Impact of the psychosocial work environment on registered absence from work: A two-year longitudinal study using the IPAW cohort

During the Intervention Project on Absence and Well-being (IPAW), a 5-year project conducted in Denmark, we investigated psychosocial work environment factors as independent predictors of the number of absence days per year. The present two-year longitudinal study used the IPAW cohort, but was not intended to study intervention effects, which will be reported later. Data were derived from baseline questionnaires and employers' registers of absence for 1919 participants (1305 women, 614 men, mainly in low-skilled jobs) in different occupations from 52 workplaces. These workplaces included municipal care, municipal technical services and a large pharmaceutical company. Analyses were performed by Poisson regression accounting for over-dispersion. After controlling for age, family type, health behaviours and physical work environment variables, we found that high levels of decision authority predicted low absence rates in both women and men. We tested two new psychosocial constructs developed for this study: Predictability (relating to being informed on future events at work) and Meaning of Work (relating to how meaningful and useful the work is perceived to be). Higher Predictability was a significant predictor of lower absence rates in men. This study adds to the body of evidence that the psychosocial working environment influences absence and should therefore be considered to be an important target for intervention.     

Self-reported health, self-esteem and social support among young unemployed people: a population-based study

A population-based study was performed in southern Sweden in the autumn of 1998. The aim was to study connections between self-reported health, self-esteem and social support among unemployed (≥ three months) young people. The sample consisted of 264 unemployed individuals aged 20–25 years, and 528 individuals of the same age, randomly selected from the population register and not registered as unemployed. The response rate was 72%. Defined by means of factor analysis, mental health consisted of the symptoms tearfulness, dysphoria, sleeping disturbance, restlessness, general fatigue and irritability. The unemployed had more mental health problems than young people who were working or studying. Restlessness and dysphoria were significantly over-represented in the unemployed among both sexes. However, good social support seemed to predict mental health. Support from parents was most important, particularly in males. Those with low self-esteem and poor parental support were especially vulnerable.     

Maternal Work Absence: A Longitudinal Study of Language Impairment and Behavior Problems in Preschool Children

Combining work and family responsibilities is challenging when children have special needs, and mothers commonly make employment‐related adjustments. In this study, the authors examined associations between maternal work absence and child language impairment and behavior problems in preschool children. Questionnaire data at child age 3 years from 33,778 mothers participating in the prospective population‐based Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study were linked to national register data on employment and long‐term physician‐certified sick leave at child age 3–5 years. Mothers who reported having a child with language impairment had a consistently higher risk of not being employed and were at increased risk of taking long‐term sick leave at child age 5 years. Co‐occurring problems were associated with excess risk. Language impairments in preschool children, in particular when they are co‐occurring with behavior problems, are likely to have a range of negative short‐ and long‐term consequences for the financial and overall health and well‐being of mothers and their families.     

GENDER DIFFERENCES IN EXAMINATION BEHAVIOR

A unique examination strategy in first‐year microeconomics courses is used to test for gender differences in examination behavior. Students have the possibility of attaining a seminar bonus on the final exam for near‐perfect seminar attendance and are given two voluntary initial quizzes during the semester. At the final exam, the scores received on initial quizzes can either be accepted as is, or students can attempt to improve their marks by answering similar quiz questions on the exam. Results suggest that female students are more likely to take initial quizzes and receive a seminar bonus but are less likely to re‐take quiz questions on the final exam. These results suggest higher risk aversion, less overconfidence, and more self‐discipline or less procrastination among female students relative to male students. Our estimated behavioral differences may have important implications in terms of final grades on the course. (JEL I21, J16, A12, A14)     

Happiness and Satisfaction with Work Commute

Research suggests that for many people happiness is being able to make the routines of everyday life work, such that positive feelings dominate over negative feelings resulting from daily hassles. In line with this, a survey of work commuters in the three largest urban areas of Sweden show that satisfaction with the work commute contributes to overall happiness. It is also found that feelings during the commutes are predominantly positive or neutral. Possible explanatory factors include desirable physical exercise from walking and biking, as well as that short commutes provide a buffer between the work and private spheres. For longer work commutes, social and entertainment activities either increase positive affects or counteract stress and boredom. Satisfaction with being employed in a recession may also spill over to positive experiences of work commutes.     

How to improve gait and balance function in elderly individuals—compliance with principles of training

Most balance training regimens for elderly individuals focus on self-controlled exercises, although automatic postural responses after a balance perturbation are not under direct volitional control. We critically review the literature on this topic, and notice that several studies fail to comply with basic principles of training and therefore show little improvement in function. Some present the view that physical function in the too frail and too fit cannot be improved, which we instead argue would be the effect of nonspecific training programs. We propose a concept for balance training that incorporates voluntary exercises as well as perturbation and dual-task exercises to improve balance control. The program is performed on five different levels where levels 1–4 exercises focus on the skill to maintain balance and level 5 adds perturbation exercises that focus on the skill to recover balance as well as dual task exercises providing a cognitive load during execution of a balance motor task. Functional requirements for muscle strength and power are directly incorporated into the program. The feasibility of the concept has been demonstrated on elderly fallers. A randomized control trial is underway to investigate the effects on healthy elderly individuals. Further intervention studies using this concept are encouraged.     

Which Leadership Constructs Are Important for Predicting Job Satisfaction,Affective Commitment,and Perceived Job Performance in Profit versus Nonprofit Organizations?

As an integrative research effort, the present study critically analyzed the relative importance of six leadership constructs—(1) transformational, (2) transactional, (3) laissez‐faire, (4) consideration, (5) initiating structure, and (6) leader‐member exchange (LMX)—as predicting indicators of leadership effectiveness in the for‐profit versus the nonprofit sector. Based on data from seven samples from the for‐profit and nonprofit sectors, the unique effects of the six leadership constructs were tested on three criteria of leadership effectiveness on the individual level: job satisfaction, affective commitment, and perceived job performance. The results for the for‐profit samples revealed that LMX was the most important aspect for explaining variance in job satisfaction, and initiating structure was most important for commitment. In the nonprofit samples, LMX was the most important aspect of job satisfaction and transformational leadership for commitment. In both for‐profit and nonprofit organizations, initiating structure had the strongest unique impact on perceived job performance. We discuss implications for current leadership research and practical implications.     

Youths in coercive residential care: attitudes towards key staff members’ personal involvement,from a therapeutic alliance perspective

A strong therapeutic alliance between staff and juveniles (residents) in institutional settings is considered to be important for a positive treatment outcome. The article focuses on residents placed in coercive care in Swedish residential treatment centres (RTCs), and the aim is to explore obstacles and opportunities for establishing a therapeutic alliance between key staff members (KSMs) and residents in a one-year perspective. The key question is how residents view their KSMs’ personal involvement and active participation in their treatment process. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with twenty-thre girls and twenty-three boys placed in ten different RTCs, and follow-up interviews were conducted after one year. In accordance with the theoretical approach, it is hypothesized that the residents’ view of KSM involvement will be more positive in the one-year follow-up. Results from the first data collection show that more than half of the adolescents perceived their KSMs’ personal involvement as mainly negative. Between the two interviews, several had developed a more positive view of the KSMs’ personal involvement, while a large group did not display any change in attitude. Positive and negative institutional conditions and processes affecting the prospects for the development of a therapeutic alliance between residents and KSMs are discussed.     

International Comparisons of Trends in Economic Well-being

This paper develops a new measure of economic well-being for selectedOECD countries for the period 1980 to 1996 and compares trends in thisnew Index to GDP per capita. We argue that the economic well-being ofa society depends on the level of average consumption flows, aggregateaccumulation of productive stocks, inequality in the distribution ofindividual incomes and insecurity in the anticipation of future income.However, the weights attached to each component will vary, dependingon the values of different observers. We argue that public debatewould be improved if there is explicit consideration of theaspects of economic well-being obscured by average income trends andif the weights attached to these aspects were made visible and wereopen for discussion.     

At the Eve of Convergence? Transformations of Social Service Provision in Denmark, Germany, and the United States

Increasing societal heterogeneity, changing demographics, and increasing public debt and fiscal constraints have recently challenged traditional “regime” approaches to welfare state development. Some scholars argue, against this background, that welfare states might plausibly move out of their “regime container” by opting in favor of similar solutions and responses. This potential trend toward “convergence” might, furthermore, be facilitated by the widespread use of new public management ideas and techniques for “reinventing government” by adopting market solutions to public problems. This article investigates whether such trends of convergence can be identified by comparing three different countries each traditionally looked upon as belonging to different welfare state regimes: Denmark, Germany, and the United States. More specifically the article looks at one important segment of welfare state activity, namely social services and related health care. To further focus the analysis, special attention is devoted to the changing role played by the third sector in delivering services. The research design, thus, differs from most comparative welfare state research. Instead of analyzing a broad set of quantitative indicators in a large number of countries, it is scrutinized how some of the same problem pressures and policy ideas are being interpreted and implemented in a small number of countries within one policy area. The analysis reveals that trends of convergence—conceptualized along four dimensions: ideas, regulation, mix of providers, and revenue mix—can be identified across the three cases, though this does not mean that the market share of nonprofit providers becomes the same. The study also reveals that fundamental aspects of state–nonprofit relations persist despite trends of convergence.