The relationship of organizational and social coping resources to employee coping behaviour: A longitudinal analysis

Research on the determinants of coping behaviour has focused primarily on stressor-specific influences and on personal attributes and skills that serve as coping resources. However, coping resources can also include aspects of the organizational and social environment. This study investigates the role of supportive work relationships and of participation and influence in decision-making in determining the coping behaviour of employees in a manufacturing plant. Since the relationships between worksite coping resources and employee coping behaviours may be causally reciprocal, longitudinal models were analysed to sort out causal priorities. Results showed that organizational and social coping resources did influence subsequent coping behaviour. Perceiving oneself to have influence over decision-making at work predicted increases in active, problem-solving coping attempts and decreases in resignation in response to worksite stressors. Also, employees who perceived their co-workers and supervisors to be supportive were more likely to increase their mobilization of that support when faced with worksite stress. In addition, the use of certain employee coping behaviours influenced subsequent levels of participation in decision-making, as well as the quality of relationships with co-workers and supervisors.     

Chronic stress and chronic disease in life and work: Conceptual and methodological issues

This paper argues that the lack of strong prospective evidence linking occupational and social stress to chronic disease stems from the failure of research designs to attend sufficiently to the aetiological chronicity of such diseases. Studies of both supposedly acute stress (life events) and chronic stress in life or work must increasingly be designed to distinguish between stress which is sustained or chronic over a period of yean or even decades, and hence capable of causing a serious chronic disease, and brief or transient stress, which may produce transient or brief psychological or physiological disturbances but cannot generate major chronic disease. Prospective studies are needed which collect measures of both stress and health or disease at multiple points over an extended period of time. Measures of stress should focus more on affect (for example, feelings of pressure and tension) than on cognition (for example feelings of satisfaction). Limited existing evidence is consistent with these ideals.     

African American MSW Students: Personal Influences on Social Work Careers and Factors in Graduate School Selection

The research is an empirical examination of who the individuals were that influenced 207 African American respondents to pursue graduate social work education, and what enrollment decision factors (EDFs) led them to select a social work program. Statistically significant relationships between EDFs are also isolated. The purposive sample consisted of MSW graduates from three predominantly White universities in two southeastern states in the United States. Almost 80% were females, the mean age was 44.5 years, and 45% majored in social work as undergraduates. Individuals who reportedly had ‘a great deal of influence’ in their selection of graduate social work education included social work practitioners, family members, and undergraduate professors. The ‘very important’ EDFs included geographical location, type of social work program, class scheduling, and cost of tuition. The strongest EDF correlations were between (1) number of minority students and number of minority faculty (r?=?0.662, p?=?0.000, 0.01 level, 2‐tailed); (2) academic reputation and type of social work program (r?=?0.590, p?=?0.000, 0.01 level, 2‐tailed); and (3) number of minority faculty and school climate toward minorities (r?=?0.523, p?=?0.000, 0.01 level, 2‐tailed). Findings suggest that graduate school recruitment strategies for African Americans and other under‐represented groups should include use of social work practitioners and educators, as well as more informed and deliberate marketing approaches with respect to school curricula and how it translates into future career options.     

Stress, life events, and socioeconomic disparities in health: results from the Americans' Changing Lives Study

It has been hypothesized that exposure to stress and negative life events is related to poor health outcomes, and that differential exposure to stress plays a role in socioeconomic disparities in health. Data from three waves of the Americans' Changing Lives study (n = 3,617) were analyzed to investigate prospectively the relationship among socioeconomic indicators, five measures of stress/negative life events, and the health outcomes of mortality, functional limitations, and self-rated health. The results revealed that (1) life events and other types of stressors are clearly related to socioeconomic position; (2) a count of negative lifetime events was positively associated with mortality; (3) a higher score on a financial stress scale was predictive of severe/moderate functional limitations and fair/poor self-rated health at wave 3; and (4) a higher score on a parental stress scale was predictive of fair/poor self-rated health at wave 3. The negative effects of low income on functional limitations attenuated to insignificance when waves 1 and 2 stress/life event measures were controlled for, but other socioeconomic disparities in health change remained sizable and significant when adjusted for exposure to stressors. The results support the hypothesis that differential exposure to stress and negative life events is one of many ways in which socioeconomic inequalities in health are produced in society.     

Toward a better estimation of the effect of job loss on health

Previous research has shown that involuntary job loss may have negative health consequences, but existing analyses have not adequately adjusted for health selection or other confounding factors that could reveal the association to be spurious. Using two large, population-based longitudinal samples of U.S. workers from the Americans' Changing Lives Study and the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study, this analysis goes further by using respondents' self-reports of the reasons for job loss and information about the timing of job losses and acute negative health shocks to distinguish health-related job losses from other involuntary job losses. Results suggest that even after adjustment for numerous social background characteristics and baseline health, involuntary job loss is associated with significantly poorer overall self-rated health and more depressive symptoms. More nuanced analyses reveal that among involuntary job losers, those who lose their jobs for health-related reasons have, not surprisingly, the most precipitous declines in health. Job losses for other reasons have substantive and statistically significant effects on depressive symptoms, while effects on self-rated poor health are relatively small.     

Socioeconomic position and health: the differential effects of education versus income on the onset versus progression of health problems

This article seeks to elucidate the relationship between socioeconomic position and health by showing how different facets of socioeconomic position (education and income) affect different stages (onset vs. progression) of health problems. The biomedical literature has generally treated socioeconomic position as a unitary construct. Likewise, the social science literature has tended to treat health as a unitary construct. To advance our understanding of the relationship between socioeconomic position and health, and ultimately to foster appropriate policies and practices to improve population health, a more nuanced approach is required--one that differentiates theoretically and empirically among dimensions of both socioeconomic position and health. Using data from the Americans' Changing Lives Study (1986 through 2001/2002), we show that education is more predictive than income of the onset of both functional limitations and chronic conditions, while income is more strongly associated than education with the progression of both.     

Using the Medicare buy-in program to estimate the effect of Medicaid on SSI participation

This article assesses the importance of receiving supplemental health insurance on participation in Supplemental Security Income (SSI) for the elderly. The implementation of the Qualified Medicare Beneficiary (QMB) program offered a substitute for Medicaid, and expanded health insurance eligibility to a higher income level. Using a sample of elderly respondents aged 66 to 75, I find that the QMB program reduced SSI participation. More than half of the QMB participants were previously covered by SSI and Medicaid. The calculations suggest that the QMB program was not as expensive as it might first appear because of reductions in SSI expenditure.     

Blessed by the Holy People

ABSTRACT

Men-women and women-men have a long tradition in Diné (Navajo) culture where they were, and sometimes still are, held in high esteem. Their supernatural prototypes figure prominently in parts of the Diné Origin Story. It is in this cosmological worldview and tradition of acceptance that Carrie, a multi-dualistic spirit, grew up to be a female-bodied man supported and respected by his/her family and community. He/she has worked in various professions defined as “masculine” in Diné and Western contexts, such as fire fighter, heavy equipment operator, truck driver, and building contractor. In addition, Carrie is a keeper of Diné traditions, and has also been active educating Native and Non-Native audiences on 2SpiritLesbianGayBiTransIntersexQueer issues.     

文秘人员口语表达能力的培养研究

文秘人员作为"窗口"单位的工作者,其一言一行将直接代表所在机构的形象,所以培养良好的口语表达能力十分重要。本文从文秘人员口语表达能力的具体要求、培养方法两方面入手,对于如何提高文秘人员的口语表达能力进行了研究、探讨,以期增强文秘人员口语表达能力的培养效果,以期与业内人士共同协商,共同进步。     

The relationship of organizational and social coping resources to employee coping behaviour: A longitudinal analysis

Abstract

Research on the determinants of coping behaviour has focused primarily on stressor-specific influences and on personal attributes and skills that serve as coping resources. However, coping resources can also include aspects of the organizational and social environment. This study investigates the role of supportive work relationships and of participation and influence in decision-making in determining the coping behaviour of employees in a manufacturing plant. Since the relationships between worksite coping resources and employee coping behaviours may be causally reciprocal, longitudinal models were analysed to sort out causal priorities. Results showed that organizational and social coping resources did influence subsequent coping behaviour. Perceiving oneself to have influence over decision-making at work predicted increases in active, problem-solving coping attempts and decreases in resignation in response to worksite stressors. Also, employees who perceived their co-workers and supervisors to be supportive were more likely to increase their mobilization of that support when faced with worksite stress. In addition, the use of certain employee coping behaviours influenced subsequent levels of participation in decision-making, as well as the quality of relationships with co-workers and supervisors.