2012
Blocklin MK, Crouter AC, McHale SM.
Youth Supervision While Mothers Work: A Daily Diary Study of Maternal Worry. Community Work Fam. 2012;15 (2) :233-249.
AbstractUsing data from a daily diary study of hourly hotel employees in the U.S. and their children, this study examined links between youth supervision arrangements and maternal worry while at work, examining both differences between individuals and day-to-day variation within individuals. Multilevel model analyses revealed both between- and within-person effects linking youth supervision to maternal worry. Mothers' partner status functioned as moderator, and maternal knowledge also emerged as a protective factor when youth were in self-care, highlighting a potential target for future work-family interventions, particularly those for hourly employees with limited access to family-friendly workplace policies.En utilisant les données d'une étude de journal quotidien des employés horaires de l'hôtel aux États-Unis et leurs enfants, cette étude a examiné les liens entre les modalités de supervision des jeunes et l'inquiétude maternelle pendant le travail, en examinant à la fois les différences inter individus et la variation intra individus au jour le jour. Analyses multi-niveaux ont révélé à la fois des effets inter et intra reliant la supervision des jeunes à l'inquiétude maternelle. Statut de partenaire des mères a fonctionné en tant que modérateur, et la connaissance maternelle est également apparue comme un facteur de protection lorsque les jeunes ont pris soins d'eux-mêmes, soulignant une cible potentielle pour des interventions de conciliation travail-famille, en particulier ceux conçus pour des employés horaires avec un accès limité à des politiques favorables à la famille.
O'Donnell EM, Berkman LF, Subramanian SV.
Manager support for work-family issues and its impact on employee-reported pain in the extended care setting. J Occup Environ Med. 2012;54 (9) :1142-9.
AbstractOBJECTIVE: Supervisor-level policies and the presence of a manager engaged in an employee's need to achieve work-family balance, or "supervisory support," may benefit employee health, including self-reported pain.
METHODS: We conducted a census of employees at four selected extended care facilities in the Boston metropolitan region (n = 368). Supervisory support was assessed through interviews with managers and pain was reported by employees.
RESULTS: Our multilevel logistic models indicate that employees with managers who report the lowest levels of support for work-family balance experience twice as much overall pain as employees with managers who report high levels of support.
CONCLUSIONS: Low supervisory support for work-family balance is associated with an increased prevalence of employee-reported pain in extended care facilities. We recommend that manager-level policies and practices receive additional attention as a potential risk factor for poor health in this setting.
McHale SM, Blocklin MK, Walter KN, Davis KD, Almeida DM, Klein LC.
The role of daily activities in youths' stress physiology. J Adolesc Health. 2012;51 (6) :623-8.
AbstractPURPOSE: This study examined links between diurnal patterns of the stress hormone cortisol and time spent by adolescents in nine common daily activities. METHODS: During eight consecutive nightly telephone interviews, 28 youths (n = 12 girls), 10-18 years of age, reported their daily activities. On 4 days, four saliva samples were also collected and assayed for cortisol. Multilevel models assessed within- and between-person associations between time in each activity and cortisol area under the curve (AUC), cortisol awakening response (CAR), morning peak (30 minutes after wake up), and daily decline (morning peak to bedtime). RESULTS: Links with AUC were found for most activities; significant associations with cortisol rhythms suggested that most effects were due to anticipation of the day's activities. Specifically, on days when youths spent more time than usual on video games and television, they had lower AUCs, with lower morning peaks. Youths who spent more time reading (within-person) and in computer-related activities (between-person) had higher AUCs, with stronger CARs (within-person). Youths who slept more had lower AUCs, with lower morning peaks on both the between- and within-person levels. Amounts of time spent in clubs, and for older adolescents in sports, were also linked to lower AUCs. Finally, youths who spent more time in school/schoolwork had lower average AUCs, but on days when youths spent more time than usual in school, they had higher AUCs, stronger CARs, and steeper daily declines. CONCLUSION: Beyond their known implications for psychological adjustment, youths' everyday activities are linked to stress physiology.
Nelson CC, Li Y, Sorensen G, Berkman LF.
Assessing the relationship between work-family conflict and smoking. Am J Public Health. 2012;102 (9) :1767-72.
AbstractOBJECTIVES: We examined the relationship between smoking and work-family conflict among a sample of New England long-term-care facility workers.
METHODS: To collect data, we conducted in-person, structured interviews with workers in 4 extended-care facilities.
RESULTS: There was a strong association between smoking likelihood and work-family conflict. Workers who experienced both stress at home from work issues (i.e., work-to-home conflict) and stress at work from personal issues (i.e., home-to-work conflict) had 3.1 times higher odds of smoking than those who did not experience these types of conflict. Workers who experienced home-to-work conflict had an odds of 2.3 compared with those who did not experience this type of conflict, and workers who experienced work-to-home conflict had an odds of 1.6 compared with workers who did not experience this type of conflict.
CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study indicate that there is a robust relationship between work-family conflict and smoking, but that this relationship is dependent upon the total amount of conflict experienced and the direction of the conflict.
Okechukwu CA, El Ayadi AM, Tamers SL, Sabbath EL, Berkman LF.
Household food insufficiency, financial strain, work-family spillover, and depressive symptoms in the working class: the Work, Family, and Health Network study. Am J Public Health. 2012;102 (1) :126-33.
AbstractOBJECTIVES: We evaluated the association of household-level stressors with depressive symptoms among low-wage nursing home employees. METHODS: Data were collected in 2006 and 2007 from 452 multiethnic primary and nonprimary wage earners in 4 facilities in Massachusetts. We used logistic regression to estimate the association of depressive symptoms with household financial strain, food insufficiency, and work-family spillover (preoccupation with work-related concerns while at home and vice versa). RESULTS: Depressive symptoms were significantly associated with household financial strain (odds ratio [OR] = 1.82; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.03, 3.21) and food insufficiency (OR = 2.10; 95% CI = 1.10, 4.18). Among primary earners, stratified analyses showed that food insufficiency was associated with depressive symptoms (OR = 3.60; 95% CI = 1.42, 9.11) but financial strain was not. Among nonprimary wage earners, depressive symptoms correlated with financial strain (OR = 3.65; 95% CI = 1.48, 9.01) and work-family spillover (OR = 3.22; 95% CI = 1.11, 9.35). CONCLUSIONS: Household financial strain, food insufficiency, and work-family spillover are pervasive problems for working populations, but associations vary by primary wage earner status. The prevalence of food insufficiency among full-time employees was striking and might have a detrimental influence on depressive symptoms and the health of working-class families.
Hurtado DA, Sabbath EL, Ertel KA, Buxton OM, Berkman LF.
Racial disparities in job strain among American and immigrant long-term care workers. Int Nurs Rev. 2012;59 (2) :237-44.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Nursing homes are occupational settings, with an increasing minority and immigrant workforce where several psychosocial stressors intersect. AIM: This study aimed to examine racial/ethnic differences in job strain between Black (n = 127) and White (n = 110) immigrant and American direct-care workers at nursing homes (total n = 237). METHODS: Cross-sectional study with data collected at four nursing homes in Massachusetts during 2006-2007. We contrasted Black and White workers within higher-skilled occupations such as registered nurses or licensed practical nurses (n = 82) and lower-skilled staff such as certified nursing assistants (CNAs, n = 155). RESULTS: Almost all Black workers (96%) were immigrants. After adjusting for demographic and occupational characteristics, Black employees were more likely to report job strain, compared with Whites [relative risk (RR): 2.9, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.3 to 6.6]. Analyses stratified by occupation showed that Black CNAs were more likely to report job strain, compared with White CNAs (RR: 3.1, 95% CI: 1.0 to 9.4). Black workers were also more likely to report low control (RR: 2.1, 95% CI: 1.1 to 4.0). Additionally, Black workers earned $2.58 less per hour and worked 7.1 more hours per week on average, controlling for potential confounders. CONCLUSION: Black immigrant workers were 2.9 times more likely to report job strain than White workers, with greater differences among CNAs. These findings may reflect differential organizational or individual characteristics but also interpersonal or institutional racial/ethnic discrimination. Further research should consider the role of race/ethnicity in shaping patterns of occupational stress.
King RB, Karuntzos GT, Casper LM, Moen P, Davis KD, Berkman LF, Durham M, Kossek EE.
Work-Family Balance Issues and Work-Leave Policies. In: Handbook of Occupational Health and Wellness. New York, NY: Springer ; 2012. pp. 323-339.
2011
O'Neill JW, Davis KD.
Work stress and well-being in the hotel industry. International Journal of Hospitality Management [Internet]. 2011;30 (2) :385-390.
Publisher's VersionAbstract
Employee stress is a significant issue in the hospitality industry, and it is costly for employers and employees alike. Although addressing and reducing stress is both a noble goal and is capable of resulting in expense reductions for employers, the nature and quantity of hospitality employee stress is not fully understood. The first aim of this study was to identify common work stressors in a sample of 164 managerial and hourly workers employed at 65 different hotels who were each interviewed for eight consecutive days. The two most common stressors were interpersonal tensions at work and overloads (e.g., technology not functioning). The second aim was to determine whether there were differences in the types and frequency of work stressors by job type (i.e., managers versus non-managers), gender, and marital status. Hotel managers reported significantly more stressors than hourly employees. There were no significant differences by gender or marital status. The third aim was to investigate whether the various stressors were linked to hotel employee health and work outcomes. More employee and coworker stressors were linked to more negative physical health symptoms. Also, interpersonal tensions at work were linked to lower job satisfaction and greater turnover intentions.
O'Neill JW.
Face Time in the Hotel Industry: An Exploration of What it is and Why it Happens. Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research [Internet]. 2011;36 (4) :478-494.
Publisher's VersionAbstract
Many hotel companies, and the hotel industry in general, have been cited as having a culture of face time, that is, a culture inducing its managers to spend considerable amounts of nonproductive time at work. This subject exploratory study seeks to provide greater understanding regarding this apparently common practice but understudied academic topic. This empirical study analyzes how and to what extent the culture of the hotel industry, and of specific lodging companies, relate to levels of face time. It also analyzes how differences in hotel location and size and differences in manager age and tenure affect the extent to which hotel managers report putting in nonproductive face time at work. © 2012 International Council on Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Education.
Almeida DM, Davis KD.
Workplace flexibility and daily stress processes in hotel employees and their children. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science [Internet]. 2011;638 :123-140.
Publisher's VersionAbstractThis research aims to understand the consequences of inadequate workplace flexibility through the lens of daily stress processes. Using a sample of hourly paid hotel employees with children ages 10 to 18 who participated in a daily diary study, the authors compared workers with low and high flexibility on stressor exposure, reactivity, and transmission. The findings showed a consistent pattern of hourly workers with low flexibility having greater exposure to work stressors in general and to workplace arguments in particular. Workers with low flexibility were also more emotionally and physically reactive to work stressors. There was some evidence of stressor transmission to children when parents had low flexibility. Increasing workplace flexibility could serve as a protective factor in exposure and reactivity to stressors experienced in daily life.
Moen P, Kelly EL, Hill R.
Does Enhancing Work-Time Control and Flexibility Reduce Turnover? A Naturally Occurring Experiment. Soc Probl. 2011;58 (1) :69-98.
AbstractWe investigate the turnover effects of an organizational innovation (ROWE-Results Only Work Environment) aimed at moving away from standard time practices to focus on results rather than time spent at work. To model rates of turnover, we draw on survey data from a sample of employees at a corporate headquarters (N = 775) and institutional records of turnover over eight months following the ROWE implementation. We find the odds of turnover are indeed lower for employees participating in the ROWE initiative, which offers employees greater work-time control and flexibility, and that this is the case regardless of employees' gender, age, or family life stage. ROWE also moderates the turnover effects of organizational tenure and negative home-to-work spillover, physical symptoms, and job insecurity, with those in ROWE who report these situations generally less likely to leave the organization. Additionally, ROWE reduces turnover intentions among those remaining with the corporation. This research moves the "opting-out" argument from one of private troubles to an issue of greater employee work-time control and flexibility by showing that an organizational policy initiative can reduce turnover.
Ertel KA, Berkman LF, Buxton OM.
Socioeconomic status, occupational characteristics, and sleep duration in African/Caribbean immigrants and US White health care workers. Sleep. 2011;34 (4) :509-18.
AbstractSTUDY OBJECTIVES: o advance our understanding of the interplay of socioeconomic factors, occupational exposures, and race/ethnicity as they relate to sleep duration. We hypothesize that non Hispanic African/Caribbean immigrant employees in long term health care have shorter sleep duration than non Hispanic white employees, and that low education, low income, and occupational exposures including night work and job strain account for some of the African/Caribbean immigrant-white difference in sleep duration.
DESIGN: Cross sectional
SETTING: Four extended care facilities in Massachusetts, United States
PARTICIPANTS: 340 employees in extended care facilities
MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS: Sleep duration was assessed with wrist actigraphy for a mean of 6.3 days. In multivariable regression modeling controlling for gender and age, African/Caribbean immigrants slept 64.4 fewer minutes (95% CI: -81.0, -47.9) per night than white participants; additional control for education and income reduced the racial gap to 50.9 minutes (-69.2, -32.5); additional control for the occupational factors of hours worked per week and working the night shift reduced the racial gap to 37.7 minutes (-57.8, -17.6).
CONCLUSIONS: his study provides support for the hypothesis that socioeconomic and occupational characteristics explain some of the African/ Caribbean immigrant-white difference in sleep duration in the United States, especially among health care workers.
Kossek EE, Michel JS.
Flexible work schedules. In: Handbook of industrial-organizational psychology. Vol. 1. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association ; 2011. pp. 535–572.
Hammer LB, Kossek EE, Anger KW, Bodner T, Zimmerman KL.
Clarifying work-family intervention processes: the roles of work-family conflict and family-supportive supervisor behaviors. J Appl Psychol. 2011;96 (1) :134-50.
AbstractDrawing on a conceptual model integrating research on training, work–family interventions, and social support, we conducted a quasi-experimental field study to assess the impact of a supervisor training and self-monitoring intervention designed to increase supervisors' use of family-supportive supervisor behaviors. Pre- and postintervention surveys were completed, 9 months apart, by 239 employees at 6 intervention (N = 117) and 6 control (N = 122) grocery store sites. Thirty-nine supervisors in the 6 intervention sites received the training consisting of 1 hr of self-paced computer-based training, 1 hr of face-to-face group training, followed by instructions for behavioral self-monitoring (recording the frequency of supportive behaviors) to facilitate on-the-job transfer. Results demonstrated a disordinal interaction for the effect of training and family-to-work conflict on employee job satisfaction, turnover intentions, and physical health. In particular, for these outcomes, positive training effects were observed for employees with high family-to-work conflict, whereas negative training effects were observed for employees with low family-to-work conflict. These moderation effects were mediated by the interactive effect of training and family-to-work conflict on employee perceptions of family-supportive supervisor behaviors. Implications of our findings for future work–family intervention development and evaluation are discussed.
Kossek EE, Pichler S, Bodner T, Hammer LB.
WORKPLACE SOCIAL SUPPORT AND WORK-FAMILY CONFLICT: A META-ANALYSIS CLARIFYING THE INFLUENCE OF GENERAL AND WORK-FAMILY-SPECIFIC SUPERVISOR AND ORGANIZATIONAL SUPPORT. Pers Psychol. 2011;64 (2) :289-313.
AbstractThis article uses meta-analysis to develop a model integrating research on relationships between employee perceptions of general and work-family-specific supervisor and organizational support and work-family conflict. Drawing on 115 samples from 85 studies comprising 72,507 employees, we compared the relative influence of 4 types of workplace social support to work-family conflict: perceived organizational support (POS); supervisor support; perceived organizational work-family support, also known as family-supportive organizational perceptions (FSOP); and supervisor work-family support. Results show work-family-specific constructs of supervisor support and organization support are more strongly related to work-family conflict than general supervisor support and organization support, respectively. We then test a mediation model assessing the effects of all measures at once and show positive perceptions of general and work-family-specific supervisor indirectly relate to work-family conflict via organizational work-family support. These results demonstrate that work-family-specific support plays a central role in individuals' work-family conflict experiences.
O'Donnell EM, Ertel KA, Berkman LF.
Depressive symptoms in extended-care employees: children, social support, and work-family conditions. Issues Ment Health Nurs. 2011;32 (12) :752-65.
AbstractTo examine the relation between having a child aged 18 years and under in the home and employee depressive symptoms, we analyzed cross-sectional data from four extended care facilities in Boston, MA (n = 376 employees). Results show that having a child is associated with slightly higher depressive symptoms. The strength of this relationship in our models is attenuated with the inclusion of social support at home (β = 1.08 and β = 0.85, with and without support, respectively) and may differ by gender. We recommend that future research examine the role of parenting and social support in predicting employee mental health.
Moen P, Kelly EL, Tranby E, Huang Q.
Changing work, changing health: can real work-time flexibility promote health behaviors and well-being?. J Health Soc Behav. 2011;52 (4) :404-29.
AbstractThis article investigates a change in the structuring of work time, using a natural experiment to test whether participation in a corporate initiative (Results Only Work Environment; ROWE) predicts corresponding changes in health-related outcomes. Drawing on job strain and stress process models, we theorize greater schedule control and reduced work-family conflict as key mechanisms linking this initiative with health outcomes. Longitudinal survey data from 659 employees at a corporate headquarters shows that ROWE predicts changes in health-related behaviors, including almost an extra hour of sleep on work nights. Increasing employees' schedule control and reducing their work-family conflict are key mechanisms linking the ROWE innovation with changes in employees' health behaviors; they also predict changes in well-being measures, providing indirect links between ROWE and well-being. This study demonstrates that organizational changes in the structuring of time can promote employee wellness, particularly in terms of prevention behaviors.
Kelly EL, Moen P, Tranby E.
Changing Workplaces to Reduce Work-Family Conflict: Schedule Control in a White-Collar Organization. Am Sociol Rev. 2011;76 (2) :265-290.
AbstractWork-family conflicts are common and consequential for employees, their families, and work organizations. Can workplaces be changed to reduce work-family conflict? Previous research has not been able to assess whether workplace policies or initiatives succeed in reducing work-family conflict or increasing work-family fit. Using longitudinal data collected from 608 employees of a white-collar organization before and after a workplace initiative was implemented, we investigate whether the initiative affects work-family conflict and fit, whether schedule control mediates these effects, and whether work demands, including long hours, moderate the initiative's effects on work-family outcomes. Analyses clearly demonstrate that the workplace initiative positively affects the work-family interface, primarily by increasing employees' schedule control. This study points to the importance of schedule control for our understanding of job quality and for management policies and practices.
