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.     

Gender-related processes and drug use: self-expression with parents, peer group selection, and achievement motivation

This investigation examined gender differences in communication with parents, peer group selection, and academic motivation as related to drug use among adolescents (290 girls, 237 boys; age range = 12-19 years). For girls, increased self-expression with parents was associated with greater academic motivation, more academically motivated friends, fewer drug-using friends, and less overall drug use. For boys, self-expression was positively related to academic motivation. For both boys and girls, having drug-using friends predicted increased drug use, while having academically motivated friends predicted decreased drug use. For girls only, age and academic motivation predicted drug use as well. These findings indicate that peer group selection and academic motivation may mediate the relationship between drug use and parent-adolescent communication for girls only.     

Prospective associations between marital adjustment and life satisfaction

Actor and partner effects for the 2‐year longitudinal associations between marital adjustment and life satisfaction were evaluated in a population‐based sample of middle‐aged and older adults (N = 1,385 couples). Results showed that (a) higher marital adjustment at baseline predicted higher life satisfaction at follow‐up, (b) higher life satisfaction at baseline predicted higher marital adjustment at follow‐up, (c) marital adjustment more strongly predicted life satisfaction than life satisfaction predicted marital adjustment for women, and (d) higher partner marital adjustment at baseline predicted higher life satisfaction at follow‐up. Results suggest that marital adjustment and life satisfaction influence one another in a bidirectional fashion and that the direction is predominantly from marital adjustment to life satisfaction in women.     

Shame and guilt and their relationship to positive expectations and anger expressiveness

College students (174 females, 91 males) completed measures of shame, guilt, expectations for future success, and styles of anger expression. Significant gender differences were found in proneness for both shame and guilt, with young women exhibiting a greater propensity for shame and guilt than young men. For both females and males, however, shame-proneness was positively related to expressions of inward anger. Among males and females, guilt-proness was negatively related to outward anger, but positively related to anger control. For females, guilt-proness was also negatively related to expectations for future success. Multiple regression analyses indicated that for male and female late adolescents, the best positive predictor of shame-proneness was inward anger. Gender differences emerged in predicting guilt-proneness; greater anger control, lower outward anger, and lower expectations for future success significantly predicted this variable among females.