scholarly journals Mediating Factors for the Relationship between Stress and Work Ability over Time in Young Adults

Author(s):  
Art van Schaaijk ◽  
Adnan Noor Baloch ◽  
Sara Thomée ◽  
Monique Frings-Dresen ◽  
Mats Hagberg ◽  
...  

Stress can affect work ability. The aim of this study was to identify how this pathway is mediated over time in young adults. Participants of the Work Ability in Young Adults cohort were selected. A theoretical framework was built, which lead to a statistical model. Selected dimensions of mediators were recovery, work demands affecting private life, feelings of control over private life, and physical activity in leisure time. A quadruple serial mediation model was built with four mediators. The total effect of stress on work ability was −0.3955, 95% CI [−0.4764, −0.3146]. The total indirect effect amounted to 81% with an effect of −0.3182, 95% CI [−0.3750, −0.2642]. The relationship between stress and Work Ability Score five years later in young adults was mediated by stress five years later, work demands affecting private life, feelings of control over private life and feeling well-rested upon waking. These results indicate that work demands affecting private life and feelings of control over private life are important mediators of the relationship between stress and work ability in young adults. A well-balanced relationship between work and private life can counteract the influence of stress on work ability in this age group.

2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefan Oliv ◽  
Ewa Gustafsson ◽  
Adnan Noor Baloch ◽  
Mats Hagberg ◽  
Helena Sandén

Abstract Background The aim of this study was to investigate what exposure to work demands, physical and psychosocial, is associated with lower levels of sickness absence among workers with neck or upper back pain in different groups, by age, gender, duration of sickness absence and work ability score. Methods This study was a prospective study of 4567 workers with neck or upper back pain. Data on neck or upper back pain, work demand and work ability were obtained from the Swedish Work Environment survey over a 3–year period (2009–2013). Register data on sickness absence, 1 year after each survey was conducted, were obtained from the Swedish health insurance database. Analyses were performed to estimate the association between self-reported work demands and registered sick days > 14 days. The analyses were stratified for gender, age group and work ability score. Results Lower numbers of sick days were found for workers reporting low exposure to lifting ≥15 kg and twisted or forward-leaning work postures. Lower numbers of sick days were found for workers reporting high work control and seated work. The associations were generally stronger in the older age groups for the physical work demands. Conclusions The findings in this study suggest that certain physical work demands and having high control over one’s work can result in lower sickness absence, especially among middle-aged and older workers with neck or upper back pain.


2006 ◽  
Vol 17 (09) ◽  
pp. 640-648 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melinda C. Freyaldenhoven ◽  
Donna Fisher Smiley ◽  
Robert A. Muenchen ◽  
Tiffany N. Konrad

The present study (1) assessed the reliability of the acceptable noise level (ANL) measure using speech-spectrum and speech-babble noises as the competing stimuli, and (2) investigated the relationship between ANL and preference for background sounds in 30 young adults with normal hearing sensitivity. Listeners were evaluated during three test sessions approximately one week apart. Results demonstrated that ANLs are highly reliable over short periods of time, independent of the background noise distraction. Mean ANLs, however, were affected by type of background noise distraction, indicating ANLs obtained using different competing stimuli should not be compared directly. Results further demonstrated that participants' ratings of preference for background sound were consistent over time; however, listeners' preference for background sound was not related to their acceptance of background noise (i.e., ANL). This may indicate listeners cannot accurately assess their ability to accept background sounds, at least with the questionnaire used in the present study.


SAGE Open ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 215824401987627 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lingnan He ◽  
Haoshen Yang ◽  
Xiling Xiong ◽  
Kaisheng Lai

Social media not only leads to efficient dissemination of information but also facilitates the spread of rumors. However, it remains unknown whether and how WeChat use influences rumor transmission. Using a nationwide sample of Chinese adults ( N = 9,368), we applied a moderated mediation model to examine whether the relationship among WeChat use, rumor anxiety, and rumor transmission intention varies with age. Our findings show that frequent use of WeChat decreased young adults’ intention to transmit rumors by alleviating rumor anxiety, whereas in older adults, it increased this intention by increasing rumor anxiety. Among older adults, WeChat use had not only a direct effect on facilitating rumor transmission intention but also indirect effects through increased rumor anxiety. Our findings suggest that older adults are dissimilar from younger adults in terms of their level of vulnerability to believing rumors and the way they fall for rumors.


Author(s):  
Hannes Zacher ◽  
Courtney von Hippel

Abstract Background/Objectives Employees with overweight or obesity are often stereotyped as lazy, unmotivated, and less competent than employees with normal weight. As a consequence, employees with overweight or obesity are susceptible to stereotype threat, or the concern about confirming, or being reduced to, a stereotype about their group. This survey study examined whether employees with overweight or obesity experience stereotype threat in the workplace, whether it is associated with their perceived ability to meet their work demands (i.e., work ability), and whether high levels of knowledge about one’s self (i.e., authentic self-awareness) can offset a potential negative association. Subjects/Methods Using a correlational study design, survey data were collected from N = 758 full-time employees at three measurement points across 3 months. Employees’ average body mass index (BMI) was 26.36 kg/m² (SD = 5.45); 34% of participants were employees with overweight (BMI between 25 and <30), and 18% of participants were employees with obesity (BMI > 30). Results Employees with higher weight and higher BMI reported more weight-based stereotype threat (rs between 0.17 and 0.19, p < 0.001). Employees who experienced higher levels of weight-based stereotype threat reported lower work ability, while controlling for weight, height, and subjective weight (β = −0.27, p < 0.001). Authentic self-awareness moderated the relationship between weight-based stereotype threat and work ability (β = 0.14, p < 0.001), such that the relationship between stereotype threat and work ability was negative among employees with low authentic self-awareness (β = −0.25, p < 0.001), and non-significant among employees with high authentic self-awareness (β = 0.08, p = 0.315). Conclusions The findings of this study contribute to the literature by showing that weight-based stereotype threat is negatively associated with employees’ perceived ability to meet their work demands, particularly among those employees with low authentic self-awareness.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 4133
Author(s):  
Anna Irimiás ◽  
Tamás Csordás ◽  
Kornélia Kiss ◽  
Gábor Michalkó

Young adults spend most of their leisure time in the company of their smartphones. Drawing on the theory of digital well-being and on the concept of psychological sustainability, our aim is to investigate the relationship between digitalization-dominated leisure-time consumption to identify the aggregated roles of smartphones. We suggest that smartphones play different roles in young adults’ daily life. To test our predictions, we used a qualitative method, a two-day time-use diary with structured interviews; two sample groups were recruited for data gathering. The results of the content analysis and of the qualitative sentiment analysis show that mobile devices have a marked agenda-setter function, along with the functions of ‘separator’ and ‘enabler’. The use of smartphones leads to idleness and perceived timelessness while staying physically immobile. Results expand our knowledge on the aggregated role of smartphones in young adults’ activities. Wider society can benefit from the research findings, stimulating young adults to acknowledge the aggregated roles and functions of their smartphones and to develop their digital well-being.


2001 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 625-627
Author(s):  
Ellen L. Fleischmann

As Margaret Meriwether notes in her Introduction to this well-crafted study, until recently there has been little history of the Middle Eastern family. There were “histories of families,” which is not the same as a solidly researched sub-discipline within the broader field of Middle Eastern history, because these “did not deal with the family as an institution, its evolution over time, nor the relationship between family and society” (p. 2). The difficulty derives in part (as it does for other sub-fields of Middle Eastern history, particularly social history) from problems of sources that are partial, limited, or sometimes non-existent, and often where they do exist are unavailable. There are few written records on certain subjects, particularly private lives. Scholars of social history and anthropology have relied increasingly on the use of Islamic court records as sources for social history. The growing body of works produced from this scholarship has been highly sophisticated, nuanced, and exciting, opening windows into the history of private life in the Middle East. This book is a welcome contribution to this growing field of scholarship.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Megan Vanessa Banks

<p>According to McAdams' (1988; 1993) Life Story Model of Identity, narrative identity is constructed through the development of the life story in adolescence and young adulthood. This theoretical claim has sparked an emerging body of research examining links between the development of the life story and psychological functioning during this developmental period (McLean & Breen, 2009; McLean, Breen, & Fournier, 2010; Tavernier & Willoughby, 2012). The aim of this thesis was to contribute to this emerging body of work by examining the relationship between autobiographical reasoning, the core process through which the life story develops, and psychological functioning in young adulthood. Across four studies, young adults constructed life story narratives of high points, low points and turning points from their life story. These narratives were coded for the presence, and valence, of autobiographical reasoning. Autobiographical reasoning was measured primarily in terms of self-event connections, statements linking an aspect of the narrated event to the young adults' sense of self (McLean & Fournier, 2008). Autobiographical reasoning valence was measured in terms of self-event connections that described the self in positive, negative, neutral and mixed (positive and negative) ways. The first study (Study 1a) showed that the valence of autobiographical reasoning found in young adults' life story narratives predicted psychological functioning. Young adults who made negative self-event connections in life story narratives experienced poorer psychological functioning (measured in terms of psychological distress and psychological well-being) than young adults who made little or no negative self-event connections. Conversely, young adults who made more positive self-event connections experienced comparatively better psychological functioning than those who made fewer positive self-event connections. The relationship between positive self-event connections and positive psychological functioning was most salient in the context of narratives about negative events from the life story. Study 1a also showed that for young adults who tended to make higher numbers of positive self-event connections, endorsing negative events as central to the life story was not associated with poor psychological functioning, whereas it was for young adults who made fewer positive connections. The second study (Study 1b) presented a methodology for examining the relationship between autobiographical reasoning valence and psychological functioning over time. Although the small sample size in Study 1b prevented firm conclusions being made, findings showed that young adults' tendency to make negative, but not positive, self-event connections remained stable over time. The preliminary findings from Study 1b also showed that positive and negative self-event connections in life story narratives were not associated with changes in psychological functioning over time. The third study (Study 2) found that young adults' tendency to reason about the self in positive and negative ways was associated with a number of cognitive response styles (explanatory style, rumination and use of cognitive reappraisal strategies). The results of Study 2 also highlight important ways that cognitive response factors, and young adults' assessments of meaning in their lives, may interact with autobiographical reasoning valence to predict psychological functioning. The fourth study (Study 3) aimed to investigate relationships between the phenomenology of life story memories and the amount, and valence, of autobiographical reasoning in narratives of these events. Findings showed few associations between autobiographical reasoning and autobiographical memory phenomenology. Possible reasons for the absence of these relationships are discussed. Wider implications and theoretical explanations for the findings reported in this thesis are discussed in terms of models of coping and Relational Frame Theory (RFT; Hayes, Barnes-Holmes, & Roche, 2001).</p>


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Megan Vanessa Banks

<p>According to McAdams' (1988; 1993) Life Story Model of Identity, narrative identity is constructed through the development of the life story in adolescence and young adulthood. This theoretical claim has sparked an emerging body of research examining links between the development of the life story and psychological functioning during this developmental period (McLean & Breen, 2009; McLean, Breen, & Fournier, 2010; Tavernier & Willoughby, 2012). The aim of this thesis was to contribute to this emerging body of work by examining the relationship between autobiographical reasoning, the core process through which the life story develops, and psychological functioning in young adulthood. Across four studies, young adults constructed life story narratives of high points, low points and turning points from their life story. These narratives were coded for the presence, and valence, of autobiographical reasoning. Autobiographical reasoning was measured primarily in terms of self-event connections, statements linking an aspect of the narrated event to the young adults' sense of self (McLean & Fournier, 2008). Autobiographical reasoning valence was measured in terms of self-event connections that described the self in positive, negative, neutral and mixed (positive and negative) ways. The first study (Study 1a) showed that the valence of autobiographical reasoning found in young adults' life story narratives predicted psychological functioning. Young adults who made negative self-event connections in life story narratives experienced poorer psychological functioning (measured in terms of psychological distress and psychological well-being) than young adults who made little or no negative self-event connections. Conversely, young adults who made more positive self-event connections experienced comparatively better psychological functioning than those who made fewer positive self-event connections. The relationship between positive self-event connections and positive psychological functioning was most salient in the context of narratives about negative events from the life story. Study 1a also showed that for young adults who tended to make higher numbers of positive self-event connections, endorsing negative events as central to the life story was not associated with poor psychological functioning, whereas it was for young adults who made fewer positive connections. The second study (Study 1b) presented a methodology for examining the relationship between autobiographical reasoning valence and psychological functioning over time. Although the small sample size in Study 1b prevented firm conclusions being made, findings showed that young adults' tendency to make negative, but not positive, self-event connections remained stable over time. The preliminary findings from Study 1b also showed that positive and negative self-event connections in life story narratives were not associated with changes in psychological functioning over time. The third study (Study 2) found that young adults' tendency to reason about the self in positive and negative ways was associated with a number of cognitive response styles (explanatory style, rumination and use of cognitive reappraisal strategies). The results of Study 2 also highlight important ways that cognitive response factors, and young adults' assessments of meaning in their lives, may interact with autobiographical reasoning valence to predict psychological functioning. The fourth study (Study 3) aimed to investigate relationships between the phenomenology of life story memories and the amount, and valence, of autobiographical reasoning in narratives of these events. Findings showed few associations between autobiographical reasoning and autobiographical memory phenomenology. Possible reasons for the absence of these relationships are discussed. Wider implications and theoretical explanations for the findings reported in this thesis are discussed in terms of models of coping and Relational Frame Theory (RFT; Hayes, Barnes-Holmes, & Roche, 2001).</p>


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