Michelle Y. Tytherleigh

Occupational stress in UK higher education institutions: a comparative study of all staff categories

The higher education sector in the UK continues to experience significant change. This includes restructuring, use of short‐term contracts, external scrutiny and accountability, and major reductions in funding. In line with this, reports of stress at work in higher education institutions have also increased. The study reported here was carried out using a stratified random sample of all categories of staff (academic and non‐academic) from 14 UK universities and colleges. Levels of occupational stress were measured using the ASSET model. The results showed that the most significant source of stress for all higher education staff (irrespective of category of employee) was job insecurity. In comparison to the normative data, staff also reported significantly higher levels of stress relating to work relationships, control, and resources and communication, and significantly lower levels of commitment both from and to their organization. However, they also reported significantly lower levels of stress relating to work‐life balance, overload and job overall, and lower levels of physical ill‐health. Significant differences were identified between staff working at Old versus New universities and by category of employee. These results support the growing evidence that universities no longer provide the low stress working environments they once did.

Acute stress, memory, attention and cortisol

An investigation was conducted to explore the relationship between acute changes in cortisol and memory and attention in the context of an acute naturalistic stressor, namely, examination stress. Sixty students (36 male, 24 female) participated in an assessment of self-reported levels of stress, salivary cortisol, short term memory, selective and divided attention and auditory verbal working memory. Assessments were conducted during a non-exam and exam period. The results revealed that the exam period was associated with an increase in perceived levels of stress, but also a significant reduction in levels of salivary cortisol, compared with the non-exam period. This reduction in cortisol was associated with enhanced short-term memory (as measured by the total number of words recalled in a free recall task), impaired attention and an impairment in the primacy effect (a hippocampal-specific index of short term memory), but no significant effects on auditory verbal working memory. It was concluded that the results support the view that cortisol can modulate cognitive processes and that the effects of corticosteroids on cognitive function are selective.

Mineralocorticoid and glucocorticoid receptors and their differential effects on memory performance in people with Addison’s disease

The effects of corticosteroids on memory performance have been the subject of some controversy. Whilst many studies have shown that high levels of corticosteroids can impair memory performance, others have shown they can facilitate it. One explanation for these discrepant effects arises from the differential activation of the two types of corticosteroid receptor--the mineralocorticoid receptor (MRs) and the glucocorticoid receptor (GRs), and the function each subserves during memory formation. Studies in rats and chickens suggest that activation of the MRs is essential during sensory storage (i.e. encoding), whereas normal levels of activation of the GRs (in addition to the already activated MRs) is essential during memory consolidation and retrieval. By using a repeated measures design with nine people with Addisons disease (mean age, 37.9 years), the effects following activation of the MRs only, GRs only, and a combination of MRs/GRs, on working memory and the episodic and semantic components of declarative memory were investigated. MRs and GRs were activated using either MR specific (9 alpha fluorohydrocortisone) or GR specific (dexamethasone) exogenous steroids, respectively. The results showed that participants performed better in the Digits Backward task when both receptors were activated compared to when GRs only were activated (P<0.01). They also performed better in recall in the Hopkins Verbal Learning Test when both receptors were activated compared to when MRs only were activated (P<0.05) and GRs only were activated (P<0.01). Whilst significant effects were not consistent across memory tasks, these results lend further support to the view that balanced activation of MRs and GRs is necessary for optimal memory function in humans.

Are mergers always stressful? Some evidence from the higher education sector

The disappointing outcomes of many mergers and acquisitions (M&As) have been increasingly attributed to the neglect and mismanagement of human aspects of the activity and the stressful and dysfunctional impact that such change events have on the employees involved (Cartwright & Cooper, 1996). M&As in the Higher Education sector are less common than corporate M&As and have received rather less attention. This study considers the experiences of employees involved in the merger of two UK universities. It highlights the stressful potential of the premerger period and the positive role of consultation and involvement.

Predictors of Work Performance Among Higher Education Employees: An Examination Using the ASSET Model of Stress

This study used university-based statistics of performance and self-rated employee productivity to examine the relationship between stress levels, organizational commitment, health, and performance. The authors conducted a secondary analysis of data from staff in 13 higher education institutions. In common with earlier research, the authors found that stressors had a negative linear relationship with all the performance measures used. However, this relationship was also influenced by physical health, psychological well-being, and organizational commitment, and by the measure of performance used. In addition, the authors found variations in the relationship between performance and stress by category of staff, which suggests the influence of job factors. These findings are discussed in relation to previous research and their implications for English academic institutions.