Part-time work and hurried adolescence: the links among work intensity, social activities, health behaviors, and substance use

The present study examines adolescents' part-time work intensity and its relation to participation in various activities as well as substance use. We consider mechanisms articulated in two theoretical perspectives on how high work intensity is associated with substance use: (1) the "time trade-off perspective," and (2) "the precocious development perspective." Nationally representative data were drawn from the "Monitoring the Future" project from 8th, 10th and 12th grade students (overall N approximately 380,000) to address our research questions. Work intensity was found to be linked to more time spent on unstructured social activities, but to less time spent engaged in sports, health behaviors, and school-related activities. Social time use and health behaviors were found to partially mediate the relationship between work hours and substance use. Overall, results provide evidence for a combination of both perspectives.     

Children's time in household work: Estimation issues

The purpose of this article is to analyze children's time in household production using tobit analysis to adjust for nonparticipation and to compare the results to a regression analysis. In general, more variables are significant in each of the analyses based upon gender and birth order of the children. More importantly, the additional variables go beyond whether the day was a schoolday and the age of the child. The past failure of children's time spent in household work to change with differences in their families' characteristics appears to have been an artifact of not accounting for nonparticipation when estimating marginal effects.Her current research interests include use of clothes washers and family members' time use. She received her Ph.D. from Cornell University.She is currently conducting research in the areas of home-based employment and small family businesses.     

The regulation of work activity and the new labor and production contexts

In recent decades, there has been a rise in the use o lean production model techniques. Through this approach, companies become more flexible, a fact that increases the interest in studies regarding the introduction of this model in businesses and its impacts on working conditions. Important observations concerning ergonomics, such as the theme of work activity regulation, have been highlighted in such studies. This article aims to discuss strategies and regulations adopted by the workers on assembly lines that are considered flexible. The article presents the results of a study in a company that adopts some lean production techniques. The study was analyzed using the activity analysis as one of the premises of the Ergonomic Work Analysis (EWA). Many aspects of the traditional assembly line remain present in the scenario that was studied, however a new language was employed and aspects in the nature of regulations demonstrate that the relation with lean production techniques influence the operators' operational modes.     

Ergonomic risk assessment with DesignCheck to evaluate assembly work in different phases of the vehicle development process

Occupational hazards exist, if the design of the work situation is not in accordance with ergonomic design principles. At assembly lines ergonomics is applied to the design of work equipment and tasks and to work organisation. The ignoring of ergonomic principles in planning and design of assembly work leads to unfavourable working posture, action force and material handling. Disorders of the musculoskeletal system are of a common occurrence throughout Europe. Musculoskeletal disorders are a challenge against the background of disabled workers. The changes in a worker's capability have to be regarded in the conception of redesigned and new assembly lines. In this way ergonomics becomes progressively more important in planning and design of vehicles: The objective of ergonomic design in different stages of the vehicles development process is to achieve an optimal adaptation of the assembly work to workers. Hence the ergonomic screening tool "Design Check" (DC) was developed to identify ergonomic deficits in workplace layouts. The screening-tool is based on the current ergonomic state of the art in the design of physical work and relevant EU legal requirements. It was tested within a federal German research project at selected work stations at the assembly lines at Dr.-Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG / Stuttgart. Meanwhile the application of the screening-tool DC is transferred in other parts of the Porsche AG, Stuttgart. It is also realized as an ergonomic standard method to perform assembly work in different phases of the vehicle development process.     

High job strain among social work managers and its relation to perceived work situation

The purpose of this study was to examine how middle managers within the personal social services in Sweden perceived demands, control and support at work. The study group included 402 frontline, second tier and third tier managers who have answered questions concerning their work situation and perceptions of their psychosocial work environment. Based on Karasek's demand–control model, a ‘high strain’ group was defined and analysed further. The results showed that this group experienced less support from immediate superiors, but no correlation could be found between high strain and other forms of support, such as courses on leadership, managerial supervision or networks. Organisational factors, such as municipality size, managerial level, number of subordinates and field of social work, seemed to be of little importance. Comparisons between the ‘high strain’ group and other managers showed that the high strain group spent more hours working with administration, that they to a lesser degree regarded budget responsibility as a way to exercise power in the organisation and that they had a more negative view on their organisation, especially concerning the possibility to influence decisions. They also had less confidence in the way the organisation was governed.     

Non-parental childcare,time pressure and the gendered division of paid work,domestic work and parental childcare

What impact does out-sourcing childcare have on the time parents spend on paid work, domestic work and childcare, and how they share these tasks between themselves? Using data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Time Use Survey (TUS) 2006 we investigate the effects of formal and informal non-parental childcare on the time use of couples with children aged 0–4 years (N=348). We examine associations between non-parental care and (1) couples' combined time in paid work, domestic work and childcare, (2) parents' time separately by gender in paid work, domestic work and childcare (subdivided by activity type) and (3) parents' self-reported time pressure. Total workloads (the sum of paid work, domestic work and childcare) are neither higher nor lower when non-parental care is used, either for households combined or for each gender separately. The way time is spent, and how activities are divided by gender does differ, however. For mothers the use of any non-parental care and more hours in formal care is associated with more paid work hours, less childcare time and higher self-reported time pressure. Fathers' time is more constant, but they report higher subjective time pressure with increasing hours of formal non-parental care.     

Do ethnic minorities ��stretch�� their time? UK household evidence on multitasking

This paper investigates the effect of ethnicity on time spent on secondary household production, work and leisure activities employing the 2000 UK Time Use Survey. We find that, unconditionally, white females manage to “stretch” their time the most by almost four additional hours per day and non-white men “stretch” their time the least. The three secondary activities most often combined with other (primary) activities in terms of time spent on them are social activities including resting, passive leisure and childcare. Regression results indicate that non-white ethnic minorities engage less in multitasking than whites, with Pakistani and Bangladeshi males spending the least time on total secondary activities. There also exists a significant ethnicity gap for secondary housework activities and for both males and females, although females in general engage more in multitasking. The effect is heterogeneous across different sub-groups. We review several potential interpretations and discuss whether these differences in behavior may relate, among other, to opportunity costs of time, different preferences and tastes of ethnic minorities, integration experience, family composition and household productivity.     

The psychosocial benefits of work for people with severe and enduring mental health problems

Perceptions of the value of work for people with severe and enduring mental health problems have changed frequently over the last two decades. With the new social inclusion agenda manifest in the Disability Discrimination Act and in the NHS modernization agenda, work is once again in vogue. There is a need for a way of evaluating work which draws on its potential contribution to psychological well-being as well as its provision of a valued social role and which is less susceptible to fluctuations in health and social policy. Jahoda's work on the psychosocial functions of work provides such a framework and this study sets out to explore its utility among workers who are severely disabled by mental health problems. Twelve of the psychosocial functions of work were rated by 50 people attending two sheltered work placements according to how important they were perceived to be and the extent to which the functions were fulfilled through their attendance. Satisfaction of the psychosocial functions through work was compared with their satisfaction through other aspects of the respondents’ lives. All functions were perceived as important, but self-confidence/self-esteem was rated as more important than most of the others. Structure to the day, self-confidence and social contact were better satisfied through work than were decision making, practising old skills and having goals to aim for. In general, the results showed that the functions were fulfilled better by work than by other aspects of the respondents’ lives. The study supports the notion that work is of value in the rehabilitation of people with severe and enduring mental health problems and offers a possible framework for the further exploration of this theme, both within mental health services and the community at large.     

Factors relevant to a return to work: a multivariate approach

This paper contributes to the understanding of the factors that are significant for returning to work, and identifies factors that might be used early on in a period of sick leave to discern whether people are likely to work again. In the design, the multivariate Partial Least Squares (PLS) of Latent Structures method was used to analyse information from a questionnaire containing socio-demographic items, and information on symptoms, consequences on daily life, expectations and psychosocial factors. Data about the incidence of sickness over a four-year period was included. 121 adults aged 18-64 years on sick leave participated, irrespective of their diagnoses. A reliable prediction of a return to work required the combination of many factors: individual psychosocial instruments are not useful when considered in isolation. The strongest predictive factors for a return to work concern the individuals' expectations, the number of days of sick leave taken in the past, somatic disorders, and a high level of life satisfaction and sense of coherence. Many factors influence the outcome for people on sick leave: PLS analysis demonstrated that a multivariate approach using this method could predict the long-term outcome early on in a period of sick leave.     

Relationship-based thinking and practice in social work

Abstract

Relationships with the users of social work are increasingly seen in procedural, legal and administrative terms. However, research studies examining both client satisfaction and intervention effectiveness regularly find that the psychosocial qualities of the worker-client relationship are a major component in the success or otherwise of the service offered. The case is made that the psychological selves of both practitioners and users acquire many of their characteristics, including personality, esteem, efficacy and defensive behaviours, within relationships throughout the lifespan. The level of social understanding and social competence that people develop depends on the quality of their relationship history. If poor relationships are where psychosocial competences go awry, then good relationships are where they are likely to recover. This observation has major implications for the quality, character and skill of the relationship experiences offered to clients by social workers     

Time together,time apart: An analysis of wives' solitary time and shared time with spouses

The time spouses spend together in household work activities, leisure activities, and in eating are analyzed and compared with the time spent alone by wives in these same activities. The purpose of the analysis is to distinguish between two hypotheses: (a) that the time spent by spouses together in the same activity is charged with extra meaning when compared with the time spent by the wife alone in the same activity; and (b) that the time spent by spouses together in the same activity is a perfect substitute for time spent alone in the same activity by the wife. Multivariate probit, OLS and Tobit analyses are conducted with data taken from the 1977–78 NE-113 Time-Use Data for Louisiana, New York, Utah, and Wisconsin. Statistical tests confirm the hypothesis that shared times in the three activities studied are charged with extra meaning when compared with wives' solitary time in the same activities. Solitary times spent by the wife in the three activities are negatively related with family income. Solitary time spent by wives in household work activities and in leisure activities are positively related to husband's price of time. Spouses' shared times in these activities rise and wives' solitary times fall on weekends.Thanks are due to Bob Avery, Barbara Brown, Robin Douthitt, Jenny Gerner, Jutta Joesch, Sally Lloyd, Cathy Zick, Peter Zorn, members of S-206 Time-Use Regional Committee, the graduate research workshop of the Department of Family and Consumer Studies, University of Utah, the seminar participants at Utah State University, and the seminar participants of the Department of Family Economics and Management, University of Missouri for stimulating, cautionary, and corrective discussions pertaining to this paper. Any remaining errors and obscurities are the responsibility of the authors.W. Keith Bryant is Professor, Consumer Economics and Housing, 117D Martha Van Rensselaer Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853. Dr. Bryant received his Ph.D. from Michigan State University. Yan Wang is MacNamara Post-Doctorate Fellow, The World Bank, Washington, DC. She received her Ph.D. from Cornell University.     

The psychosocial work environment in the Church of Sweden: An explorative study

This article offers a preliminary analysis of the work environment of the national Church of Sweden. Previous research on this topic has been limited and has focused on either structural problems or leadership. This explorative study examined psychosocial work environment factors (those related to the interplay of physical, mental, organizational, and social conditions in the workplace) in the Church of Sweden and used a top‐down perspective. Data including documents and interviews and were analyzed and categorized in order to identify patterns of relevance for the psychosocial work environment in the organization. The results show four themes: unclear organization structure, a sense of being different, stressful work conditions, and a destructive communication style. The psychosocial work environment within the church is complex, characterized by deep conflicts that are often not dealt with.     

Participatory design in lean production: which contribution from employees? For what end?

The proponents of lean production have pointed to the positive effects of the work organization on employees in terms of autonomy, enhanced skills and empowerment mainly by their participation into the continuous improvement of work process. But studies that have examined this issue suggest that the increase in autonomy is not sufficient to compensate for increases work intensity. Participatory design has grown extensively in manufacturing since the 1980's under the impulsion of the Scandinavian socio-technical system approach and it's central in the model of lean production performance. Its main objectives are to improve quality, increase productivity and safety through employee's participation to the reduction of non-value added activities, such as defined by lean production. In the line of the studies on participatory design and continuous improvement the present study examines the functioning of work groups, based on the kaizen model, the aim of which was to improve the proportion of "value-added activities" and working conditions, essentially physical constraints. The main results are consistent with the literature and show that accelerated forms of re-conception activities give employees limited room for maneuver to elaborate solutions based on the analysis of the real activity. This study is part of a broader initiative that goes in the direction of continuous improvement of the design process itself so that it integrates the real constraints of work and propose changes bases on work as it actually takes place, beyond pre-established performance goals bases on the reduction of "non added value activities".     

Musculoskeletal symptoms among dentists in relation to work posture

OBJECTIVE: To determine the effect of work posture on musculosketal complaints in Israeli dentists. METHODS: The population included 60 male dentists mean age was 46.0 (+/- SD 8.66), 30 worked in sitting position and 30 were altering positions. Study population completed the standardized Nordic questionnaire and informative form concerning recipient's practice of dentistry, bio-demographic variables and questions about workloads. RESULTS: Musculoskeletal symptoms in the last 12 months were localized primarily in the lower back and in the neck (55% and 38.3% respectively). There was a significant correlation between the time spent sitting and the severity of low back pain (r = 0.41, p = 0.01). On the other hand there was no significant correlation between time spent sitting and other musculoskeletal complaints (r = - 0.16). CONCLUSIONS: Dentists who work in the sitting position have more severe low back pain than do those who alternate between sitting and standing despite the fact that those who sat at least 80% of the time worked less hours and had less of a workload during their working hours. This suggests that altering position should be recommended to dentists. An intervention study, however, is needed to demonstrate that changing posture will decrease the prevalence of low back pain in dentists.     

Need for recovery from work and sleep-related complaints among nursing professionals

The concept of need for recovery from work (NFR) was deduced from the effort recuperation model. In this model work produces costs in terms of effort during the working day. When there is enough time and possibilities to recuperate, a worker will arrive at the next working day with no residual symptoms of previous effort. NFR evaluates work characteristics such as psychosocial demands, professional work hours or schedules. However, sleep may be an important part of the recovery process. The aim of the study was to test the association between sleep-related complaints and NFR. A cross-sectional study was carried out at three hospitals. All females nursing professionals engaged in assistance to patients were invited to participate (N = 1,307). Participants answered a questionnaire that included four sleep-related complaints (insomnia, unsatisfactory sleep, sleepiness during work hours and insufficient sleep), work characteristics and NRF scale. Binomial logistic regression analysis showed that all sleep-related complaints are associated with a high need for recovery from work. Those who reported insufficient sleep showed a greater chance of high need for recovery; OR=2.730 (CI 95% 2.074 - 3.593). These results corroborate the hypothesis that sleep is an important aspect of the recovery process and, therefore, should be thoroughly investigated.     

Loss,role change and values

While helping professions view loss and bereavement as psychosocial processes, their major focus has been on psychological management. Relatively little attention has been spent in dealing with the role change that loss incurs, especially its negative value dimensions, which is as much a part of the mouring process as psychological change. Social work is uniquely suited to connect role change as an experience of value to ego in helping the bereaved individual regain a new sense of self. Case illustrations with illuminate the dialectical structure of this interaction. They will also identify the kinds of adaptive tasks the client faces and the helping strategies the social worker employs.     

Heavy physical work under time pressure: the garbage collection service--a case study

The increased generation of garbage has become a problem in large cities, with greater demand for collection services. The collector is subjected to high workload. This study describes the work in garbage collection service, highlighting the requirements of time, resulting in physical and psychosocial demands to collectors. Ergonomic Work Analysis (EWA) - a method focused on the study of work in real situations was used. Initially, technical visits, global observations and unstructured interviews with different subjects of a garbage collection company were conducted. The following step of the systematic observations was accompanied by interviews conducted during the execution of tasks, inquiring about the actions taken, and also interviews about the actions, but conducted after the development of the tasks, photographic records and audiovisual recordings, of workers from two garbage collection teams. Contradictions between the prescribed work and activities (actual work) were identified, as well as the variability present in this process, and strategies adopted by these workers to regulate the workload. It was concluded that the insufficiency of means and the organizational structure of management ensue a situation where the collection process is maintained at the expense of hyper-requesting these workers, both physically and psychosocially.     

Effects of parental absence on child labor and school attendance in the Philippines

This paper uses longitudinal data from the Philippines to analyze determinants of children’s time allocation. The estimation method takes into account both the simultaneity of time use decisions, by allowing for correlation of residuals across time uses, and unobservable family heterogeneity, through the inclusion of household fixed effects. Importantly, this improved estimation method leads to different results than when applying the methods previously used in the literature. Girls suffer significantly from the absence of their mother with a reduction in time spent in school that is equivalent to dropping out completely. This effect is substantially larger when controlling for household unobservables than when not. Boys increase time spent working on market related activities in response to an absent father, although this time appears to come out of leisure rather than school or doing household chores. Land ownership substantially increase the time boys spend on school activities, whereas renting land reduces the time girls spend on school. Finally, there does not appear to be a substantial trade-off between time spent on school and work, either in the market or at home.     

Young Mothers' Time Spent at Work and Time Spent Caring for Children

The association between the time a mother spends at work and in different child care activities is investigated, using data from the 1981 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY). The mothers who worked on the index day spent almost one hour less time in physical care, one-half hour less time in interactive care, and over two hours less time in passive supervision of their children. The effects of a set of predictors on time use at work, time use in physical care, interactive care, and passive supervision of children were estimated using a covariance structure model. When the effects of these predictors are controlled, the number of hours at work predicts: (a) a small reduction in time spent in interactive care, and (b) larger reductions in time spent in physical care and passive supervision.     

In a different mindset: Critical youth work with marginalized youth

Critical youth work is based on a dual focus, on individual psychosocial development on the one hand, and collective critical consciousness and the promotion of social justice on the other. Although in practice, critical youth work is gaining popularity as an alternative to person-centered youth work, the theoretical and empirical literature has not kept pace. This paper proposes a theory based practice model that expands the vocabulary of critical youth work. The model is grounded in the work of an innovative Israeli intervention program for marginalized youth and in poststructuralist theories. The model comprised of a three dimensions: the streets as a physical and political place, the use of counter narrative, and the role the youth workers take as social capital agents.