Daniel W. King

Relationships of Job and Family Involvement, Family Social Support, and Work-Family Conflict With Job and Life Satisfaction

A model of the relationship between work and family that incorporates variables from both the work-family conflict and social support literatures was developed and empirically tested. This model related bidirectional work-family conflict, family instrumental and emotional social support, and job and family involvement to job and life satisfaction. Data came from 163 workers who were living with at least 1 family member. Results suggested that relationships between work and family can have an important effect on job and life satisfaction and that the level of involvement the worker assigns to work and family roles is associated with this relationship. The results also suggested that the relationship between work and family can be simultaneously characterized by conflict and support. Higher levels of work interfering with family predicted lower levels of family emotional and instrumental support. Higher levels of family emotional and instrumental support were associated with lower levels of family interfering with work. The growing body of occupational stress research regarding the relationship between work and family has suggested that there are interconnecting and possibly reciprocal influences between these two domains (Greenhaus & Parasuraman, 1987; Kanter, 1977; Rice,

Prewar factors in combat-related posttraumatic stress disorder : Structural equation modeling with a national sample of female and male Vietnam veterans

Structural equation modeling was used to examine relationships among prewar factors, dimensions of war-zone stress, and current posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptomatology using data from 1,632 female and male participants in the National Vietnam Veterans Readjustment Study. For men, previous trauma history (accidents, assaults, and natural disasters) directly predicted PTSD and also interacted with war-zone stressor level to exacerbate PTSD symptoms for high combat-exposed veterans. Male veterans who entered the war at a younger age displayed more symptoms. Family instability, childhood antisocial behavior, and age had indirect effects on PTSD for men. For women, indirect prewar effects emanated from family instability. More attention should be given to critical developmental conditions, especially family instability and earlier trauma exposure, in conceptualizing PTSD in adults.

Alternative Representations of War Zone Stressors: Relationships to Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in Male and Female Vietnam Veterans.

Four conceptualizations of war zone stressor experiences were defined: traditional combat, atrocities-abusive violence, perceived threat, and malevolent environment. Items from the National Vietnam Veterans Readjustment Study (NVVRS) were reviewed for content, and stressor indexes were created. Using retrospective self-report data from the NVVRS, intercorrelations among stressor scores and between these scores and measures of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) were computed for all veterans and for men and women separately. Structural equation modeling procedures followed. Results indicated that the four stressor indexes were internally consistent, reasonably distinct from one another, and influenced PTSD differentially. Men scored significantly higher than women on all 4 indexes. Whereas the pattern of relationships among the variables was comparable across genders, there was evidence that one path coefficient in the model differed for men and women.

The sex-role egalitarianism scale: A measure of attitudes toward equality between the sexes

Two parallel forms of the Sex-Role Egalitarianism Scale (SRES) were developed. Each form includes 19 items representing each of five domains of adult living: marital roles, parental roles, employee roles, social-interpersonal-heterosexual roles, and educational roles. To determine the psychometric characteristics of the scales, 367 persons were tested, including police, senior citizens, business undergraduates, and psychology undergraduates. Reliability estimates for domain and total scores ranged from .81 to .97. Correlations between social desirability and SRES scores ranged from −.03 to +.18. Preliminary evidence of validity was derived from the confirmation of two a priori hypotheses: (a) Women scored more egalitarian than men, and psychology students scored more egalitarian than business students; (b) Both student groups scored more egalitarian than senior citizens and police.

Social support and occupational stress: Talking to supervisors.

Abstract The contents of communications between supervisors and subordinates were investigated in the context of occupational stress as potential forms of social support for 225 registered nurses randomly selected from seven hospitals. Survey results supported a three-form typology of contents of communications: positive job-related, negative job-related, and non-job-related communications. Nurses perceptions of social support from their supervisors (functional social support) were more closely related to positive job-related communications and non-job-related communications than to negative job-related communications. Main effects on individual strains were found for both functional social support and contents of communications, especially positive communications. The so-called buffering effect, in which social support interacts with job stressors to reduce the strength of the stressor-strain relationship, was especially found for non-job-related communications as a form of social support.

The civilian version of the Mississippi PTSD Scale: A psychometric evaluation

This three-part study examined the reliability and validity of the civilian version of the Mississippi Scale for Combat-Related PTSD using data from the nonveteran participants in the National Vietnam Veterans Readjustment Study. The Civilian Mississippi Scale had a raw score distribution that was roughly symmetric, with an acceptable degree of dispersion and a reasonably high internal consistency reliability coefficient. Overall, however, measurement precision was weaker than that for the military version of the instrument, and confirmatory factor analytic findings differed from those found for the military version. Preliminary investigations of validity were in the form of correlations with indices of stressful life events, a PTSD symptom count, and measures of demoralization and active expression of hostility. The Civilian Mississippi Scale emerged from the various analyses as a PTSD measure with potential but requiring further validational study and perhaps some refinement.

The Los Angeles Symptom Checklist: A Self Report Measure of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder:

A series of inquiries was conducted on the psychometric properties of the Los Angeles Symptom Checklist (LASC), a self-report measure of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and associated features. Data were drawn from various samples of individuals who completed the LASC in prior studies: Vietnam veterans (n = 300), battered women (n = 123), adult survivors of child sexual abuse (n = 142), maritally distressed women (n = 36), psychiatric outpatients (n = 105), and high-risk adolescents (n = 168). The instrument was shown to possess high internal consistency (alphas ranging from .88-.95) and test-retest reliability (coefficients of .90 and .94 with a 2-week interval), to be dominated by a strong PTSD first factor, and to demonstrate acceptable levels of convergent validity. Normative information is provided for various samples, including help-seeking male combat veterans, help-seeking females, and high-risk adolescents. As a self-report PTSD assessment device, the LASC has potential for use with various trauma groups.

Measuring Exposure to Racism: Development and Validation of a Race-Related Stressor Scale (RRSS) for Asian American Vietnam Veterans

This article describes the development and validation of the Race-Related Stressor Scale (RRSS), a questionnaire that assesses exposure to race-related stressors in the military and war zone. Validated on a sample of 300 Asian American Vietnam veterans, the RRSS has high internal consistency and adequate temporal stability. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that exposure to race-related stressors accounted for a significant proportion of the variance in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and general psychiatric symptoms, over and above (by 20% and 19%, respectively) that accounted for by combat exposure and military rank. The RRSS appears to be a psychometrically sound measure of exposure to race-related stressors for this population. Race-related stressors as measured by the RRSS appear to contribute uniquely and substantially to PTSD symptoms and generalized psychiatric distress.

Latent Structure of the Mississippi Scale for Combat-Related Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: Exploratory and Higher-Order Confirmatory Factor Analyses

A series of factor analyses evaluated the dimensionality of the Mississippi Scale for Combat-Related Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Over 2,200 Vietnam theater and era veterans were divided into three random subsamples, each of which was used in a separate stage of analysis. Initial exploratory factor analyses suggested an underlying single-factor solution. In the second subsample, a second-order solution comprised of a general factor subsuming several first-order factors was supported using chi-square difference testing. This model was successfully replicated with the third subsample. Cumulative evidence suggests that the latent structure of the Mississippi Scale is best represented as an umbrella Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) factor leading to four subsidiary facets or dimensions.

Abbreviated measures of sex role egalitarian attitudes

Alternate 25-item short forms of the Sex-Role Egalitarianism Scale (SRES) were developed and examined for psychometric quality using data from a sample of 608 students. Internal consistency coefficients were .94 and .92 for the two forms, stability coefficients with a three-week test-retest in terval were .88 for each, and the coefficient of equivalence or alternate forms reliability was .87. As expected, females scored significantly more egalitarian than males on both short forms, and results of factor analyses pointed to unidimensional measurement of a single construct for males, females, and the total sample. Additional support for reliability and validity is overviewed. The abbreviated SRES forms appear to provide a psychometrically sound and time-efficient means for assessing egalitarian attitudes.