family??work conflict, proactive individuals reported lower levels of emotional exhaustion and personal accomplishment and higher levels of depersonalization than less proactive individuals.

Implications

While previous research has generally documented the virtues of proactive personality, our research indicates that when simultaneously faced with work?Cfamily and family?Cwork conflict, individuals with proactive personality experience more depersonalization and less personal accomplishment relative to less proactive individuals. Overall, results of three-way interactions imply that while a certain level of proactive personality may be necessary to buffer feelings of emotional exhaustion, beyond a certain level, proactive personality may lead one to experience higher levels of depersonalization and reduced personal accomplishment.

Originality/Value

This study extends previous research by examining the influence of two types of inter-role conflict on all three dimensions of burnout. It also responds to calls for additional research on potential moderators, buffers, or even antidotes to stress by examining how proactive personality interacts with stressors.     

Linking Parents' Work Stress to Children's and Adolescents' Psychological Adjustment

Recent research indicates that parental work stress has implications for the quality of family interaction and, in turn, children's and adolescents' adjustment. Studies in two distinct genres are reviewed: investigations relying on global reports of work demands, family dynamics, and child and adolescent adjustment and studies focusing on within-person comparisons of family interaction on days characterized by high and low work stress. The effects of parental work stress on children's and adolescents' adjustment appear to be indirect. Work stress is linked to parents' feelings of overload and strain, which in turn predict lower parent-child acceptance and higher conflict, processes that in turn are related to less positive adjustment of children and adolescents. In the face of high work stress, withdrawing from family involvement may be adaptive in the short run but ultimately problematic. The strength of these associations depends on parents' personality qualities, parents' coping styles, and work and family circumstances.     

Reduction of work-family conflict through the use of selection, optimization, and compensation behaviors

Prior research has examined both the antecedents to and outcomes of work-family conflict. However, little is known about the existence and efficacy of behavioral strategies that may be used by individuals to reduce the amount of stressors experienced both on the job and at home, which result in work-family conflict. The purpose of this study was to examine the role of selection, optimization, and compensation (SOC) behaviors in relation to both job and family stressors and work-in-family (WIF) conflict and family-in-work (FIW) conflict. Results suggest that the use of general SOC behaviors in both the work and family domains are related to lower amounts of job and family stressors and subsequently lower amounts of WIF conflict and FIW conflict. In general, these results held true even when additional variables (e.g., hours worked, gender, job involvement, family involvement, social support, and supervisor support) were controlled. Implications of these results are discussed.     

交叉影响还是直接影响?工作－家庭冲突的影响机制

考察了带有方向性的两个工作－家庭冲突变量(工作对家庭的冲突、家庭对工作的冲突)对一些常见的结果变量的影响, 检验了交叉影响模型和直接影响模型在中国样本中的适用性。以工作优先行为规范为基础, 在来自中国企业的管理人员的两个样本中发现：家庭对工作的冲突对工作相关结果(工作满意感、留职意向、组织承诺)具有显著的负向影响, 而工作对家庭的冲突则没有显著影响; 工作对家庭的冲突对生活满意感具有显著的负向影响。本文的发现表明交叉影响模型可以作为解释中国管理人员工作－家庭冲突影响机制的理论, 而直接影响模型不能推广到中国样本中。     

The relationship of work stressors and emotional support to strain in police officers

This study tested whether quantity and quality of social support and two sources of work stress (organizational stressors and job risk) predicted work strain in police officers, a high-risk occupational group. The participants were 135 police officers from a large metropolitan law enforcement agency who responded to questionnaires for assessing work stress, social support, exhaustion, and other strain symptoms. Emotional support and work stressors accounted directly for significant variance in emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and symptom frequency. Conflicted relationships, which are a source of both work stress and support, also contributed to strain. In contrast to previous findings, a reverse buffering effect for social support did not contribute to predicting strain. Stress management programs for police and other high-stress occupations should target increasing emotional support from supervisors and peers, and reducing conflict in job and family relationships.     

Brief Report: Promoting Postformal Thinking on the Job: A Protocol for Interpersonal Conflict Resolution Training

In this paper, we discuss the relevance of training in the constructive resolution of interpersonal conflicts that occur at work. Research indicates that such conflicts may be a source of stress for adults, particularly young adults who have just entered the workforce. We present a training protocol in constructive conflict resolution that has been adapted for application to work-related conflicts. Most conflict resolution training protocols for use in the workplace focus on resolving company-wide problems. We do not know of any that focus on individual conflicts between employees, while emphasizing skills that may offer some benefits for the development of postformal thinking. Postformal thinking has been postulated as relevant to becoming an expert in one’s chosen profession. We present this protocol to stimulate ideas on how to further develop and refine training efforts for working adults in conflict resolution.     

The nature of stress experienced by lesbians and gay men

This study examined both the meanings and sources/causes of stress from the perspectives of lesbians and gay men (n=30), using a series of focus groups. The findings suggest that stress is considered a part of life itself, and is perceived to contain both negative (e.g. detrimental effects on health and overall functioning, unfairness, out-of-control), and positive (e.g. a motivator, growth-facilitator) elements. The sources/causes of stress (i.e. stressors) identified include stress experienced from the "coming out" process, stress in family relations and intimate relationships, conflict over one's sexuality given society's homophobic and heterosexist attitudes toward lesbians and gay men, as well as stress from financial and work-related issues. More importantly, this study suggests that culture/ethnicity, gender, and aging, which are interconnected with one's sexual identity, play an important role in shaping the experiences of stress among lesbians and gay men.