Identifying long-term patterns of work-related rumination: associations with job demands and well-being outcomes

The aim of this 2-year longitudinal study was to identify long-term patterns of work-related rumination in terms of affective rumination, problem-solving pondering, and lack of psychological detachment from work during off-job time. We also examined how the patterns differed in job demands and well-being outcomes. The data were collected via questionnaires in three waves among employees (N = 664). Through latent profile analysis (LPA), five stable long-term patterns of rumination were identified: (1) no rumination (n = 81), (2) moderate detachment from work (n = 228), (3) moderate rumination combined with low detachment (n = 216), (4) affective rumination (n = 54), and (5) problem-solving pondering (n = 85), both combined with low detachment. The patterns differed in the job demands and well-being outcomes examined. Job demands (time pressure, cognitive and emotional demands) were at the highest level across time in patterns 3–5 and lowest in pattern 1. Patterns 3 and 4 were associated with poorer well-being outcomes (higher job exhaustion and more sleeping problems, and lower work engagement) across time. By contrast, pattern 5 showed positive outcomes, especially high level of work engagement. Thus, the different patterns of work-related ruminative thoughts suggest diverse relationships with job demands and well-being.     

Differential Effects of Anxiety Sensitivity Components in the Relation Between Emotional Non-Acceptance and Post-traumatic Stress Symptoms Among Trauma-Exposed Treatment-Seeking Smokers

Anxiety sensitivity (AS), defined as the extent to which individuals believe anxiety and anxiety-related sensations have harmful consequences, may play an important explanatory role in the relation between emotional non-acceptance and the expression of traumatic stress symptoms among trauma-exposed smokers. This investigation examined whether lower-order dimensions of AS (cognitive, physical, and social concerns) differentially explain the relation between emotional non-acceptance and post-traumatic stress (PTS) symptom clusters (re-experiencing, avoidance, hyperarousal) among trauma-exposed daily smokers (N = 169, 46% female; M_age = 41, SD = 12.3). AS and its lower-order facets of cognitive and social concerns were found to mediate the relations between emotional non-acceptance and avoidance and hyperarousal PTS symptoms. Using a multiple mediation model, the mediational effect of AS cognitive concerns for the relation between emotional non-acceptance and post-traumatic avoidance symptoms was found to be uniquely evident relative to social and physical concerns. All observed AS effects were evident above and beyond the variance accounted for by gender, number of traumatic event exposure types, negative affectivity, number of cigarettes smoked per day, and alcohol use problems. The present findings suggest cognitive-based AS concerns may play a mechanistic role in the relation between emotional non-acceptance and certain PTS symptoms among trauma-exposed daily smokers.     

Testing the triple-match principle among technology employees

The triple-match principle (TMP) proposes that the strongest, interactive relationships between job demands and job resources are observed when job demands, job resources and job-related outcomes are based on qualitatively identical dimensions. This principle is tested with regard to three outcomes: cognitive failure, emotional exhaustion, and physical health complaints. Data were collected in a large sample of employees in the technology sector (n = 1533). Results demonstrate that the positive association between emotional job demands and emotional exhaustion is compensated by the availability of emotional job resources. No triple-match interactions are found with regard to cognitive failure or physical health complaints. In line with the TMP, results show that the likelihood of finding theoretically valid interactions is related to the degree of match between job demands, job resources, and outcomes.     

Cognitive Vulnerabilities as Mediators between Emotional Abuse and Depressive Symptoms

This study tested whether childhood parental emotional abuse and peer emotional bullying serve as antecedents of depression in adolescence and identified the cognitive mechanisms involved in this process. It was hypothesized that the experience of emotional abuse would predict depressive symptoms via development of rumination and negative inferences. A 3-wave longitudinal study was carried out with 998 adolescents (471 girls and 526 boys) between 13 and 17 years of age. Results showed that emotional abuse by parents and peers at Time 1 predicted a worsening of several cognitive vulnerabilities at Time 2. In addition, brooding mediated between the experiences of abuse and the increase of depressive symptoms at Time 3. Thus, findings suggest that the experiences of childhood emotional abuse by parents and peers serve as antecedents to develop a negative cognitive style, vulnerability that, once developed, is a risk factor for the onset of depressive symptoms in adolescence.     

Depressive and Anxious Symptomatology Moderate the Relationship Between Childhood Emotional Abuse Severity and Attentional Bias on the Modified Stroop Task

Research has demonstrated that the impact of childhood abuse often outlasts the initial abuse experiences, paving the way for a myriad of psychological difficulties in adulthood. Attentional bias might serve as a pathway from childhood abuse to negative outcomes associated with such experiences. The primary aim of the study was to investigate the impact of childhood emotional abuse (CEA) experiences on the presence of attentional bias in a sample of college women by comparing performance on a modified Stroop task between CEA survivors (n = 28) and a nonabused control group (n = 31). Results suggest that for CEA survivors, psychological symptoms moderated the relationship between CEA severity and attentional bias to specific word types. Results underscore the importance in continued exploration of the relationship among childhood emotional abuse, attentional bias, and concurrent psychopathology. Results also suggest that modification of attentional biases, via cognitive bias modification procedures, could help mitigate the impact of childhood abuse experiences on psychological well-being in adult survivors.     

Interaction effects among multiple job demands: an examination of healthcare workers across different contexts

Background and Objectives: Simultaneous exposure to time, cognitive, and emotional demands is a feature of the work environment for healthcare workers, yet effects of these common stressors in combination are not well established. Design: Survey data were collected from 125 hospital employees (Sample 1, Study 1), 93 ambulance service employees (Sample 2, Study 1), and 380 aged care/disability workers (Study 2). Methods: Hierarchical multiple regressions were conducted. Results: In Sample 1, high cognitive demand exacerbated high emotional demand on psychological strain and job burnout, whereas the negative effect of high emotional demand was not present at low cognitive demand. In Sample 2, a similar pattern between emotional demand and time demand on stress-remedial intentions was observed. In Study 2, emotional demand?×?time demand and time demand?×?cognitive demand interactions again revealed that high levels of two demands were stress-exacerbating and low levels of one demand neutralized the other. A three-way interaction on job satisfaction showed the negative impact of emotional demand was exacerbated when both time and cognitive demands were high, creating a “triple disadvantage” of job demands. Conclusions: The results demonstrate that reducing some job demands helps attenuate the stressful effects of other job demands on different employee outcomes.     

Emotional labor demands and compensating wage differentials

The concept of emotional labor demands and their effects on workers has received considerable attention in recent years, with most studies concentrating on stress, burnout, satisfaction, or other affective outcomes. This study extends the literature by examining the relationship between emotional labor demands and wages at the occupational level. Theories describing the expected effects of job demands and working conditions on wages are described. Results suggest that higher levels of emotional labor demands are associated with lower wage rates for jobs low in cognitive demands and with higher wage rates for jobs high in cognitive demands. Implications of these findings are discussed.     

Monitoring stress among internal medicine residents: an experience-driven,practical and short measure

Residents experience severely high levels of stress, depression and burnout, leading to perceived medical errors, as well as to symptoms of impairment, such as chronic anger, cognitive impairment, suicidal behavior and substance abuse. Because research has not yet provided a psychometrically robust population-specific tool to measure the level of stress of medicine residents, we aimed at building and validating such a measure. Using an inductive scale development approach, a short, pragmatic measure was built, based on the interviews of 17 medicine residents. The Internal Medicine Residency Stress Scale (IMRSS) was then administered in a sample of 259 internal medicine residents (199 females, 60 males, M_Age = 25.6) along with the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, Maslach Burnout Inventory, Satisfaction With Life Scale and Ways of Coping Checklist. The IMRSS showed satisfactory internal reliability (Cronbach’s α = .86), adequate structural validity – studied through Confirmatory Factor Analysis (χ²/df = 2.51, CFI = .94; SRMR = .037, RMSEA = .076) – and good criterion validity – the IMRSS was notably strongly correlated with emotional exhaustion (r = .64; p < .001) and anxiety (r = .57; p < .001). Because of its short length and robust psychometric qualities, the use of the IMRSS is recommended to quickly and frequently assess and monitor stress among internal medicine residents.     

Testing the triple-match principle among Dutch elite athletes: A day-level study on sport demands,detachment and recovery

ObjectivesDetachment, getting a physical, cognitive, and emotional break from the effortful demands of training and competition, is a recovery experience that can buffer the adverse effects of high sport demands on health and well-being. The matching hypothesis states that recovery strategies are most effective when they match particular sport demands. The main aim of this study was to investigate the matching hypothesis with respect to the relation between daily sport demands, detachment, and recovery state among elite athletes.DesignA one-week online daily diary study was conducted. Multilevel regression analyses tested within-subject associations between daily sport demands, detachment, and recovery state at bedtime, while controlling for recovery state in the morning.MethodSixty-eight elite athletes completed a daily diary survey after waking up (T1) and at bedtime (T2) across eight consecutive days.ResultsResults showed that daily physical detachment was positively related to daily physical recovery, whereas daily emotional detachment was positively related to daily cognitive recovery and emotional recovery. Moderating effects of daily detachment on the relation between daily sport demands and daily recovery state occurred more often when there was a match between specific types of sport demands, detachment, and recovery state rather than when there was less match or no match.ConclusionsFindings indicate that physical and emotional detachment are effective recovery strategies for elite athletes. Moreover, it is important that detachment matches the type of effort that has been spent to find the strongest stress-buffering effects.     

Emotional job demands and burnout among oncology care providers

Abstract

Recent studies by Söderfeldt et al. (1996) and de Jonge et al. (1999) have demonstrated that Karasek's operationalization of job demands in his well-known Job Demands-Control (JD-C) Model (Karasek, 1979), i.e. quantitative demands, cannot capture the complexities of working with patients or clients in health care work. In the current study on burnout among 816 Dutch oncology care providers, the “traditional” JD-C Model was extended by including two types of emotional job demands. Moreover, “susceptibility to emotional contagion” was included as a potential moderator of the relationship between emotional job demands and burnout. Emotional job demands significantly contributed to the prediction of burnout, after controlling for quantitative job demands and job control. In addition, care providers' susceptibility to emotional contagion moderated the relationship between “confrontation with death and dying” and burnout. Care providers high in susceptibility to emotional contagion were more “vulnerable” to the stress associated with high emotional demands than their counterparts.     

The moderating role of work pressure on the relationships between emotional demands and tension,exhaustion, and work engagement: an experience sampling study among nurses

The purpose of this study is to examine the moderating role of state work pressure (conceived as a hindrance demand) on the relationships between situational emotional demands (conceived as a challenge demand) and tension, emotional exhaustion and work engagement within nursing while considering job resources as covariates. Ninety-seven nurses from two German hospitals provided 1026 measurements. Multilevel analyses indicated a significant Work Pressure × Emotional Demands interaction for emotional exhaustion, with high situational work pressure exacerbating the positive association between state emotional demands and emotional exhaustion. Furthermore, work pressure moderated the relationship between emotional demands and vigour: state emotional demands related negatively to vigour only when work pressure was higher than usual, while the relationship was non-significant when work pressure was lower than usual. For dedication, similar results were obtained: state emotional demands were negatively associated with dedication only when combined with high situational work pressure; with low situational work pressure, state emotional demands did not relate to dedication. Contributing to the job demands-resources literature, this study shows that there are stress-exacerbating and stress-buffering interactions between different job demands from a within-subject perspective. However, we did not find positive relationships between challenge demands and work engagement, even in the case of low situational hindrances, indicating that there are conditions for the functioning of job demands as a challenge beyond hindrances.     

Exposure to Violence, Support Needs, Adjustment, and Motivators Among Guatemalan Humanitarian Aid Workers

Indigenous aid workers carry out the majority of humanitarian aid work, yet there is little empirical information available on their support needs in different contexts. Focus groups (N = 26: Study 1) and a survey (N = 137; Study 2) were conducted with Guatemalan aid workers to explore their exposure to violence, posttraumatic stress symptoms, burnout, support needs, and motivators. Participants reported experiencing an average of 13 events of community violence and 17% reported symptoms consistent with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Direct community violence exposure and levels of emotional exhaustion were positively related to PTSD symptoms, while levels of personal accomplishment were inversely related to PTSD symptoms. Expressed support needs, motivators and rewards for aid work in the face of adversity are also reported as potential protective factors for further exploration. Implications for training and support of aid workers in similar contexts are also suggested.     

Rational Beliefs as Cognitive Protective Factors Against Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms

The current study investigated the predictions of rational emotive behaviour therapy’s (REBT) model of psychological health that rational beliefs would act as cognitive protective factors against posttraumatic stress responses. The study aimed to contribute original data regarding the role of functional cognitions in the prevention of posttraumatic stress symptomology. A model consistent with REBT’s theory of psychological health was investigated through the use of structural equation modelling among a sample of 309 international emergency service personnel who had all been exposed to a significant life trauma. Results indicated that the REBT model of posttraumatic stress responses was found to be an acceptable fit of the data (χ² = 199.99, df = 94, p < .001; RMSEA = .06 (CI 90 % = .05/.08); SRMR = .05; CFI = .93; TLI = .91) and explained 76 % of variance in posttraumatic stress symptoms. Self-acceptance beliefs and high frustration tolerance beliefs negatively predicted posttraumatic stress responses; non-catastrophizing beliefs positively predicted posttraumatic stress responses; and indirect effects were observed between preference beliefs and posttraumatic stress responses via self-acceptance and high frustration tolerance beliefs. Results suggest that rational beliefs are negatively associated with posttraumatic stress responses and support the REBT model of psychological health. Current results contribute important information regarding the role of functional cognitions in the alleviation of posttraumatic stress symptoms.     

Cognitive and emotional empathy in typically developing children: The influence of age,gender, and intelligence

In the current study, the influence of age, gender and IQ on cognitive and emotional empathy in school-aged children and adolescents was examined adopting two behavioural paradigms: participants were shown film clips with different scenes of social interaction to which they were asked to respond. Thus, 134 children aged seven to 17 years (mean age = 138.4 months, sd = 31.66 months) were tested for emotion recognition, perspective taking and emotional empathy. Age strongly influenced components of cognitive empathy and explained 33.5% to 39.1% of the variance. Gender and IQ also were significant predictors, yet only explained 3% to 5%, respectively 8% to 9% of the variance. In contrast, neither age, gender nor IQ were related to emotional empathy. Results suggest developmental maturation of cognitive, but not emotional empathy throughout childhood and adolescence. To explain variability in emotional empathy, additional biological and psychosocial factors need to be studied.     

Job demands,coping, and impacts of occupational stress among journalists: a systematic review

This paper systematically reviews empirical research published from 2002 to July 2015 investigating journalists’ occupational stressors, coping strategies, and the impacts of these variables on the health and well-being of such professionals, whether on their daily work or as special envoys to critical scenarios. A meta-analytic approach was displayed to analyse the association between exposure to traumatic events during work and journalists’ symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Twenty eight articles met the inclusion criteria and revealed that very few studies distinguish (and none compare) the distress of journalists in their daily work from the distress of reporting major disasters, not a single study addressed positive emotional responses and only one research study focused on an in-depth analysis of the most commonly used coping strategies by journalists. The impacts of occupational stress among these professionals were sorely negative (e.g., burnout, PTSD), and no study was found to address the design and assessment of preventive interventions for these impacts on the health and well-being of journalists. Thirteen studies were included in a random-effects model meta-analysis and a small to moderate effect size (r = 0.272) between exposure to traumatic events during assignments and PTSD was found. The article closes with directions for future studies.     

Dispositional Mindfulness,Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms and Academic Burnout in Chinese Adolescents Following a Tornado: The Role of Mediation through Regulatory Emotional Self-Efficacy

Limited research has been conducted on dispositional mindfulness, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and academic burnout in Chinese adolescents following a tornado. The present study investigated the ways in which dispositional mindfulness is related to PTSD symptoms and academic burnout in Chinese adolescents following a tornado by considering the role of regulatory emotional self-efficacy. A total of 431 Chinese adolescents (mean age: 14.75 years) who had experienced a severe tornado 9 months prior to this study were recruited for this study. The results indicated that our model fit the data well [χ²/df = 2.774, CFI = 0.952, TLI = 0.934, RMSEA (90% CI) = 0.064 (0.051–0.077)], and revealed that regulatory emotional self-efficacy partially mediates the relationships between dispositional mindfulness and PTSD symptoms and academic burnout, respectively. The clinical implications and limitations of our research, and recommendations for future research, are discussed in this paper.     

Divergent effects of detachment from work: a day-level study on employee creativity

Detachment from work during non-work time is generally related to a decrease in work-related strain. However, it might also hamper employees’ generation of new and useful ideas about work by completely shutting off work-related thoughts and/or feelings outside of work. In this day-level study, we used a within-person design to investigate the role of cognitive and emotional detachment from work during non-work time in relation to equivalent types of job demands and job resources, in the prediction of employee creativity. Cognitive detachment from work refers to mentally disconnecting from work and no longer thinking about job-related issues, whereas emotional detachment from work refers to affectively disconnecting from work and no longer experiencing job-related emotions. Survey data were gathered over the course of eight consecutive days from 151 health care employees. Multi-level analyses revealed that: (1) cognitive detachment was positively related to creativity, irrespective of the level of cognitive job demands and resources; (2) high emotional job demands in combination with either low levels of emotional detachment or high levels of emotional job resources were positively related to creativity. This day-level study provides insight into the relation between detachment from work and creativity from a process perspective, by showing specific conditions under which different types of detachment from work benefit employee creativity.     

The role of emotional maltreatment and looming cognitive style in the development of social anxiety symptoms in late adolescents

Background: Social looming constitutes a specific cognitive vulnerability that acts as a danger schema and biases the processing of threat-related information associated with the development of social anxiety disorder. This model characterizes early negative experiences as critical to the formation of looming cognitive style. Furthermore, research has found links between parental emotional abuse and peer victimization and social anxiety. Design: A three-wave longitudinal design was used to analyze the role of parents’ emotional abuse and peer victimization in the onset of social anxiety symptoms through the development of this cognitive style. Methods: The final sample was made up of 307 females and 243 males (M_age?=?16.97, SD_age?=?.81). Perceived parents’ emotional abuse and peer victimization by participants were measured at Time 1, social looming was measured at Time 1 and 2, and social anxiety symptoms were measured at Times 1, 2, and 3. Results: Parents’ emotional abuse and peer victimization were related to social anxiety cross-sectionally. Longitudinally, social looming acted as a mediator in the relationship between parents’ emotional abuse and social anxiety. Conclusions: These findings highlight the need to better understand the mechanisms through which emotional abuse and peer victimization impact social looming and contribute to social anxiety.     

Effectiveness of Cognitive Behavior Therapy for Severe Mood Disorders in an Acute Psychiatric Naturalistic Setting: A Benchmarking Study

The current study examined the effectiveness of brief cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) for severe mood disorders in an acute naturalistic setting. The sample included 951 individuals with either major depressive disorder (n = 857) or bipolar disorder with depressed mood (n = 94). Participants completed a battery of self-report measures assessing depression, overall well-being, and a range of secondary outcomes both before and after treatment. We found significant reductions in depressive symptoms, worry, self-harm, emotional lability, and substance abuse, as well as significant improvements in well-being and interpersonal relationships, post-treatment. Comparable to outpatient studies, 30% of the sample evidenced recovery from depression. Comparison of findings to benchmark studies indicated that, although the current sample started treatment with severe depressive symptoms and were in treatment for average of only 10 days, the overall magnitude of symptom improvement was similar to that of randomized controlled trials. Limitations of the study include a lack of control group, a limitation of most naturalistic studies. These findings indicate that interventions developed in controlled research settings on the efficacy of CBT can be transported to naturalistic, “real world” settings, and that brief CBT delivered in a partial hospital program is effective for many patients with severe depressive symptoms.     

Acculturative stress and experiential avoidance: relations to depression,suicide, and anxiety symptoms among minority college students

Although college campuses represent strategic locations to address mental health disparity among minorities in the US, there has been strikingly little empirical work on risk processes for anxiety/depression among this population. The present investigation examined the interactive effects of acculturative stress and experiential avoidance in relation to anxiety and depressive symptoms among minority college students (n = 1,095; 78.1% female; M_age = 21.92, SD = 4.23; 15.1% African-American (non-Hispanic), 45.3% Hispanic, 32.5% Asian, and 7.1% other races/ethnicities. Results provided empirical evidence of an interaction between acculturative stress and experiential avoidance for suicidal, social anxiety, and anxious arousal symptoms among the studied sample. Inspection of the significant interactions revealed that acculturative stress was related to greater levels of suicidal symptoms, social anxiety, and anxious arousal among minority college students with higher, but not lower, levels of experiential avoidance. However, in contrast to prediction, there was no significant interaction for depressive symptoms. Together, these data provide novel empirical evidence for the clinically-relevant interplay between acculturative stress and experiential avoidance in regard to a relatively wide array of negative emotional states among minority college students.