Positive gain spirals at work: From job resources to work engagement, personal initiative and work-unit innovativeness

The present cross-lagged panel study aimed to investigate the energizing power of job resources and related gain spirals. Drawing on Hobfoll’s Conservation of Resources (COR) theory’s rarely tested assumptions of cumulative resource gains and gain spirals a reciprocal process was expected: (1) job resources lead to work engagement and work engagement leads to personal initiative (PI), which, in turn, has a positive impact on work-unit innovativeness, and (2) work-unit innovativeness leads to PI, which has a positive impact on work engagement, which finally predicts future job resources. The study was based on a two-wave 3-year panel design among 2555 Finnish dentists. Structural equation modeling was employed to study cross-lagged associations. The results mainly confirmed our hypotheses: positive and reciprocal cross-lagged associations were found between job resources and work engagement and between work engagement and PI. In addition, PI had a positive impact on work-unit innovativeness over time.     

Intergenerational transmission of qualities of the parent–child relationship in the population-based Young Finns Study

We examined the intergenerational transmission of parent–child relationship qualities in a population-based Finnish sample of 1418 participants (G2) and their mothers (G1). At baseline, G1 (Mage = 38) reported qualities of the parent–child relationship in terms of emotional warmth and acceptance towards G2 (age range 3–18). After 28 years, G2 (Mage = 39) rated the qualities of the parent–child relationship regarding their own children using the same questionnaire. Emotional warmth and acceptance were transmitted across generations even after controlling for demographic and family characteristics in both generations. The transmission was stronger for emotional warmth than acceptance. For emotional warmth, intergenerational transmission was stronger for men than women. The findings provide evidence for the long-term transmission of parenting quality across generations.     

Change and stability of sense of coherence in adulthood: Longitudinal evidence from the Healthy Child study

The main aim of this three-wave 35-year follow-up study among Finnish employees (n = 532) was to investigate whether Sense of Coherence (SOC) is more stable among those with high SOC compared to those with low SOC, as hypothesized by Antonovsky [Antonovsky, A. (1987). Unraveling the mystery of health: how people manage stress and stay well. San Francisco, CA, US: Jossey-Bass], using two measurement points over 13 years. The participants were first studied in adolescence in 1961–1963, after which they responded to two postal questionnaires measuring SOC, first in 1985, and again in 1998. The results of the Factor Mixture Modeling identified two groups of individuals with different levels and mean changes of SOC: high-SOC (n = 344) and low-SOC (n = 188) individuals. The results supported Antonovsky’s hypothesis: SOC was more stable among high-SOC individuals (stability coefficient 0.57) than among low-SOC individuals (0.31). The results further supported the factor structure of the 11-item SOC scale. However, out of the five generalized resistance resources investigated in adolescence, only the level of home care was associated with SOC in adulthood.     

Developmental trajectories of multisite musculoskeletal pain and depressive symptoms: The effects of job demands and resources and individual factors

Objective: To investigate developmental paths in multisite musculoskeletal pain (MPS) and depressive symptoms (DPS) and the effects of job demands (JD), job resources (JR), optimism and health-related lifestyle on these paths. We expected to find four trajectories – Low Symptoms, High Pain, High Depression and High Symptoms – and hypothesised that high JDs, low JRs, low optimism and adverse lifestyle predict belonging to trajectories with high symptom levels.

Design: Data on Finnish firefighters (N = 360) were collected in 1996, 1999 and 2009. The effects of JDs (mental and physical workload), JRs (supervisory relations, interpersonal relations, task resources), optimism and lifestyle (alcohol consumption, smoking, physical exercise, sleeping) on MPS and DPS were assessed. Latent class growth modelling and multinomial logistic regression were applied.

Results: Three trajectories emerged: Low Symptoms; High Pain; and High Depression. In a multivariable model, high mental workload (OR 2.9, 95% CI 1.5–5.5), poor interpersonal relations (2.6, 1.4–5.0), sleeping problems (2.7, 1.4–5.2) and low optimism (2.0, 1.0–3.7) predicted belonging to High Depression. Alcohol consumption (2.4, 1.4–4.1) and sleeping problems (2.1, 1.3–3.6) were related to High Pain.

Conclusions: Different developmental paths in MPS and DPS are possible. Partly different factors predict the development of pain and depressive symptoms.     

Is there more in a happy face than just a big smile?

Happy faces involve appearance changes in the mouth (the smile) and eye region (e.g., narrowing of the eye opening). The present experiments investigated whether the recognition of happy faces is achieved on the basis of the smile alone or whether information in the eye region is also used. A go/no-go task was used in which participants responded to happy faces and withhold a response to nonhappy distractors. The presence/absence of the expressive cues in the eyes did not affect recognition accuracy but reaction times were slightly longer for smiles without expressive cues in the eyes. This delay was not obtained when the top and the bottom halves of the faces were misaligned, or when the distractor was changed from a top-dominant to a bottom-dominant facial expression (i.e., from anger to disgust). Together, these results suggest that the eyes may have a modest effect on speeded recognition of happy faces although the presence of this effect may depend on task context.     

Judgment of other people's facial expressions of emotions is influenced by their concurrent affective hand movements

We investigated whether emotional information from facial expression and hand movement quality was integrated when identifying the expression of a compound stimulus showing a static facial expression combined with emotionally expressive dynamic manual actions. The emotions (happiness, neutrality, and anger) expressed by the face and hands were either congruent or incongruent. In Experiment 1, the participants judged whether the stimulus person was happy, neutral, or angry. Judgments were mainly based on the facial expressions, but were affected by manual expressions to some extent. In Experiment 2, the participants were instructed to base their judgment on the facial expression only. An effect of hand movement expressive quality was observed for happy facial expressions. The results conform with the proposal that perception of facial expressions of emotions can be affected by the expressive qualities of hand movements.     

Dispositional and situational coping and mental health among Palestinian political ex-prisoners

We examined, first, differences in dispositional and situational coping, and psychological distress between political ex-prisoners and their matched controls, and second, coping effectiveness in protecting mental health from impacts of imprisonment and military trauma. Thirdly, we tested the hypothesis that compatibility ("goodness of fit") between dispositional and situational coping would predict low psychological distress. Participants were 184 men recruited from a Palestinian community sample, 92 were former political prisoners and 92 non-prisoners. The dispositional coping was assessed as a general response style to hypothetical stressors and situational coping as responses to their own traumatic experiences. Psychological distress was measured by SCL-90-R, and posttraumatic stress disorder, depression and somatoform symptoms by scales based on CIDI 2.1 diagnostic interview. The results showed that, compared to non-prisoners, the political ex-prisoners employed less avoidant, denying, and emotion-focused coping strategies. Military trauma was associated with avoidant and denying coping only among non-prisoners. The ex-prisoners showed more mental health and medical problems, especially when exposed to military trauma. None of the coping styles or strategies were effective in protecting the mental health in general or in either groups. However, main effect results revealed that the high level of active and constructive and low level of emotion-focused coping were associated with low levels of psychiatric symptoms and psychological distress.