Why and when are silent employees less satisfied with their jobs? A conservation of resources perspective

PurposeEmployee silence is pervasive in the workplace and can be severely detrimental to employees' job satisfaction. However, research on why and when employee silence undermines job satisfaction remains poorly understood. Drawing upon conservation of resources theory, the authors proposed and tested a moderated mediation model wherein employee silence predicted job satisfaction through vigor, with positive affectivity acting as a dispositional moderator.Design/methodology/approachTwo-wave time-lagged data were collected from a sample of 183 employees in Taiwan. A moderated mediation analysis with latent variables was conducted to test the hypotheses.FindingsResults indicated that employees' vigor mediated the negative relationship between employee silence and job satisfaction only for employees with low positive affectivity.Originality/valueBy identifying vigor as a psychological mechanism explaining the negative effect of silence on job satisfaction and positive affectivity as a buffer against the detrimental effect of silence on vigor and, indirectly, job satisfaction, the results provide a more nuanced understanding of why and when silent employees are less satisfied with their jobs.

Expatriate partners’ personality and its influence on acculturation into a new cultural context: Examining the role of dispositional affectivity

Despite the vital role that trailing partners play for successful expatriation, we still know very little about what actually causes partners to thrive and integrate effectively into the new cultural context. However, as indications have emerged that the personality of partners could be key to a favorable acculturation trajectory, we set out to explore this further. More specifically, we assess the role of expatriate partners’ dispositional affectivity, that is, positive and negative affectivity. We examine this in relation to internal acculturation (in the form of interaction and general adjustment) and external acculturation (in the form of local community embeddedness and intentions to stay or to return home). Drawing on the data of 123 trailing partners, full support was found for three out of four hypotheses regarding the effects of positive affectivity. Further, a marginally significant negative association was identified for the relationship between positive affectivity and repatriation intentions. For negative affectivity, two hypotheses were met. Interestingly, no significant influence of negative affectivity on community embeddedness was found. The association between negative affectivity and interaction adjustment was marginally significant indicating some tentative support. In sum, this study corroborates that dispositional affectivity is an overall important concept to explain trailing partners’ acculturation. However, the role of positive and negative affectivity seems to vary along the different proxies of internal and external acculturation.

Early development of negative and positive affect: Implications for ADHD symptomatology across three birth cohorts

High levels of early emotionality (of either negative or positive valence) are hypothesized to be important precursors to early psychopathology, with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) a prime early target. The positive and negative affect domains are prime examples of Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) concepts that may enrich a multilevel mechanistic map of psychopathology risk. Utilizing both variable-centered and person-centered approaches, the current study examined whether levels and trajectories of infant negative and positive emotionality, considered either in isolation or together, predicted children's ADHD symptoms at 4 to 8 years of age. In variable-centered analyses, higher levels of infant negative affect (at as early as 3 months of age) were associated with childhood ADHD symptoms. Findings for positive affect failed to reach statistical threshold. Results from person-centered trajectory analyses suggest that additional information is gained by simultaneously considering the trajectories of positive and negative emotionality. Specifically, only when exhibiting moderate, stable or low levels of positive affect did negative affect and its trajectory relate to child ADHD symptoms. These findings add to a growing literature that suggests that infant negative emotionality is a promising early life marker of future ADHD risk and suggest secondarily that moderation by positive affectivity warrants more consideration.

Problem Talk in Adolescence: Temperament and Attachment as Predictors of Co-Rumination Trajectories in Boys and Girls

Co-rumination has consistently been shown to be maladaptive in the context of emotional well-being. However, not much is known about factors that predict one’s tendency to co-ruminate. The current study investigated temperament, attachment, and gender as predictors of co-rumination trajectories in a sample of 1549 early and middle adolescents from fifth to ninth grade (53.4% girls; Mage = 12.93). Analyses were performed on four waves of data with one-year intervals using multi-level modeling. First, girls were found to be more likely to co-ruminate. Second, high positive affectivity in boys and girls and high effortful control in boys was related to higher co-rumination. Third, high attachment anxiety and high general trust in the availability and support of a mother were predictive of higher co-rumination levels. High attachment avoidance was negatively related to co-rumination in boys. High positive affectivity in boys and girls and high trust in boys predicted decreases in reported co-rumination levels over time. Results highlight differences between boys and girls in factors that predict the tendency to co-ruminate. The current study adds to the literature by helping to identify factors associated with the development of co-rumination, which is a well-established risk factor of internalizing symptoms. Monitoring youth affected with these vulnerabilities may be recommended for prevention efforts.

Associations of physical performance and physical activity with mental well-being in middle-aged women

Background To investigate whether physical performance is independently of physical activity (PA) associated with positive and negative dimensions of mental well-being in middle-aged women. Methods Data were drawn from the Estrogenic Regulation of Muscle Apoptosis (ERMA) study in which women 47 to 55 years were randomly selected from the Finnish National Registry. They (n = 909) participated in measurements of physical performance (handgrip force, knee extension force, vertical jumping height, maximal walking speed, and six-minute walking distance). Both mental well-being (the Centre for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale, the International Positive and Negative Affect Schedule Short Form and the Satisfaction with Life Scale) and PA were self-reported. Associations between variables were analysed using multivariate linear regression modelling adjusted for body height, fat mass %, menopausal status and symptoms, marital status, parity, employment status, self-reported mental disorders, and use of psycholeptics and psychoanaleptics. PA was then entered into a separate model to explore its role in the associations. Results In the adjusted models, significant positive associations of six-minute walking distance with positive affectivity (B = 0.12, p = 0.002) and life satisfaction (B = 0.15, p = 0.033) were observed. No significant associations were observed between physical performance and depressive symptoms or negative affectivity. PA was positively associated with positive affectivity and life satisfaction and negatively with depressive symptoms across all the physical performance variables. Conclusions Of the physical performance dimensions, aerobic component was associated with positive mental well-being independently of PA level. In relation to other physical performance components, the results point to the benefits of physical activity for mental well-being.

To detach or not to detach? The moderating effect of psychological detachment on the relations between heavy work investment and well-being

This study focuses on two types of heavy work investment, namely workaholism and work engagement, and on psychological detachment from work. Both workaholism and work engagement refer to an intense work effort, yet with a different impact on work and personal life. Building on Stressor–Detachment Model (SDM), we examine how different levels of workaholism, work engagement, and psychological detachment influence different outcomes related to employees’ well-being (i.e., perceived health, negative affectivity, positive affectivity). Data were collected from 342 employees via online survey and analyzed by mean of latent profile analysis. Five employee profiles were identified: High-Detachment and Engaged, Heavy Work Investors, Mild-Detachment and Disengaged, Mild-Detachment and Engaged, and Pure Workaholics. The profiles showed different patterns of the outcomes under investigation. Our findings also indicate that psychological detachment is an important factor that alleviates the detrimental effects of heavy work investment on employees’ well-being and that work engagement can play an immediate protecting role for employees’ well-being even in absence of significant levels of psychological detachment.

Personal values in mental disorders: an exploratory analysis

Personal values have increasingly become central in socio-psychological research. However, the relationships between values and psychopathological variables have been scarcely investigated, with mixed results. This study aimed to explore potential differences in value orientation in a sample of people with psychotic disorders and mood disorders compared to a non-clinical sample using the Schwarz’s values framework. A clinical sample of 162 subjects (92 subjects with psychotic disorders and 70 with mood disorders) and a non-clinical sample of 217 subjects completed the self-report measures of affective states (PANAS) and personal values (PVQ). Irrespective of the diagnostic group, the clinical sample showed higher expression of Conservation values (i.e., Tradition, Conformity, Security). Conservation and Self-enhancement values positively correlated with PANAS-positive affectivity in the clinical sample; in the non-clinical sample, Self-enhancement values only correlated with PANAS-positive affectivity. The expression of Conservation values in individuals with a mental disorder could reflect an orientation toward Conformity underlying fundamental affiliative goals. The complex relationship between personal values and clinical constructs should be further investigated, with important theoretical and clinical implications in mental health.

Intensified Job Demands and Cognitive Stress Symptoms: The Moderator Role of Individual Characteristics

Intensified job demands (IJDs) originate in the general accelerated pace of society and ever-changing working conditions, which subject workers to increasing workloads and deadlines, constant planning and decision-making about one’s job and career, and the continual learning of new professional knowledge and skills. This study investigated how individual characteristics, namely negative and positive affectivity related to competence demands, and multitasking preference moderate the association between IJDs and cognitive stress symptoms among media workers (n = 833; 69% female, mean age 48 years). The results show that although IJDs were associated with higher cognitive stress symptoms at work, that is, difficulties in concentration, thinking clearly, decision-making, and memory, competence demands-related negative affectivity explained the most variance in cognitive stress symptoms. In addition, IJDs were more strongly associated with cognitive stress symptoms at work in individuals with high competence demand-related negative affectivity, and low multitasking preference (moderation effects). Altogether, the present findings suggest that HR practices or workplace interventions to ease employees’ negative affectivity from increasing competence demands at work could usefully support employees’ effective cognitive functioning when confronted with IJDs.

Extracellular Dopamine Levels in Nucleus Accumbens after Chronic Stress in Rats with Persistently High vs. Low 50-kHz Ultrasonic Vocalization Response

Fifty-kHz ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) in response to an imitation of rough-and-tumble play (‘tickling’) have been associated with positive affective states and rewarding experience in the rat. This USV response can be used as a measure of inter-individual differences in positive affect. We have previously shown that rats with persistently low positive affectivity are more vulnerable to the effects of chronic variable stress (CVS). To examine whether these differential responses are associated with dopaminergic neurotransmission in the nucleus accumbens (NAc), juvenile male Wistar rats were categorized as of high or low positive affectivity (HC and LC, respectively), and after reaching adulthood, extracellular dopamine (DA) levels in the NAc shell were measured using in vivo microdialysis after three weeks of CVS. Baseline levels of DA were compared as well as the response to K+-induced depolarization and the effect of glial glutamate transporter EAAT2 inhibition by 4 mM l-trans-pyrrolidine-2,4-dicarboxylate (PDC). DA baseline levels were higher in control LC-rats, and stress significantly lowered the DA content in LC-rats. An interaction of stress and affectivity appeared in response to depolarization where stress increased the DA output in HC-rats whereas it decreased it in LC-rats. These results show that NAc-shell DA is differentially regulated in response to stress in animals with high and low positive affect.