Stress and coping in US organizations: The role of the Employee Assistance Programme

Abstract

The organizational role of the Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) is evaluated with particular respect to managerial and human resources policies and practices. Attention is given to models of the EAP, and an ideal-typical model is discussed. A synoptic view is taken covering the scope of the EAP, the sectors of application, the selection criteria for the EAP, as well as patterns of introduction-all within a contingency framework. A critical analysis is made of the roles of participants within the EAP process, as well as of problematic ethical and professional dimensions which the EAP introduces into organizational functioning. A final section treats the future forms of development which the EAP may follow to satisy both organizational and professional imperatives.     

Neuroticism,locus of control,type A behaviour pattern and occupational stress

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between individual differences in personality and susceptibility to stress in the workplace. Stress in lecturers employed by a computer training organization was assessed by means of self-report and measurement of salivary cortisol output during lecturing and non-lecturing weeks. Neuroticism, Type A behaviour pattern and locus of control were measured. Self-reported stress was found to be much greater during lecturing weeks, but cortisol levels were unaffected by working conditions. There was a significant positive correlation between neuroticism and locus of control and a negative correlation between locus of control and Type A behaviour pattern that approached significance. Multiple regression was employed to explore relations between personality and stress. Subjects with lower neuroticism scores yielded a bigger increase in reported stress, in the lecturing compared with the non-lecturing week, than subjects with high neuroticism scores. Type B subjects showed a progressive decrease in cortisol over the working week while Type A counterparts showed a resurgence of cortisol towards the end of the week. Finally, Type B subjects having an internal locus of control showed a faster decline in cortisol level during the lecturing week than the other subjects. Implications of these results are discussed in terms of the importance simultaneously incorporating a variety of individual differences in personality dimensions and stress indices in research designs.     

The Consistent System

The Consistent System (CS) is an interactive computer system for researchers in the behavioral and policy sciences and in fields with similar requirements for data management and statistical analysis. The researcher is not expected to be a programmer. The system offers a wide range of facilities and permits the user to combine them in novel ways. In particular, tools for statistical analysis may be used in combination with a powerful relational subsystem for data base management. This paper gives an overview of the objectives, capabilities, status, and availability of the system.     

Dynamic Graphics for Exploring Spatial Data with Application to Locating Global and Local Anomalies

We explore the application of dynamic graphics to the exploratory analysis of spatial data. We introduce a number of new tools and illustrate their use with prototype software, developed at Trinity College, Dublin. These tools are used to examine local variability—anomalies—through plots of the data that display its marginal and multivariate distributions, through interactive smoothers, and through plots motivated by the spatial auto-covariance ideas implicit in the variogram. We regard these as alternative and linked views of the data. We conclude that the most important single view of the data is the Map View: All other views must be cross-referred to this, and the software must encourage this. The view can be enriched by overlaying on other pertinent spatial information. We draw attention to the possibilities of one-many linking, and to the use of line-objects to link pairs of data points. We draw attention to the parallels with work on Geographical Information Systems.     

Social Work Students,other Graduate Students,and Issues of Student Protest

In the rise and development of student activism, little has been done to compare the attitudes and interests of social work students with those of other types of students. This paper reports the results of a survey of graduate students at the University of Michigan concerning major issues of student protest. Among the social work students a trend toward some of the most militant postures is noted, along with substantial apathy. This should be regarded as a challenge rather than a threat to social work education and the profession.     

Asperger’s Syndrome and the Decoding of Boredom,Interest, and Disagreement from Body Posture

Twenty Asperger’s Syndrome (AS) participants were compared with 20 matched neurotypical controls in their decoding of postural cues of boredom, interest, and disagreement. On a nonverbal matching task, the AS group performed as accurately as the controls, whereas on a verbal labeling task, AS participants made significantly more mistakes in labeling bored postures. Response times of the AS group were significantly slower than controls in their judgments of all three attitudes on both tasks, with the exception only of disagreeing postures on the verbal labeling task. It was hypothesized that these slower response times may reflect a feature-based cognitive processing style by AS participants. Proposed practical recommendations are to train AS individuals in the recognition of boredom, and to improve the speed with which they can recognize different attitudes.     

Modelling Marital Fertility by Age and Duration: An Empirical Appraisal of the Page Model

Page's model of marital fertility by age and duration is fitted by maximum likelihood techniques to data from 38 of the 41 developing countries that participated in the World Fertility Survey. The results indicate that the model does an excellent job of capturing variations in fertility patterns, with only two parameters. Moreover, national-level estimates of the parameter representing the degree of control of marital fertility correlate reasonably well with the proportion using contraception. On the other hand, estimates of the parameter representing the level of natural fertility correlate well with the duration of breastfeeding and with a measure of contraceptive use for spacing, but also show substantial regional variation. The paper closes with comments on several extensions and applications of the model.