Boris Kabanoff

Comparison of Unemployed and Employed Workers on Work Values, Locus of Control and Health Variables

Abstract A 1/2% sample of metropolitan Adelaide households was selected using multi-stage cluster sampling. Employed and unemployed workers were asked to complete a questionnaire which measured work values, patterns of home and leisure activity, locus of control (Rotter, 1966) and number of frequent health and stress symptoms. A 70% response rate was obtained for employed workers and the response rate for unemployed was 80%. Comparisons between the two groups were made using ‘t’ tests and discriminant function analysis. It was found that unemployed workers when compared to employed workers had significantly more physical health symptoms, lower work values (they desired less influence, interaction and pressure in their work), a higher external control orientation, and made more use of community helping agencies. Differences in reported stress and life satisfaction were not statistically significant. However, reported stress was positively correlated with time spent looking for work. Definite causal inferen...

Australian Norms and Factor Analysis of Rotter's Internal-External Control Scale

Abstract Rotters internal/external control scale (I/E) was administered to a representative sample of 1473 households in metropolitan Adelaide. Within each household all persons 14 years old and over completed the scale. Means, norms and standard deviations were presented for the total sample as well as sub-samples of employees, students, housewives, unemployed and retirees. Tables showing the variation of I/E scores with age, education, nationality and occupation were also presented. It was found that there were significant variations in mean I/E scores with age, education, occupation and sex. Factor analysis of the scale indicated that the scale is not uni-dimensional, and the factors accounted for only a small proportion of the total variance, i.e., the item variances are largely unique. Using the total sample, two main factors were obtained which appeared similar to the Political Control and General Control factors obtained in some North American studies. The interpretation of the factors obtained is...

The effects of task type and cooperation upon group products and performance

Abstract Twenty-four three-person groups each performed three types of intellective tasks—production, discussion, and problem solving—while employing one of four work organizations. Organizations differed in amount of two forms of cooperation—coordination and collaboration. Group products were rated on six descriptive dimensions (action orientation, optimism, length, issue involvement, originality, and quality of presentation) and on three performance dimensions (adequacy, quality, and creativity). Task type had the largest effect on the descriptive dimensions, accounting for up to 50% of the variance, but had little effect on the evaluative dimensions. Group structure accounted for 22–36% of the variance in both descriptive and evaluative measures. The major effect of the structural variables was on product length, but a MANOVA analysis showed that group structure affected the group performance measures even when product length was controlled for. There were a number of significant interactions between group structure and task type, though these accounted for little of the variance in group performance. Collaborative structures resulted in the lowest productivity, with discussion tasks the worst performed under collaborative structures. Coordinated and coacting groups were not signficantly different in productivity levels. The results were discussed in relation to the task typology employed and implications for research dealing with small group performance.

Relationships between work and leisure attributes across occupational and sex groups in australia

Abstract The work and leisure activities of 1383 employed persons were described using five task attributes — influence, variety, pressure, skill—utilization and interaction, in order to test three theories of work and leisure—compensation, generalization and segmentation. There were significant occupational differences on the work attributes, but there were few occupational differences on the leisure attributes. Also there were few significant correlations between the attributes of peoples work and leisure activities. These results tend to support the segmentalist theory of work and leisure. While there were no strong relationships between work and leisure attributes for the total sample there were occupational differences in work/leisure relationships. High status occupations showed significant decreases in attributes such as influence, variety and skill-utilization from work to leisure, while low status occupations showed non-significant increases from work to leisure. Females generally had lower leve...

Validation of a task attributes description of leisure

A central problem in the area of leisure research is the measurement and description of this diverse sphere of activity. One solution to the problem is to profile peoples leisure pattern in terms of a number of psychologically significant, task based attributes derived from an analysis of peoples leisure activities. The present study sought to provide some evidence for the validity of this task based approach. The leisure patterns of 132 first year university students were described along five task dimensions - influence, variety, pressure, skill utilization and interaction. It was hypothesized that these leisure attributes would be significantly and differentially correlated with a number of personality measures including extroversion, affiliation, dominance, need for control, achievement, harm avoidance, endurance, locus of control, cognitive structure and change. These hypotheses were substantially supported. Both frequency and importance of participation information did not, in most cases, increase the size of the correlation between personality and leisure attributes. Personality and leisure attributes were slightly correlated also with leisure satisfaction. It was concluded that a task based description of leisure allows the identification of some significant variations in leisure patterns.

Psychological Effects of Unemployment: A Consideration Of Some Alternative Explanations

This review of psychological research into unemployment (concentrating on young adults) contrasts two different hypotheses about the possible processes by which unemployment may affect such variables as self esteem and locus of control. The first hypothesis, identified as the skill utilization hypothesis, emphasises the contribution of work to the development of a stable self concept and internality in young persons. Thus the emphasis is on the developmental function of work rather than on the effects of unemployment and the suggestion is that the essential requirement for coping with unemployment is the provision of ‘growth promoting’ skill utilising opportunities. The alternative, social rules hypothesis, on the other hand, identifies the lack of fit between peoples values and expectations and their unemployed situation as the cause of social disorientation, and psychological impact. The role of social support as a coping mechanism is considered and it is suggested that these two hypotheses may have complementary implications for coping with unemployment. It is recommended also that research in this area examine the ways in which the unemployed role interacts with other life roles in peer, family, leisure and citizen settings rather than treating unemployment in isolation.