Job Conditions and Wellness/Health Outcomes in Dutch Secondary School Teachers

The aim of the present study is to compare the work situation of Dutch secondary school teachers to job conditions of European teachers and to test the Job Demand-Control-Social Support model (JDCS model, Karasek and Theorell, <citeref rid="bib24">1990</citeref>) on burnout, job satisfaction and somatic symptoms. The Dutch data (N = 304) were gathered in seven secondary schools from across the country. The remaining European group consisted of 1878 upper secondary school teachers originating from 10 countries. Additive and interactive effects in the JDCS model could be identified for emotional exhaustion only. Furthermore, a curvilinear (U-shaped) relationship was found between control and emotional exhaustion. In addition to the JDCS model, the contribution of coping in the explanation of the outcomes was tested. Attempts have been made to deal with criticisms, which are frequently leveled at the implementation of the JDCS model. Dutch teachers do not differ on job conditions from the European sample except for two working conditions where the Dutch indicate less physical exertion and environmental risks than the European reference sample. The Dutch report lower levels of coping than the reference group, they are more depersonalised and are less satisfied than teachers of the European reference group. On the other hand, the Dutch teachers had fewer somatic complaints and reported higher levels of personal accomplishment than their European colleagues.     

A Test and Extension of the Demand/Control/Social Support Model: Prediction of Wellness/Health Outcomes in Greek Teachers

The present study investigated the relationship between job characteristics, coping strategies and job satisfaction, burnout and somatic complaints in 215 Greek secondary school teachers in the urban area of Thessaloniki, as part of the EUROTEACH project (11 countries, 2164 teachers). The study aimed at testing the hypotheses of the Demand-Control-Social support model (Karasek, <citeref rid="bib20">1979</citeref>); and examining whether additional job characteristics (working hours, environmental risks, meaningfulness and physical exertion) as well as the inclusion of coping strategies could improve the model. Instruments included the Leiden Quality of Work Questionnaire for Teachers; the SCL-90 somatisation scale; the Maslach Burnout Inventory; and the CISS. Results indicated that all three components of the original model are associated with the outcomes with some associations being nonlinear. However, the moderating effects of control and social support are not supported by the data. Regarding coping, results indicated that coping variables can explain variance in most of the outcomes of the study, in addition to all job characteristics. Regarding the additional job characteristics, meaningfulness of work is the most important predictor. In order to understand these findings better, the Greek data were compared to that of the EUROTEACH group. This comparison revealed that the Greek teachers differ from their European counterparts in most study variables. The direction is mainly to the positive side, with the exception of the experience of less control on the job. The implications of these findings concerning model-based studies on teachers are discussed.     

Job Conditions and Wellness among Finnish Upper Secondary School Teachers

The aim of the present study was to compare the work situation of Finnish upper secondary school teachers to that of average European teachers and to examine to what extent various job conditions and coping strategies explain their well-being. The Finnish data (n = 232) were gathered in the spring term of 1998 by postal questionnaires (response rate 62%). The European reference sample consisted of 1950 upper secondary school teachers from ten European countries. The Finnish upper secondary school teachers assessed, in particular, their job conditions (e.g., lower job demands and higher job control), but also their well-being (higher level of job satisfaction and lower level of depersonalisation and somatic complaints) as better than their European colleagues. Job demands and control had only main effects on well-being: high demands explained low job satisfaction, high emotional exhaustion and high depersonalisation, and high control explained high job satisfaction and high personal accomplishment. The additional job conditions and coping strategies increased the explained variance of somatic complaints, emotional exhaustion, and personal accomplishment.     

Job Conditions,Coping and Wellness/Health Outcomes in Spanish Secondary School Teachers

This cross-sectional study is part of EUROTEACH; a project aimed at examining the possible relationships between job conditions and wellness/ health outcomes in teachers from 11 European countries. The Spanish sample consists of 198 (53% female) teachers working in mixed public secondary schools in Alicante. The Job Demand-Control-Social Support (JDCS) model (Johnson and Hall, <citeref rid="bib18">1988</citeref>; Karasek and Theorell, <citeref rid="bib22">1990</citeref>) provides the theoretical framework for the study and specific instruments measuring additional job conditions and coping are applied to investigate these variables in the teaching profession. Moreover, the relationships between the variables are studied to clarify their possible interaction. Results confirm the expected relationship between job conditions and wellness/health effects, and also show the presence of an interaction between coping and the variables in the JDCS model. The need to perform further research on the role of coping, as well as considering other individual variables that might influence teacher occupational stress, is pointed out.     

工作特征对工作者的影响——要求-控制模型与工作要求-资源模型的比较

工作特征是指与工作相关的因素或属性, 它对工作者的身心健康有重要影响。通过对比研究发现, 虽然要求-控制模型(Demand-Control Model, 简称DC模型)将工作特征分为相对具体的工作要求、工作控制和社会支持, 工作要求-资源模型(Job Demands-Resources Model, 简称JD-R模型)则将工作特征划分为更为概括的工作要求和工作资源两个维度, 但是它们关注的结果变量都包含个体身心健康和组织工作绩效, 都强调了工作特征对工作者的影响。在今后的研究中, 应深入探讨不同职业中起关键作用的工作特征和不同资源与要求组合的作用, 进一步研究工作特征模型对不同特点个体和我国民众群体的适用性, 并尝试将研究成果应用于工作再设计的实践, 以促进工作者的职业健康。     

情绪劳动与心理健康的关系:工作倦怠的中介作用

主要探讨情绪劳动与心理健康的关系以及工作倦怠对二者关系的中介作用。采用情绪劳动量表、心理健康量表和工作倦怠量表对山东省5家医院的200名护士进行问卷调查。结果表明,情绪劳动与心理健康呈显著负相关,对心理健康具有显著的负向预测作用,具体表现为对躯体化、焦虑、妄想和精神病性有负向预测作用;情绪劳动与工作倦怠呈显著正相关,对工作倦怠具有显著的正向预测作用,表现在情绪衰竭和去人格化两个方面。工作倦怠是情绪劳动与心理健康关系的中介变量,工作倦怠对情绪劳动与心理健康之间的关系具有完全中介作用,情绪劳动通过工作倦怠间接影响心理健康。     

The Job Insecurity Scale: A psychometric evaluation across five European countries

Multiple instruments have been developed and used to measure quantitative job insecurity (i.e., insecurity to lose the job as such), often without systematic evaluation of their psychometric characteristics across countries and language barriers. This may hamper consistent and reliable cross-study and cross-country comparisons. This study's aim was to introduce and validate the four-item Job Insecurity Scale (JIS) developed by De Witte across five European countries (i.e., Belgium, The Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and the UK). Overall, the results demonstrated the construct validity (i.e., configural invariance and invariance of the measurement model parameters), the reliability (internal consistency of the items), and the criterion validity (with respect to affective organizational commitment, perceived general health, and self-reported performance) of the JIS. The different translations of the JIS can thus be considered as valid and reliable instruments to measure job insecurity and can be used to make meaningful comparisons across countries. Furthermore, the JIS translations may be utilized to assess how job insecurity is related to outcomes.     

Job security and work performance in Chinese employees: The mediating role of organisational identification

This research focuses on investigating whether organisational identification mediates the effects of job security on in‐role behaviour and extra‐role behaviour and how these mediation mechanisms differ according to gender. Through analysing 212 supervisor‐subordinate dyads from a Chinese air transportation group, the research indicated that organisational identification partially mediated the effect of job security on in‐role behaviour and fully mediated the effect of job security on extra‐role behaviour. A multi‐group analysis also showed that there were significant differences between male and female employees in these relationships. In addition, moderated mediation analyses showed that gender moderated the indirect effects of job security on in‐role behaviour and extra‐role behaviour through organisational identification. Limitations and implications of these findings are discussed.     

A cross-cultural analysis of aggressive driving: Evidence from Serbia and Romania

Using data from more than 700 drivers from Serbia and Romania, this study verified the dimensionality of aggressive driving in two countries from Eastern Europe. Specifically, the psychometric properties and invariance of the Romanian Driving Anger Expression Inventory (DAX; Deffenbacher et al., 2002, Sârbescu, 2012) were verified. Secondary aspects, such as differences in aggressive driving between countries or gender differences within countries, were also investigated. Our findings support the appropriateness of the three-factor structure in both countries, through the configural invariance of the DAX. Also, males report slightly higher levels of aggressive driving than women (small effect sizes), while Serbian drivers report higher levels of aggressive driving than Romanian drivers (strong effect sizes). Being the first research that verified the invariance of the DAX across two cultures, this study opens new paths and questions for research concerning aggressive driving.     

Job demands,job resources and innovative work behaviour: a European Union study

This study aims to investigate the relationship between several job design variables and innovative work behaviour (IWB). Guided by the Job Demands Resources model, the aim was to evaluate the relationship between work demands (time constraints), resources (autonomy and social support), and other work factors (task monotony, complexity, and dealing with unforeseen circumstances) with idea generation and idea implementation behaviours in a sample of 12,924 participants from the 27 European Union member states in 2010. We also wished to investigate if individual IWB, at the country level, is associated with country innovative performance (an aggregate of process/product and marketing/organizational innovation). We employed a multilevel generalized structural equation model to test our hypotheses. In our final model autonomy, manager encouragement and dealing with unforeseen problems showed the highest positive relationship with idea generation and idea implementation. Conversely, monotonous tasks and working at high speed were negatively related to IWB. Furthermore, we have found strong indications that country-level IWB positively relates to the odds of a country scoring higher on the aforementioned innovation indicators. Between-country unexplained variance in IWB was reduced from 17.1% in our initial model, to 1.9% in our final iteration. Limitations, implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

Constructive Thought Strategies and Job Satisfaction: A Preliminary Examination

In order to examine the potential of constructive thought strategies for enhancing employee job satisfaction, an existing dispositional model of job satisfaction was expanded and tested. Structural equation modeling techniques indicated significant relationships among constructive thought strategies, dysfunctional thought processes, subjective well-being, and job satisfaction. In addition, two competing models were examined to test for the full or partial mediation of the effects of constructive thought strategies on job satisfaction. The implications of these findings for constructive thought strategy training interventions are discussed, along with directions for future research efforts.     

The Effect of Work/Family Conflict on Intention to Quit: The Mediating Roles of Job and Life Satisfaction

Research has shown consistently that job satisfaction predicts turnover, but much less attention has been given to the how relationships between work and nonwork or how overall subjective evaluations of life (i.e., life satisfaction) affects turnover. We tested a model that included job satisfaction, life satisfaction, and conflict between work and nonwork domains of life as predictors of intent to quit. Results from a sample of Air Force personnel revealed that life satisfaction was a significant predictor of intent to quit after controlling for job satisfaction, and that both job and life satisfaction mediated the effects of role conflict between work and nonwork on intent to quit. We consider implications of these findings for both theory and practice. Portions of this paper were presented at the 9th Bi-Annual Conference of the International Society for the Study of Work and Organizational Values (ISSWOV). The views expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not reflect the official policy or position of the United States Air Force, Department of Defense, or the US Government.     

Religious Coping and Church-Based Social Support as Predictors of Mental Health Outcomes: Testing a Conceptual Model

This study assesses religious coping and church-based social support as mechanisms explaining religious benefits to mental health. We build on recent research and test an explanatory model using the 1998 General Social Survey. The model considers both institutional and individual aspects of religiousness, and their interrelations, as predictors of mental health outcomes. It considers negative effects of religion along with the well-known positive effects. We found that benefits of attendance, a measure of institutional participation, are mediated by church-based social support. Benefits of prayer, an individual form of religiousness, are mediated by the similarly privatized religious coping. Institutional measures of religion were found to impact individuals' religious coping styles. Implications are suggested for the scientific study of religion as well as for the applied efforts of clergy, pastoral counselors, and lay church members concerned with improving religious benefits.     

National Attachment and Patriotism in a European Nation: A British Study

This study explores identification with one's national group using two distinct but interrelated concepts: identity content and relational orientation. Theoretical distinctions were drawn between two forms of identity content: traditional-cultural and civic, and between two forms of relational orientation: blind and constructive. The multidimensionality of both identity content and relational orientation and the relationships amongst these components were examined in a British sample: positive relationships were hypothesized between blind orientation and traditional-cultural content and between constructive orientation and civic content. Principal components analyses confirmed the hypothesized factor structures, and the resulting scales were highly reliable. Relationships amongst the resulting factors were explored using regression analyses. The overall results indicate support for the orthogonality of both the two orientation dimensions and the two content dimensions. Moreover, the hypothesized relationships between forms of orientation and content were largely supported. In conclusion, this study highlights the importance of looking at the relationship between identity content and relational orientation. The implications of these observations for theory and research are discussed with reference to using categories to "group" participants in research, citizenship education, and more general attitudes towards social change.     

Demands,resources, and work ability: A cross-national examination of health care workers

Understanding work ability, with the goal of promoting it, is important for individuals as well as organizations. It is especially important to study work ability in health care workers, who face many work-related challenges that may threaten work ability. We studied various job demands, job resources, and interactions of demands and resources relating to work ability using the Job Demands–Resources model as a framework. Acute care health care workers from six nations (US, Australia, UK, Brazil, Croatia, and Poland) completed a survey. Role demands related to work ability in the Australia sample only, and supervisor support related to work ability in the Australia sample only. Yet, high levels of supervisor support significantly moderated (buffered) negative relationships between physical demands and work ability in the US sample, along with negative relationships between role demands and work ability in both the Croatia and UK samples. Skill discretion related to work ability in every nation sample, and therefore appears to be particularly important to work ability perceptions. In addition, skill discretion moderated (buffered) a negative relationship between role demands and work ability in the Australia sample. We therefore recommend that interventions to help preserve or improve work ability target this important job resource.     

Predictors and outcomes of job search behavior: The moderating effects of gender and family situation

This study explored differences in the antecedents and consequences of job search behavior depending on gender and family situation in a large, nationwide sample of the Dutch population. Using Ajzen’s (1991) theory of planned behavior (TPB), we found no gender differences in the antecedents of job seeking. However, family situation did affect the relations in the TPB, such that personal attitude was a slightly weaker, and perceived social pressure a stronger predictor of job seeking for individuals with families than for singles. Concerning the consequences, job search behavior significantly predicted the chances of finding (new) employment, but not job satisfaction in the new job and the level of agreement between the obtained and wanted job.     

Culture and state boredom: A comparison between European Canadians and Chinese

The primary goal of the present research was to examine cross-cultural validity of the Multidimensional State Boredom Scale (MSBS) by comparing a European Canadian sample and a Chinese sample. The secondary goal was to explore cross-cultural differences in the actual experience of boredom between European Canadian and Chinese participants when they completed a psychological survey. After establishing cross-cultural validity of the MSBS by eliminating items that functioned differentially across the two cultural groups, we found that European Canadians scored higher on the MSBS than did Chinese. Results are consistent with the literature on cultural differences in ideal affect, such that European North Americans (vs. East Asians) tend to value high-arousal positive affects (e.g., excitement) more, and low-arousal positive affect less (Tsai, Knutson, & Fung, 2006).     

The costs of today’s jobs: Job characteristics and organizational supports as antecedents of negative spillover

This study examined job characteristics and organizational supports as antecedents of negative work-to-nonwork spillover for 1178 U.S. employees. Based on hierarchical regression analyses of 2002 National Study of the Changing Workforce data and O∗NET data, job demands (requirements to work at home beyond scheduled hours, job complexity, time and strain) had positive relationships, and job resources (autonomy and skill development) and organizational supports (flexible work arrangements and two work-life culture facets) had negative relationships to negative spillover, but not all relationships held when multiple predictors were examined. Organizational supports did not moderate relationships of job characteristics to negative spillover, and relative weights analysis indicated that job characteristics accounted for the majority of explained variance in negative spillover. The findings underscore the importance of job characteristics, and suggest that job characteristics and organizational supports both need to be considered when developing work-life policies intended to reduce employees’ negative work-to-nonwork spillover.     

The Interpersonal Model of Health Anxiety: Testing predicted paths and model specificity

Health anxiety involves persistent worry about one’s health and is characterized by dysfunctional interpersonal processes such as excessive health-related reassurance-seeking and feelings of alienation from others. Cognitive-behavioral models largely ignore cyclical, interpersonally averse behaviors and social cognitions observed amongst health anxious individuals. The Interpersonal Model of Health Anxiety (IMHA) proposes health anxiety is maintained through activated anxious attachment insecurities, which drive frequent, but ineffective, health-related reassurance-seeking from others. Such excessive health-related reassurance-seeking leads to health-related alienation and beliefs others are unconcerned about one’s perceived health problems. Feeling alienated from others fuels further health-related worry, resulting in continued self-defeating attempts at health-related reassurance-seeking. The present study offers the first comprehensive articulation and test of the IMHA. Using a cross-sectional design and 107 undergraduates, path analysis supported five of six hypothesized paths in the model; all paths except that from anxious attachment to health-related reassurance-seeking were significant and in the expected direction. Specificity tests suggested anxious attachment was more central than avoidant attachment to the IMHA. The present test of the IMHA as a single, coherent model provides a conceptual foundation for future research on interpersonal processes in health anxiety. Clinical implications are discussed.     

Job crafting for lean engagement: The interplay of day and job-level characteristics

The quality of working life under the production system known as lean manufacturing (LM) is a heavily debated topic. Little is known about the engagement level of employees under this system. Our study is concerned with how employees in this context craft their jobs to enhance their own engagement, and we specifically consider how daily skill utilization triggers this process. Using a cross-level perspective, we further consider whether job-level characteristics relevant to the lean context, namely task interdependence and boundary control, restrict or facilitate the effects of daily skill utilization. A daily diary study was conducted over 4 working days with 64 employees in a large company utilizing LM. The results of multilevel structural equation modelling demonstrated that on a given day, skill utilization was associated with seeking resources, and this relationship was stronger when employees had high boundary control and low task interdependence in their general job roles. Results further demonstrated that employees experienced higher work engagement on days when they sought resources and challenges. Our findings illustrate the motivational potential of job crafting under LM and how crafting activities can be facilitated by the design of jobs and allocation of daily tasks.