Anthony H. Winefield

Occupational stress in universities: Staff perceptions of the causes, consequences and moderators of stress.

In recent years, the Australian university sector has undergone large-scale organizational change, including restructuring, downsizing and government funding cuts. At the same time, research from across the globe reports an alarming increase in the occupational stress experienced by university staff. We report on the first phase of a longitudinal investigation of occupational stress. A total of 22 focus groups were conducted with a representative sample of 178 academic and general staff from 15 Australian universities. The groups focused on understanding staff s experience of occupational stress, and perceptions of the sources, consequences and moderators of stress. Both general and academic staff reported a dramatic increase in stress during the previous 5 years. As a group, academic staff reported higher levels of stress than general staff. Five major sources of stress were identified including: insufficient funding and resources; work overload; poor management practice; job insecurity; and insufficient recognition and reward. The majority of groups reported that job-related stress was having a deleterious impact on their professional work and personal welfare. Aspects of the work environment (support from co-workers and management, recognition and achievement, high morale, flexible working conditions), and personal coping strategies (stress management techniques, work/ non-work balance, tight role boundaries and lowering standards), were reported to help staff cope with stress. The findings provide a timely insight into the experience of stress within universities.

Occupational stress in Australian university staff: Results from a national survey.

This article presents results from a study of occupational stress in Australian university staff. The authors report data on psychological strain and job satisfaction from nearly 9,000 respondents at 17 universities. Academic staff were generally worse off than general staff, and staff in newer universities were worse off than those in older universities. At the aggregate level, selfreport measures of psychological well-being were highly correlated with objective measures of university well-being (investment income, student–staff ratios, and recent cuts in staffing levels and in government operating grants). The authors conclude that the financial difficulties imposed on Australian universities in recent years are having serious consequences for the psychological well-being of their staff, particularly academic staff (faculty). Copyright 2003 by the Educational Publishing Foundation

A test of the demand-control/support model of work stress in correctional officers.

The demand-control/support model of work stress was tested in a sample of 419 correctional officers. The results suggest a link between certain work characteristics (high demands, low control, and low support) and strain symptoms (e.g., psychological distress, job dissatisfaction) as well as with negative affectivity (NA). On the other hand, other job characteristics (high demands and high control) were associated with positive behavioral outcomes (seeking feedback, looking at work as a challenge). Workers in high-isolation strain jobs with the greatest work exposure showed higher levels of strain and NA than workers with less experience working in the same job. Results suggest that work experience may affect long-term personality evolution. It is concluded that studies that control for the nuisance aspects of trait NA may underestimate the impact of the work environment on strain.

Psychosocial job strain and productivity in human service workers: A test of the demand-control-support model

The aim of the study was to test the main and interactive effects of the key dimensions of the demand-control-support model in predicting levels of strain (specifically emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and job dissatisfaction) and feelings of productivity and competency (personal accomplishment) in a multi-occupational sample of human service workers (N = 813). Controlling for demographics, negative affectivity (NA), and quadratic terms, structural equation analyses showed some support for the additive iso-strain hypothesis: jobs combining high demands, low control and low support produced the lowest levels of satisfaction in workers. High demands and low supports only were associated with high depersonalization, and high emotional exhaustion. Support was also found for the additive active learning hypotheses: jobs combining high demands and high control produced the highest levels of personal accomplishment. The study supports job redesign interventions for improving worker well-being and productivity.

Occupational stress in university staff.

A survey was conducted of all staff members of an established Australian metropolitan university. The overall response rate for noncasual staff was 72% (77% for general staff and 65% for academic staff) resulting in a sample of N = 2,040. High levels of psychological stress were observed, despite the fact that trait anxiety and job satisfaction were normal. Psychological distress was highest and job satisfaction lowest among academic staff engaged in both teaching and research. In general, university staff reported high levels of autonomy and social support from colleagues. However those engaged in both teaching and research reported increased pressure arising from funding cuts to universities, resulting in heavier teaching loads and greater difficulty in securing research funds, as well as a decline in facilities and support for both teaching and research. The results are discussed in relation to the Demand–Control and Person–Environment Fit models of job stress.

Growing Up with Unemployment: A Longitudinal Study of Its Psychological Impact

The transition from school to work is recognized by developmental psychologist as a significant phase in the maturation of young people. The likelihood that the transition might be delayed by a period of prolonged unemployment is now greater than at any time since the 1930s. The psychological consequences of such a delay need to be understood because they may be damaging both to the individual and to society, particularly if they are long-lasting. Such an understanding is essential for the devleopment of sound policy in relation to youth unemployment. Growing up with Unemployment is a major longitudinal study of a large group of young people through the 1980s. It describes the scale and context of the problem and reviews the methods and theories that have been developed to study the psychological impact of unemployment. It also looks at those factors which may contribute towards helping young people cope with it, such as social support and being involved in constructive activities with other people. The authors also examine how we might be able to predict future unemployment and understand the relationship between it and alcohol consumption, smoking and drug use. Growing up with Unemployment is a major study with important implications for employment policy, as well as future theory and research. It will be valuable reading for students in social policy and psychology, policy makers, and all those who deal with young people.

Poker-machine gambling: An analysis of within session characteristics

The aim of this study was to examine the nature of poker-machine gambling (the Australian equivalent of British fruit machines and American slot-machines) in an ecologically valid setting. Eighteen regular and 21 occasional poker-machine players were observed, using a methodology that allowed simultaneous recording of machine events, behaviour and cognitions. The results supported previous research by Dickerson et al. (1991, 1992) showing that gambling responses are sensitive to machine events. Larger wins were found to disrupt response rates giving rise to larger post-reinforcement pauses, whereas response rates were maintained by small rewards. In addition, the results showed that the behaviour and beliefs of regular players were more consistent than those of occasional players. Regular players held very fixed views about the profitability of given machines, were less likely to vary their wagers (stakes), and tended to increase their stakes when winning and decrease them when losing. The results also provided some evidence to suggest that poker-machine gambling may be influenced by the beliefs which players hold about the nature of the schedule. The implications of these observations for modern operant conditioning theory are discussed, along with suggestions for further research investigating the relationship between verbal and non-verbal behaviour.

Development and validation of a scale to measure work-related fatigue and recovery : The Occupational Fatigue Exhaustion/Recovery scale (OFER)

Objective: Various empirical studies link persistent failure to recover from acute fatigue to the evolution of chronic fatigue. However, existing fatigue measurement scales do not tend to distinguish between acute and chronic fatigue elements well, and none include a measure of effective recovery from fatigue. Methods: The 15 item Occupational Fatigue Exhaustion Recovery (OFER) scale has been developed and validated in three study populations specifically to measure work-related fatigue. Results: The OFER scale possesses robust, gender-bias free psychometric characteristics. Its three subscales identify and distinguish between chronic work-related fatigue traits, acute end-of-shift states and effective fatigue recovery between shifts. Conclusion: These studies confirm the mediating role of intershift-shift recovery in the evolution of adaptive end-of-shift fatigue states to maladaptive persistent fatigue traits. The OFER scale is suggested as a potentially valuable new tool for use in work-related fatigue research.

Predictors of Irrational Thinking in Regular Slot Machine Gamblers

Abstract Previous research has suggested that irrational thinking may play a central role in the maintenance of behavior in slot machine gambling (M. B. Walker, 1992b). The present study is an evaluation of the validity and predictors of irrational thinking in a sample of regular gamblers (N = 20) drawn from the general community. The results were generally consistent with earlier findings; 75% of gambling-related cognitions were found to be irrational. Irrationality was unrelated to the amount of money lost or won during sessions but was positively related to risk taking. The most common irrational cognitions included false beliefs concerning the extent to which outcomes could be controlled or predicted and the attribution of human qualities (personification) to gambling devices. Gender comparisons showed that women were more likely than men to personify the machines. The validity of the speaking-aloud approach and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Job demands, work–family conflict, and emotional exhaustion in police officers: A longitudinal test of competing theories.

We propose and test a comprehensive theory designed to explain seemingly contradictory relations between job demands, emotional exhaustion, and work-family conflict (WFC) reported in the literature. Using job demands-resources theory, effort-recovery theory, and personal resources theory we hypothesized that job demands would spillover to emotional exhaustion as mediated by WFC (causality model), and alternatively that job demands would also spillover to WFC as mediated by emotional exhaustion (reverse causal model). Further, we also hypothesized using loss spiral theory that a more comprehensive model representing reciprocal and cross-linked effects (causal and reverse causal simultaneously) would best fit the data. The hypotheses were tested in a longitudinal study of 257 Australian (Victorian) frontline police officers at two time points approximately 12 months apart. We used structural equation modelling and found in support of the simultaneous reciprocal effects hypothesis, that the more comprehensive model fitted the data better than either the causality or the reverse causal model. Future research should more comprehensively model the important relationships between job demands, emotional exhaustion, and WFC to reflect their complex interplay. Interventions to reduce work demands arising from work pressure and emotional demands are indicated to prevent conflict at home and emotional exhaustion in police officers.