Caregiver burnout among intimate partners of patients with a severe illness: An equity perspective

In the present study, caregiver burnout among the intimate partners of 106 cancer patients and 88 patients with multiple sclerosis was assessed. This study examined how burnout is related to marital quality and perceptions of inequity in the relationship. LISREL analyses showed that higher perceptions of inequity are strongly associated with higher emotional exhaustion and depersonalization, and lower feelings of personal accomplishment. Intimate partners of both cancer patients and patients with multiple sclerosis are relatively likely to experience burnout when they feel that they do not invest or benefit enough in the exchange with their ill partner. The relationship between inequity and burnout held when general marital quality, gender, the duration of the illness, the physical and psychological condition of the ill partner, and support from other persons were controlled for. This study shows that perceptions of equity or balance in the relationship between patients and their intimate partners are important for preventing caregiver burnout and for enhancing positive caregiver experiences.     

Age and Trust as Moderators in the Relation between Procedural Justice and Turnover: A Large‐Scale Longitudinal Study

The current study investigated the moderating roles of age and trust in the relation of procedural justice with turnover. It was expected that the relation between procedural justice and turnover was weaker for older workers and those with high prior trust in their leader. Older workers are better at regulating their emotions, and focus more on positive aspects of their relationships with others, and therefore react less intensely to unfair treatment. Moreover, people with high trust are more likely to attribute unfair treatment to circumstances instead of deliberate intention than people with low trust. Finally, we expected a three‐way interaction between age, trust, and procedural justice in relation to turnover, where older workers with high trust would have less strong reactions than younger workers and older workers with low trust. Results from a three‐wave longitudinal survey among 1,597 Dutch employees indeed revealed significant interactions between trust and procedural justice in relation to turnover. Furthermore, the three‐way interaction was significant, with negative relations for younger workers, but a non‐significant relation was found for older workers with low trust. Contrary to expectations, negative relations were found between procedural justice and turnover for older workers with high trust.     

Selective Evaluation and Coping With Stress: Making One's Situation Cognitively More Livable

Selective evaluation processes were examined in a study involving 167 individuals receiving payments under the Disablement Insurance Act in the Netherlands. A factor analysis showed 6 strategies of selective evaluation: emphasizing benefits, downward comparison, devaluing former dimensions, imaging "worse worlds," positive framing, and creating new dimensions. Although emphasizing benefits was relatively less common among those under stress, downward comparisons and the imaging of "worse worlds" were clearly more prevalent among individuals experiencing stress. A regression analysis showed that, independent of the degree of stress, selective evaluation techniques (in particular, emphasizing benefits and imagining of "worse worlds") contributed positively to the way respondents evaluated their situation. Moreover, when controlling for the evaluation of one's situation and stress at Time 1, selective evaluation techniques, and especially imagining of "worse worlds," and creating new dimensions, were positively related to the evaluation of one's situation at Time 2 (1 year after Time 1). The results are interpreted as support for the Taylor, Wood, and Lichtman (1983) model of selective evaluation, and for Wills' (1987) downward comparison theory.     

Affect Generated by Social Comparisons Among Nurses High and Low in Burnout1

The affective consequences of social comparison were examined in 2 field studies among nurses and related to the 3 dimensions of professional burnout: emotional exhaustion, reduced personal accomplishment, and depersonalization. Study t was conducted in a sample of 99 nurses of a psychiatric hospital, and Study 2 in a sample of 237 nurses employed in various settings In general, upward comparisons evoked more positive and less negative affect than did downward comparisons. However, the affective consequences of social comparison were different for those high and low in burnout. Those low in personal accomplishment reported higher levels of negative affect from upward comparisons and higher levels of positive affect from downward comparisons than did those high in personal accomplishment. In addition, in Study 2, those high in depersonalization and emotional exhaustion derived more positive affect from downward comparisons than did those with lower levels of burnout.     

Collective Outcomes and Justice Considerations in Evaluating Equalization of a Special-Education Budget1

This study examined evaluations of a proposal to equalize the budget for special education across regions among 1,114 participants affiliated with either mainstream or special education in The Netherlands. In line with predictions, it was found that equalization was more positively evaluated as expected outcomes for the own region were more favorable, and as the procedures and distribution were regarded as more fair. Moreover, equalization was evaluated more positively as referent distributions were rated as less fair. This research shows that perceived quality and fairness of a policy measure are strongly related to the perceived favorability of collective outcomes.     

On preferences and doing the right thing: Satisfaction with advantageous inequity when cognitive processing is limited

We examine outcome satisfaction in situations in which people receive better outcomes than comparable other persons. Building on classical and modern social psychological theories, we argue that when reacting to these arrangements of advantageous inequity, judging the advantage is quick and easy as preferences are primary. We further propose that adjusting this appraisal requires cognitive resources as it entails integrating fairness concerns with the initial preference appraisal. Extending the literature on cognitive busyness, we therefore predict that people should be more satisfied with advantageous inequity when cognitive processing is strongly—as opposed to weakly—limited. Findings across several different experimental paradigms support our predictions. Taken together, our findings shed light on the psychological processes underlying the intriguing interplay between egoism- and fairness-based considerations when evaluating outcomes, as well as on more general preference and adjustment processes.     

Aiming at the top? Upward social comparison of abilities after failure

This study examined the effects of feedback on a task on information seeking and partner preferences as forms of social comparison. It was predicted that subjects who experienced failure and perceived control over future performance would, for reasons of self-improvement, choose more strongly upward a comparison other than subjects who experienced success or perceived no control. In the experiment, 121 college students were given either failure, average, or success feedback on a bogus test for either a stable or a controllable ability. Next, the subjects choose a comparison other whose test material they would examine, and a comparison other as a partner for writing an evaluation of the test. As predicted, the preferences for information seeking and affiliation were more strongly upward when subjects experienced failure than when subjects experienced success. Perceived control partly resulted in more strongly upward choices in information seeking for subjects experiencing failure.     

Burnout, Uncertainty, and the Desire for Social Comparison Among Nurses

A study was conducted among 295 nurses to examine the interest in social comparison information, that is, the desire to learn more about the feelings and responses of others facing a similar situation. Occupational burnout, in particular emotional exhaustion, reduced personal accomplishment and uncertainty, had independent relationships with the interest in social comparison information. Comparison preferences were strongly upward; there was in general a stronger preference for information about others who were better off than for affiliation with such others. There was also a stronger preference for comparison with more experienced than with more competent others. However, better-off others were avoided relatively more by those high in burnout, especially by those high in reduced personal accomplishment. The results are discussed in the context of social comparison as a way of coping with stress, and self-improvement and self-protection as motives for social comparison.     

The importance of emotional display rules for employee well-being: A multi-group comparison

‘Serving with a smile’ has generally been associated with negative effects for employee well-being. The present study investigated whether emotional display rules also relate to positive outcomes by distinguishing demands to suppress negative emotional response (negative display rules) from demands to express positive emotions (positive display rules). In line with the job demands-resources model, outcomes involved emotional exhaustion and work engagement. Participants were employees in three occupational groups in the human service profession: sales (N?=?480), healthcare (N?=?399), and education (N?=?220). The outcomes of a multi-group analysis in LISREL revealed for all three occupational groups that negative display rules were related to emotional exhaustion while positive display rules were associated with work engagement. Together, these findings suggest that ‘serving with a smile’ can enhance employee well-being, when the emphasis is on showing positive affects instead of suppressing negative affects.