Robert D. Caplan

Person-environment fit theory and organizations: Commensurate dimensions, time perspectives, and mechanisms

Abstract There are many theories of person-environment (PE) fit. One unique feature of the framework is its operationalization—the assessment of the P and E components along commensurate dimensions. This paper describes other facets of the theory, studies which have adhered most strictly to its framework, experiments in improving PE fit, and five areas for future research. One such area is the role of past, present, and anticipated PE fit on well-being and employee behavior. Another is the question of whether there are differences in such outcomes when PE fit is changed by altering P (e.g., abilities and aspirations), E (e.g., job demands and rewards), or some combination. Who brings about the adjustive change (self or other) is also considered as a determinant of employee wellbeing. It is suggested that an adequate intervention theory for improving PE fit in work settings is one which includes the systemic properties of organizations as a predictor of the likelihood and nature of individual change.

Physical and psychosocial functioning and adjustment to breast cancer. Long-term follow-up of a screening population

The effects of age, recency of breast cancer (BC) diagnosis, and severity of the disease on adjustment outcomes were investigated in a sample of 349 women from the 10,059 women screened for BC by the University of Michigan Breast Cancer Detection Demonstration Project between 1974 and 1981. In the 1985 follow‐up, data were collected from the 173 surviving BC patients who had invasive BC, and from a matched control group of 176 women who were asymptomatic of BC. Fifty‐five percent of the BC patients were 5 years past diagnosis and treatment at the time of data collection. The BC patients group as a whole did not differ from the asymptomatic control group on indicators of mental health, social and psychological well‐being, or physical functioning. However, the BC group reported a greater number of diagnosed medical conditions that limited their activities, and taking more medications, than the asymptomatic group. Within the BC group, severity and recency of the cancer had strong independent adverse effects on several of the indicators of mental health and physical functioning. Advanced age had the same main effects in both groups: greater number of medications and diagnosed medical conditions that cause limitatieas in activities, but, in contrast, better mental health and well‐being. Age had interactive effects with the recency and with severity of BC: more recent and severe cases of BC appeared to produce particularly serious difficulties in psychological adjustment for younger patients, and particularly serious medical problems and physical difficulties in adjustment for older patients.

White collar work load and cortisol: Disruption of a circadian rhythm by job stress? ☆

Abstract Perceived white collar work load was studied as a determinant of cortisol, an adrenal hormone with a pronounced circadian rhythm. Two hundred male NASA employees in administration, engineering and science, mean age 40, completed self-report questionnaires and gave blood samples. Respondents were grouped according to the time of day when their blood was sampled and were grouped into high, medium and low tertiles on an index of subjective quantitative work load. There was no main effect of work load on mean cortisol. There was a significant effect of level of work load on the relationship between time of day sampled and cortisol. High work load employees showed lower than normal morning cortisol values and did not show the expected decrease in cortisol from morning to afternoon. Low work load employees showed the expected circadian rhythm. We test two hypotheses which may further explain the results—(1) job satisfaction mediates the effect of work load on circadian rhythm and (2) personality traits produce self-selection into high work load environments—and discuss other interpretations.

Job Loss and Depressive Symptoms in Couples: Common Stressors, Stress Transmission, or Relationship Disruption?

Three models of the linkage between stressors and depressive symptoms were tested in 252 couples after job loss. Data were analyzed to test whether depressive symptoms in both members of the couple were due to common stressors, the transmission of stress from 1 member to the other, or changes in relationship quality. Evidence was found for all 3 processes. Common stressors influenced depressive symptoms in both partners. Anger and depressive symptoms of each partner partially mediated these effects on the other partner, as did reductions in relationship quality. Findings suggest that interventions to help couples cope with the aftermath of job loss may hold promise for preventing depressive reactions to stress.

From field experiments to program implementation: Assessing the potential outcomes of an experimental intervention program for unemployed persons

Demonstrated a procedure suggested by Bloom (1984) to provide estimates for the effects of an intervention on its actual participants compared to global effects on study participants in the intervention group, whether or not they showed up. Analyses were based on data collected in a field experiment that tested a preventive intervention for unemployed persons (Caplan, Vinokur, Price & van Ryn, 1989). Effect size estimates were two to three times larger for the actual participant group than for the entire experimental group on employment outcomes (e.g., earnings) and mental health (anxiety and depression). Further analyses produced results showing that compared to participants, the nonparticipants achieved significantly higher levels of reemployment at posttests and did not differ significantly from participants on all other outcomes. The results suggest that persons who most needed the intervention and benefited from it were drawn into it through self-selection processes.

Organizational Stress as Threat to Reputation: Effects on Anxiety at Work and at Home

This studys premise is that job stressors that threaten an employees reputation with his or her supervisor are particularly likely to generate anxiety symptoms that carry over from work to home. Thirty-six raters, primarily working accountants, identified job stressors as high or low on threat to reputation. Independently, 102 accountants rated their own exposure to these stressors and their anxiety at work and home. As predicted, the high-threat stressors were the most likely generate home-experienced anxiety, and work-experienced anxiety served as u key mediator. Implications relating to models of work and family well-being are discussed.

Coping and defense: constellations vs. components.

This study examined how patterns of coping and defense, as well as their main effects, influence well-being. Using a cross-sectional survey design, questionnaire data were collected and analyzedfrom 207 university students facing the stress of annual examinations in India. Coping was generally and positively correlated with positive affects (such as satisfaction) whereas defense was primarily and positively correlated with somatic complaints and negative affects. Regarding patterns of coping, mobilization to take action was associated with negative affect when the coping mechanism of problem diagnosis was relatively low. When diagnosis was relatively high, mobilization was associated with either no change in affect or an improvement in it. Coping and defense, but not their combinations, buffered certain effects of poor fit on indicators of ill-being. The similarities and differences between these findings and those of other investigators suggest that coping may buffer the effects of stressors on ill-being only when stressors are subjectively controllable.

Depression and control beliefs in relation to reemployment: what are the directions of effect?

Depressive symptoms, locus of control, and reemployment were assessed over the course of 1 year among 254 recently unemployed men and women. Individual growth curve modeling and discrete-time survival analyses were used to examine (a) whether reemployment resolved depressive symptoms or affected control beliefs, (b) whether depressive symptoms or control beliefs predicted time to reemployment, and (c) if these relationships changed over time. Depressive symptom declines were predicted by reemployment, but initial depression was completely unrelated to time to reemployment. Control beliefs were stable over time and thus not affected by reemployment. Instead, they predicted early reemployment. These processes varied according to reemployment type and time period. Implications for intervention and for stress and coping theory are discussed.

Cognitive and affective components of life events: Their relations and effects on weil-being

A model of how five key facets of life events are related to one another and influence mental health and functioning was examined. The facets are the experience of control over, anticipation of, pleasantness from, stress generated by, and adjustment to life events. Multivariate analyses of data from 420 adult male respondents yielded results that were largely consistent with the hypothesized model. The results suggested that control over and anticipation of life events influenced the perceived stress produced by the events and the ability to adjust to them. In turn, it appeared that such stress and adjustment influenced mental health and functioning. The effects of control and anticipation on mental health and functioning were indirect only. Contrary to our hypothesis, control seemed to heighten perceived stress; but control, as well as anticipation, appeared to increase the ability to adjust. Whereas previous studies found no effect of desirable events on well-being, this study found that pleasant events had a beneficial effect. The discussion examines the implications of the findings for future research.

Social effects of diazepam use: A longitudinal field study

A longitudinal panel study examined the effects of actual use of diazepam (Valium) on subjective reports of life quality, affect, performance, stress, social support, control, coping and other variables related to mental health. Standardized interviews were conducted with 675 persons from the Detroit Metropolitan Area. Based on prescription records, diazepam users and nonusers were selected to represent a variety of sociodemographic characteristics rather than to be a completely random sample. Significant others in work and in personal life were also interviewed. Four interviews took place, one approximately every 6 weeks. Testing for social effects was conducted by within- and across-person analyses of 367 respondents who reported taking the medication at some time during the study and by comparisons with 308 respondents who did not report taking Valium. Users of Valium tended to take less Valium than prescribed. They also reported consuming less alcohol when using Valium than at other times and less than non-Valium users. Although there was a modest, positive cross-sectional relation between Valium use and distress, numerous multivariate analyses controlling for levels of stress and health indicated no notable effects of Valium use on any of the social or psychological indicators, including anxiety. Several interpretations of the results are examined including the possibility that the effects of Valium use were short-lived rather than long-term and that Valium may have been taken in anticipation of anxiety rather than after its occurrence.