Let's Have Fun Tonight: The Role of Pleasure in Daily Recovery from Work

The present study aims to advance insight into the role of pleasure in the daily effort‐recovery cycle. Specifically, using a within‐individual study design, we examine the associations between the pleasure employees experience during the evening after work and their recovery state that evening and at various points in time during the next workday. We also investigate associations between employees' recovery state at the end of the workday and the pleasure they experience during the subsequent evening. Multilevel analyses show that on days when employees experience higher levels of pleasure during the evening after work, they have a more favorable recovery state during that evening. Importantly, the extent to which employees experience pleasure during the evening after work is also positively related to their recovery state during the next workday. Finally, our study shows that on days when employees are in a more unfavorable recovery state at the end of the workday, they experience lower levels of pleasure during the subsequent evening after work. This study increases our insight into the role of pleasure in recovering from work and underlines the importance of engaging in pleasant activities after work.     

Marital Estrangement,Positive Affect,and Locus of Control Among Spouses of Workaholics and Spouses of Nonworkaholics: A National Study

This study compared a sample of spouses of workaholics and spouses of nonworkaholics on ratings of marital estrangement, positive feelings toward husband, and locus of control. A random national sample of 326 participants drawn from the membership list of the American Counseling Association was surveyed. Spouses of workaholics reported greater marital estrangement and less positive affect towards husbands and higher external locus of control than spouses of nonworkaholics. These findings were the first empirical results to corroborate clinical and case study reports. Clinical implications of these findings are also presented.     

Adult children of workaholics: Self-concept,anxiety, depression,and locus of control

Abstract

Adult children of workaholics were compared with adult children of nonworkaholics on self-concept, anxiety, depression, and locus of control. Results indicated greater depression and external locus of control among the offspring of workaholics. Children of workaholic fathers not only had greater depression and external locus of control but also scored higher on anxiety. No significant differences were found between children of workaholic mothers and children of nonworkaholic mothers on any of the variables. Self-concept was not related to parental workaholism in any of the comparisons.     

Challenge and threat emotions as antecedents of recovery experiences: findings from a diary study with blue-collar workers

The aim of this study was (1) to investigate whether threat (e.g., anxiety, fear) and challenge (e.g., confidence, excitement) emotions that employees experience before work while thinking about the upcoming workday predict their recovery experiences (i.e., psychological detachment, relaxation, mastery, and control) after work and (2) to explore the moderating role of job control on the effect of threat and challenge emotions on recovery experiences. For two to four weeks, 57 blue-collar workers at an airport’s hub station completed a diary. Multilevel analyses (N = 1104) reveal that threat emotions in the morning decrease psychological detachment and relaxation after work. Job control buffers this negative effect. Furthermore, challenge emotions in the morning boost mastery after work. Next, when employees have low job control, challenge emotions also boost the recovery experience control. Practical implications and the need for future studies to examine more fine-grained mechanisms for better understanding how threat and challenge emotions experienced before starting work affect recovery experiences after work are discussed.     

You Wouldn’t Like Me When I’m Angry: A Daily Diary Study of Displaced Online Aggression in Dual-Earner Couples

Modern technologies can aid working processes as well as provide individuals with an opportunity to connect and form interpersonal relationships. However, they can also create a context for displaced aggression. In this study, we examine whether people experiencing work stressors may engage in online antisocial behavioral as a means of venting their negative emotions. Specifically, we investigate whether experiencing stressors at work fuels anger in the private context and whether this anger triggers subsequent displaced aggression in the form of antisocial online behavior (AOB) throughout the evening. Additionally, we examine the crossover of anger to AOB in couples in their private context. We conducted a diary study amongst 95 dual-earner couples, twice a day, during five consecutive working days. Results confirmed that men’s daily work stressors spilled over to their private context in the form of anger after work and AOB throughout the evening. No crossover effects were found from their partner. For women, a crossover effect was found of their partner’s work stressors and anger on their own AOB. These results demonstrate gender differences in displaced online aggression.     

Teachers' emotional experiences in response to daily events with individual students varying in perceived past disruptive behavior

Students' disruptive behavior during classroom events can elicit strong emotions in teachers and impact teachers' occupational wellbeing. This research was the first to test the proposition that teachers' emotional responses depend not solely on the specific classroom events themselves, but also on the perceived history of disruptive behavior of the student involved. Two complimentary studies examined whether teachers' perceptions of students' past disruptive behavior moderated the link between teachers' valence appraisals (i.e., how positive or negative an event was) and emotions in response to the event (i.e., enjoyment, anger, anxiety, self-, and other-related emotions). It was expected that teachers would be more emotionally reactive to events involving students whom they perceived as more disruptive in the past. Study 1 (N = 218 teachers) examined one teacher-selected relevant event of a workday with an individual student. Study 2 (N = 37 teachers) examined multiple events collected through daily diaries across the school year regarding two target students (N = 77) varying in perceived disruptive behavior. Both studies showed that teachers reacted more emotionally negative to students they perceived as more disruptive in the past compared to similarly appraised events with students perceived as less disruptive. Findings were most consistent for teachers' anger. In addition, Study 1 examined whether teachers' event-related emotions were related to their occupational wellbeing that workday. Teachers' anger was the only emotion associated with both teachers' emotional exhaustion and dedication. Intervention efforts to increase teachers' occupational wellbeing may profit from focusing on specific anger-evoking teacher-student dyads and try changing teachers' underlying judgments and associated emotions about disruptive students.     

Volunteer work as a valuable leisure‐time activity: A day‐level study on volunteer work,non‐work experiences,and well‐being at work

In this 2‐week diary study, with 105 employees providing data on a total of 476 days, we examined relationships between the amount of time spent on volunteer work activities during leisure time, psychological non‐work experiences in the evening (i.e. recovery experiences of psychological detachment from work and mastery as well as need satisfaction), and work outcomes during the following working day (i.e. positive and negative affect, and active listening). Results confirmed the hypothesized positive relationships between the amount of time spent on volunteer work activities and psychological detachment from work, mastery experiences, and need satisfaction in the evening. Psychological detachment from work in the evening was positively related to active listening during the following working day. Need satisfaction in the evening was negatively related to negative affect and positively related to active listening during the following working day. The amount of time spent on volunteer work activities was negatively related to negative affect during the following working day. This relationship was mediated by need satisfaction in the evening.     

"Did you have a nice evening?" A day-level study on recovery experiences, sleep, and affect

In this study, the authors used a within-person design to examine the relation between recovery experiences (psychological detachment, relaxation, mastery experiences) during leisure time, sleep, and affect in the next morning. Daily survey data gathered over the course of 1 work week from 166 public administration employees analyzed with a hierarchical linear modeling approach showed that low psychological detachment from work during the evening predicted negative activation and fatigue, whereas mastery experiences during the evening predicted positive activation and relaxation predicted serenity. Sleep quality showed relations with all affective states variables. This study adds to research on job-stress recovery and affect regulation by showing which specific experiences from the nonwork domain may improve affect before the start of the next working day.     

Reciprocal relations between recovery and work engagement: the moderating role of job stressors

In this paper, we examined the within-person relations between morning recovery level (i.e., feeling refreshed and replenished) and work engagement throughout the day, and between work engagement throughout the day and the subsequent recovery level at the end of the workday. We hypothesized that job stressors (situational constraints, job demands) moderate these relations. A diary study over 1 workweek with 2 measurement occasions per day (N = 111 persons) provided support for most of the hypotheses: Morning recovery level predicted work engagement, and work engagement predicted subsequent recovery level at the end of the workday after controlling for morning recovery level. As predicted, situational constraints attenuated these relations, but job demands did not. The results suggest that recovery translates into employee work engagement, and work engagement, in turn, prevents a loss in recovery level throughout the day, particularly when situational constraints are low. Situational constraints seem to interrupt the reciprocal processes between recovery level and work engagement.     

Understanding Workaholism: A Review of Causes and Counseling Approaches

Is workaholism an addiction or a rewarding work style and life-style that may be harmful to one's family and co-workers? This central question directed the review of definitions and causes of workaholism. Thereafter, the authors discuss the role of “Type A” and obsessive-compulsive traits on the behavior of some workaholics, review the effects of workaholism on workaholics themselves and on others, and suggest counseling approaches that might be helpful to workaholics.     

Identifying ICT-Related Affective Events Across Life Domains and Examining their Unique Relationships with Employee Recovery

The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of information and communication technology (ICT) use for employees by exploring affective ICT events and their relation to employee recovery. We conducted two daily diary studies with knowledge workers in Germany. In study 1 (N = 153), we followed a qualitative approach by developing a taxonomy of negative and positive ICT events at work and at home. We found 11 negative (e.g., multichannel use, work e-mails in the evening) and 10 positive ICT event clusters (e.g., utilizing idle times, availability at home). In study 2 (N = 154), we examined how the occurrence of ICT-related events in the evening is related to detachment from work and sleep quality using a multilevel design. Study 2 provided a differentiated picture of relationships between evening ICT events and recovery. Overall, results indicate that work-related ICT events in the evening—even in cases where they are appraised as positive—are detrimental for employee recovery. Our study contributes to the refinement of the operationalization of ICT use for future analyses of ICT impacts and sheds light on the differential effects of specific types of ICT events. ICT use conceptualized as the occurrence of affective events helps to advance our understanding of the diversity of ICT-related experiences. The negative effects of handling work e-mails at home imply that organizations should engage in optimizing their “e-mail culture.”     

How work spills over into the relationship: Self‐control matters

This research investigated how and for whom experiences of the workday spill over into relationship functioning at home. Two correlational studies and one experimental study were conducted among Dutch dual‐earners with children. Moderated mediation analyses showed that work demands spill over into relationship behavior through the depletion of temporary self‐regulatory resources and subsequently a decrease in psychological availability for the partner. Whether work demands spill over into relationship behavior was dependent on dispositional self‐control in that evidence for negative spillover was only found for individuals low in dispositional self‐control. The experimental study showed that the induction of gratitude for the partner after the workday helped individuals low in dispositional control to prevent negative spillover into the partner relationship.     

Some antecedents of work-nonwork conflict

This study examined the relationships of three aspects of work schedules—shiftwork, length of workday, and work during weekends and holidays—with the perceived interrole conflict between work and nonwork. Personal background variables and characteristics of the work role itself were hypothesized to be directly related to the level of conflict and, in addition, to moderate the work schedules-conflict relationships. Subjects were 286 hotel employees. As expected all three aspects of work schedules were related to the level of felt work-nonwork conflict. Personal background variables were not related in any way to the level of conflict. Job satisfaction and organizational role conflict were found to be directly related to the level of interrole conflict and, in addition, to moderate the work schedules-conflict relationships. Together, job-related variables and the interactions among them accounted for over 50% of the variance in work-nonwork conflict.     

Daily suppression of discrete emotions during the work of police service workers and criminal investigation officers

The aim of the present research among Dutch police officers was to examine whether fluctuations in emotional job demands predict exhaustion through the suppression of discrete emotions. A first diary study (N =25) tested how the suppression of discrete emotions is related to exhaustion at the end of the work shift of police call-center service workers. Results revealed that suppressing anger was positively related to exhaustion at the end of a work shift, whereas suppressing happiness was not. A second study (N=41) among criminal investigation officers showed that the emotions anger, abhorrence, and sadness were among the most common negative emotions that were suppressed as part of the emotional labor of this specialized occupational group. Results of a third (diary) study (N=39) confirmed that emotional dissonance and more particularly the suppression of abhorrence mediated the relationship between emotional job demands and exhaustion at the end of a work shift.     

Individual Differences in Emotion Regulation,Emotional Experiences at Work,and Work‐related Outcomes: A Two‐Study Investigation

The relationships among individual differences in emotion regulation (i.e., habitual tendencies to use reappraisal vs. suppression), employee emotions at work, and job performance and satisfaction were examined with 2 samples. Results indicated that reappraisal was positively associated with positive emotions and negatively associated with negative emotions. However, different from prior research, no emotional correlates were found for suppression. Further, it was found that job satisfaction was positively associated with positive emotions and negatively associated with negative emotions. Self‐rating of job performance was positively related to positive emotions, but was not significantly related to negative emotions.     

Job strain and rumination about work issues during leisure time: A diary study

Previous research has suggested that high job strain (high demand, low control at work) is associated with an inability to “unwind” physiologically after work. It was speculated that one mechanism related to the “unwinding process” is an individual's ability to “cognitively switch-off” about work related issues after work. This hypothesis was tested in a diary study of primary and secondary school teachers who were asked to keep an hourly record of their work-related thoughts over a workday evening between 17.00 hrs and 21.00 hrs. As expected both groups demonstrated a degree of unwinding and disengagement from work issues over the evening. High strain (n = 34) teachers however took longer to unwind and ruminated more about work-related issues, relative to low job strain (n = 35) teachers. High job strain teachers also reported they had less personal control over what they were doing in the evening. Across the evening all individuals reported higher ruminative thoughts about work issues when alone than when with family and friends, but high strain teachers reported more ruminative cognitions when watching television and with family and friends than low strain teachers. The results could not be explained by work patterns as there was no difference in the number of hours worked in the evening between the two groups. It is argued that one reason why high job strain teachers failed to successfully unwind after work is that they ruminated more about work issues, than did low job strain teachers.     

Workaholism,sex, and sex role stereotyping among female professionals

This paper examines the relationship between workaholism, sex, and sex role orientation among professionals. The sample consisted of 86 male and 106 female attorneys, physicians, and psychologists/therapists. Results indicated a significant relationship between sex and sex role stereotyping. Among females, workaholics were grouped exclusively in the sex role categories masculine and androgynous. Implications for counseling include increasing awareness of changing sex role attitudes among professional women and possible role conflict that can occur from integration of work and family.     

Passion and emotions: The mediating role of cognitive appraisals

Research reveals that harmonious passion leads to more positive emotions than obsessive passion, whereas the opposite result is true with respect to negative emotions. The purpose of this research was to evaluate the role of cognitive appraisals as mediators of the passion-emotion relationships. In Study 1, 227 participants engaged in different sports completed an online questionnaire about their passion for their specific sport, as well as cognitive appraisals and emotions generally experienced during an important game of their sport. Results of a structural equation modeling analysis and an indirect effect test showed that harmonious passion was linked to positive emotions through the mediating role of challenge appraisals, and that obsessive passion was linked to negative emotions through the mediating role of threat appraisals. In Study 2, 194 athletes completed questionnaires before and after a competitive game and focused on cognitive appraisals and emotions experienced during the game. Results of analyses conducted separately in the victory and defeat conditions based on game outcomes supported the model found in Study 1 in the case of defeat for both types of passion, and in the case of victory for harmonious passion only. Obsessive passion was not linked to threat appraisals among victorious athletes. These results suggest that both types of passion trigger different cognitive appraisals that lead to corresponding emotions. Future research is needed to replicate these findings and to better understand the role of passion and cognitive appraisals in emotions experienced in the realm of sports.     

The role of partners and children for employees' daily recovery

This multi-source diary study examined the role of partners for employees' daily recovery in a sample of dual-earner couples. We hypothesized that employees' daily psychological detachment from work during the evening should be positively associated with their partners' daily psychological detachment during the evening. Employees' affective well-being (serenity and negative activation) at bedtime should be influenced not only by their own psychological detachment, but also by their partners' psychological detachment. Moreover, we hypothesized that the presence of children in a couple's household should moderate the relations between partners' psychological detachment on the one hand, and employees' psychological detachment and affective well-being on the other hand. Fifty-three dual-earner couples completed daily electronic surveys via handheld devices at bedtime over the course of one work week. We used dyadic multilevel path modeling to analyze our data. Results showed that employees' and their partners' levels of daily psychological detachment were positively related. Employees' psychological detachment predicted their own negative activation, but not their serenity at bedtime. Partners' psychological detachment predicted employees' serenity and negative activation only in couples without children. Hence, our study provides support for the relevance of partners and children for employees' daily recovery after work.     

Marital satisfaction, recovery from work, and diurnal cortisol among men and women.

DESIGN: Multilevel modeling was used to model relationships between salivary cortisol, daily diary ratings of work experiences, and Marital Adjustment Test scores (Locke & Wallace, 1959), in a sample of 60 adults who sampled saliva 4 times per day over 3 days. RESULTS: Among women but not men, marital satisfaction was significantly associated with a stronger basal cortisol cycle, with higher morning values and a steeper decline across the day. For women but not men, marital satisfaction moderated the within-subjects association between afternoon and evening cortisol level, such that marital quality appeared to bolster women's physiological recovery from work. For both men and women, evening cortisol was lower than usual on higher-workload days, and marital satisfaction augmented this association among women. Men showed higher evening cortisol after more distressing social experiences at work, an association that was strongest among men with higher marital satisfaction. CONCLUSION: This work has implications for the study of physiological recovery from work, and also suggests a pathway by which marital satisfaction influences allostatic load and physical health.