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.     

Occupational Stress and Wellness Among Italian Secondary School Teachers

As a part of a larger cross-cultural investigation (Euroteach) which involves 11 European countries and 2 182 secondary school teachers, two were the aims of the present study: (1) to examine the relationship between job conditions and wellness/health outcomes on a group of 169 Italian secondary school teachers, by using the Job Demand-Control-Support (JDCS) Model (Karasek and Theorell, <citeref rid="bib24">1990</citeref>); (2) to analyse the differences with other European countries in the light of specific cultural differences. Controlling for age and gender, results of hierarchical regression indicated that job control and social support combine in different additive patterns with job demands to explain the well-being outcomes (job satisfaction, emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation, somatic complaints). The predictor's linearity check indicated that the job demands variable is curvilinearly associated both with emotional exhaustion ( p<0.005) and with somatic symptoms ( p<0.01). As compared to the average of the other European countries, on the positive side, the Italian teachers manifest both a higher degree of personal accomplishment and a lesser degree of depersonalisation; on the other hand, they claim a lesser degree of social support and a higher degree of somatic complaints.     

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.     

Philosophy for psychology: Reality ain't what it used to be - perhaps it's evolved!

According to Wittgenstein (<citeref rid="bib37">1980</citeref>): 'Philosophy is the discipline of thinking about thinking'. And 'the object of philosophy is the logical clarification of thoughts. Philosophy is not a theory, but an activity. The theory of knowledge is the philosophy of psychology' (p. 77). This paper is in the nature of a philosophical discourse analysis of the August 2001 issue of The Psychologist (which focused on evolution), illustrating with various examples the need for philosophical rigour in psychological discourse. In particular, Ryle's (<citeref rid="bib31">1966</citeref>) notion of logical category errors is exemplified and explained by samples from the psychological discourse in The Psychologist journal.     

Gender-related inequalities in the division of family work in close relationships: A social psychological perspective

We offer a social psychological perspective on gender-related inequalities in close relationships and integrate two lines of research that have focused on the intrapersonal perceptions and interpersonal consequences respectively of the gendered division of labour. We start with a brief summary of research on gender-related inequalities in the division of labour and discuss prior explanations and paradigms. We then address the extent to which spouses consider the division of labour as fair and the factors that contribute to perceptions of (un)fairness. Central to our argument is the distributive justice framework (&lt;citeref rid="b76"&gt;Major, 1987&lt;/citeref&gt;, &lt;citeref rid="b77"&gt;1993&lt;/citeref&gt;; &lt;citeref rid="b113"&gt;Thompson, 1991&lt;/citeref&gt;) which claims that fairness judgements are affected by people's wants and values, comparison standards, and justifications. In the following section, we address the question of whether dissatisfaction over the division of labour causes relationship conflict and how couples manage these conflicts. The main argument is that conflict over the division of labour generally comprises an asymmetrical conflict structure (with wives as complainants and husbands as defenders of the status quo), which elicits asymmetrical conflict interaction patterns (i.e., demand/withdraw interaction) that result in asymmetrical outcomes (i.e., status quo maintenance). Finally, we summarise the main conclusions and address contributions to theory and research as well as directions for further research.     

The Job Demand-Control-Social Support Model and Wellness/Health Outcomes: A European Study

The EUROTEACH study which is reported here, comprised 2796 secondary school teachers from 13 European countries. The study firstly aimed at testing an extended Job Demand-Control-Social support (JDCS) model and checking its gender specificity. While this study failed to provide evidence for the buffer hypothesis derived from the JDCS-model, the strain hypothesis was mostly supported. Additional job conditions tested in this study proved to be important predictors of the outcome variables (emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation, personal accomplishment, somatic complaints and job satisfaction) and standard of living indicators also added explained variance in these outcomes. The study proved that the JDCS model cannot be called a male model. Secondly the study looked at the comparability of 3 European regions (South, West, East). Apart from important regional differences in job conditions, standard of living indicators and outcomes, the most important finding is that the JDCS model explains most variance in outcome variables in Western Europe, and the least in Eastern Europe, and thus seems to suffer from a Western bias.     

工作需求控制支持压力模型及实证研究评析

工作需求控制支持(The job demand-control-support, JDCS)模型在工作压力研究领域是一个影响广泛的组织压力模型, 根据对于JDCS模型近30年的实证研究进行了综合和分析, 并从模型的适用性研究状况、模型的相关研究变量的探索、模型的发展三个方面进行了总结, 发现目前的JDCS模型的相关实证反映出其具有很好的解释力和适用性, 但是模型本身及根据模型开发的JCQ量表都需要后续研究的不断完善和发展。     

Satisfaction et confort au travail. L’apport de la démarche implicative

A large body of research has investigated the psycho-organizational variables predicting satisfaction at work, but few studies have so far examined variables in the field of environmental psychology. Our study aims first to identify the impact of variables evaluating comfort at work (satisfaction with the work environment, attachment to the workplace) by comparing them with organizational variables known to be related to job satisfaction, and then to rank the relationships between these variables in a pseudo- implication sequence, based on statistical implicative analysis. The study involved 105 bank employees and confirms our theoretical model, showing that job satisfaction can be explained implicatively by the three other variables [(Comfort/Functionality => Control/privacy) => Workplace attachment] => job satisfaction.     

Relationships between Teachers' Occupational Stress and Their Burnout and Distress: Roles of Coping and Negative Mood Regulation Expectancies

Teaching school is a highly stressful occupation. Consequences of this stress are burnout, physical and emotional distress, and choosing to leave the profession. Research on teacher stress and burnout has largely focused on environmental and contextual factors while ignoring personality characteristics of teachers that may have an impact on relationships between job stress and its consequences. The current study has a cross-sectional self-report design, focusing on teachers' negative mood regulation (NMR) expectancies as predictors of their coping, burnout and distress, in response to occupational stress. NMR expectancies are people's beliefs that they can control the negative moods they experience. Participants were 86 primary and secondary school teachers, who filled out questionnaire measures of teacher stress, NMR expectancies, coping, burnout, and distress. Simultaneous regression analyses showed that higher stress on the job did indeed predict greater burnout and distress. Additionally, stronger NMR expectancies predicted more active coping. NMR expectancies also predicted less burnout and distress, independent of stress level and coping. Believing one could control one's negative moods was associated with more adaptive outcomes for teachers. Results argue for the value of examining individual difference variables in research on occupational stress, in particular negative mood regulation expectancies.     

Personality, job level, job stressors, and their interaction as predictors of coping behavior

Hypotheses concerning the relationships among job stressors, job level, personality, and coping responses were investigated in a sample of 305 electrical contracting employees. Coping behaviors were measured with questionnaire items based on interviews conducted with a sample of the subjects. Neuroticism (N) and Extraversion (E) were the personality variables most strongly related to coping behavior. Overall, more coping variance was explained by personality than by job stressors; however, when the effects of job level and job stressors were combined, they explained more variance in complaining/quitting and seeking social support than did the personality variables. Both work situation and personality seem to be important variables in the choice of coping behaviors. There was no evidence of interactions among personality, stressors, and job level in explaining coping behavior.     

Job stressors,Type A behavior,coping responses,and psychological burnout among teachers

This study examined a research model developed to understand psychological burnout in work settings. Data were collected from 473 teachers and school administrators using questionnaires completed anonymously. Four groups of predictor variables identified in previous research were considered: individual demographic and situational variables, Type A behavior, job Stressors and coping responses. Type A behavior, job Stressors and coping responses were significantly and independently related to levels of psychological burnout.     

Religious Belief and Mental Health in Lay and Consecrated Italian Teachers

There is compelling evidence that teachers and clergy are stressful occupations. This study aimed to compare the rate of job strain and burnout among lay and consecrated teachers and to study the effect of religious coping on the mental health of these two groups. A cross-sectional survey study was carried out in Catholic kindergarten, preschool and primary schools of an Italian Congregation of nuns, in South Italy. The Italian versions of the Maslach Burnout Inventory-Educator Survey (MBI-ES) scale, of the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) and a study-specific questionnaire with sociodemographic variables and indicators of subjective (self-reported religiosity) and objective (prayer personal and church attendance) religiousness were used. Data were analyzed according to the guidelines for data processing and an analysis of the scales used. The participation rate of this study was 88 %. There was a significant difference between two groups in religiousness and job strain/burnout scores (lay teachers were the most affected group). Moreover, religiousness scores had a positive correlation with personal accomplishment, job satisfaction and perceived performance and a negative correlation with emotional exhaustion, turnover intention and morbidity psychiatric. Therefore, according to religious coping’s research, prayer personal and church attendance can be recommended as two of the ways to prevent job strain and burnout in the teacher work.     

job stress,coping strategies,and burnout among abuse‐specific counselors

The purpose of this study is to investigate whether effective coping strategies play an important role to reduce burnout levels among sexual or substance abuse counselors. The authors examined whether coping strategies mediated or moderated relations between job stress and burnout in a sample of 232 abuse‐specific counselors. Results indicated that self‐distraction and behavior disengagement coping strategies mediated the relationships between 3 job stress variables (workload, role conflict, and job ambiguity) and burnout. Although venting and humor coping strategies positively moderated the relationship between role ambiguity and burnout, active coping strategies negatively moderated the relationship between workload and burnout.     

Exploring relations between teacher emotions,coping strategies,and intentions to quit: A longitudinal analysis

Although previous research has indicated that emotions have a substantial impact on teacher well-being, research is lacking concerning the relationships between teachers' emotions, coping strategies, and quitting intentions. This current five-month, two-wave longitudinal study investigated the relations between these variables in a sample of 1086 Canadian teachers (female: 81.3%; M_age = 42). Results from cross-lagged analyses revealed that teachers' trait emotions corresponded with coping strategies and that trait emotions and coping strategies both corresponded with intentions to quit the teaching profession. Mediational latent change analyses further showed that baseline levels of teachers' anxiety corresponded with greater emotion-focused disengagement coping that, in turn, led to stronger intentions to quit the teaching profession. Finally, decreases in teachers' anxiety over time additionally corresponded with decreases in disengagement coping. Limitations and practical implications concerning the importance of providing meaningful support to teachers for reducing anxiety, improving coping, and reducing quitting intentions 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.     

The relationships between self-leadership and enhanced psychological, health, and work outcomes.

Two cross-sectional studies were conducted to examine the correlations between the concept of self-leadership (as described within the framework of the internal family systems model) and enhanced psychological, health, and work outcomes. In Study 1, self-leadership was significantly related to higher psychological functioning (e.g., effective coping style, greater optimism and hardiness, and less ineffectiveness and interpersonal distrust) and better health status (e.g., greater perceived wellness, less perceived stress, and fewer symptoms of illness) in a sample of university students (N = 270). In Study 2, in which a sample of corporate employees (N = 160) was examined, self-leadership was significantly related to greater perceptions of work satisfaction, enhanced communication, quality management, effective work relationships, and in terms of health outcomes, greater perceived wellness and less work stress. Implications of the relationships between self-leadership and psychological, health, and work outcomes are discussed.     

Wellness and mattering: the role of holistic factors in job satisfaction

A study was conducted with 82 employees in varied positions to determine the variance in job satisfaction that could be accounted for by holistic wellness and mattering. Results of regression analyses revealed that both wellness and mattering contributed significantly to the variance in job satisfaction; however, wellness was the stronger predictor. When block variables such as age and job tenure were held constant, the contributions of wellness and mattering to job satisfaction were not significant.     

Relationship between job burnout and personal wellness in mental health professionals

This study aimed to determine the nature of the relationship between job burnout and personal wellness among mental health professionals. The authors performed intercorrelations and multivariate multiple regression analyses to identify the relationship between subscales of job burnout and personal wellness. Results showed that all subscales of job burnout, except for the Negative Work Environment subscale, significantly predicted a large amount of the variance in the collective personal wellness subscales. Implications for mental health professionals’ clinical practice, training, and supervision and limitations and prospects for future studies are discussed.     

行动控制在农村教师工作压力与工作倦怠中的作用:PSI理论的分析视角

采用logistic回归分析,考察了322名农村中小学教师的人口学变量和工作压力、行动控制风格、行动控制策略对其工作倦怠的风险预测能力,并借助结构方程模型进一步分析了各心理变量间的关系,从PSI理论角度诠释了倦怠形成的机制。结果发现:中专、高级职称、中高压力水平、低行动控制策略和状态导向是导致中小学教师工作倦怠的危险性因素;行动导向者的工作压力、工作倦怠及行动控制策略运用水平显著好于状态导向者;工作压力、行动控制风格对工作倦怠的直接效应显著;行动控制风格和行动控制策略在工作压力和工作倦怠间起中介作用。因此,PSI视角下的工作压力-工作倦怠模型能够更有效地解释工作倦怠的形成机制;借助PSI理论构建的干预训练,有助于预防和缓解工作倦怠。