No full-text available
To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the authors.
Personality as a predictor of burnout among managers of manufacturing industries
Abstract
In the present study of 170 managers (mean age=32 years) from different manufacturing industries (multi-national) of private sector from India, the authors examine the relationship between burnout as measured by Maslach burnout inventory-general and the big five personality factors as measured by NEO-FFI. The findings from three separate stepwise multiple regression analysis reveals that neuroticism and extroversion are the most strong and consistent predictors of burnout. Neuroticism is positively related with exhaustion and cynicism but negatively related with professional efficacy. In addition, extroversion is negatively related with exhaustion and cynicism and positively related with professional efficacy.
... In addition to studies that targeted faculty stress in a Saudi Government University (Parveen, 2013). In spite that personality (Big Five Factor Model) as a predictor of burnout among managers (Madnawat & Mehta, 2012). Moreover, as predictors of job stress (Desa, et al., 2014). ...
... Items are scored on 5 point Likert scale ranging from 1 (never) to 5 (every day). Several studies have shown that MBI has excellent psychometric properties (Madnawat & Mehta, 2012). ...
This study was conducted to investigate the influence of the Big Five Dimensions of
personality of the Saudi government employees on their level of job stress and job burnout. Total sample of 269 employee was used in this study. The results of this study revealed that the Saudi government employees tend to enjoy personalities that are conscientiousness and open to experience. The results of the study showed that extroversion, agreeableness and conscientiousness personality traits were negatively related with job stress and job burnout. Both Openness to Experience and neuroticism were significantly and positively correlated with job burnout and job stress. In conclusion, this study showed a positively significant correlation between personality of employees, their stress level and their burnout level.
... Neuroticism is one of the most studied dimension of personality traits that has been used by psychologists to understand human mental process and behaviors (e.g., [8] [18]). Neurotic persons are emotional instability and easily experience negative feelings (e.g., anxiety, anger, dispersion, frustration, and moodiness). ...
... Request and have difficulties to effectively manage stress and cope with normal life [17]. Neuroticism has been used to explain human thought and behaviors [8] [18]. It was found to have a negative influence on job satisfaction, job performance, and career success [1][15] [20]. ...
Perceived values and neurotic personality have been used to explain online learning adoption. However, there is a lack of understanding of how neuroticism interact with perceived values resulting in online learning adoption. This study explores the moderating role of neuroticism in the relationships between perceived value (functional value, emotional value and social value) and adoption intention of online learning. The results show that neuroticism strengthens the positive effect of perceived emotional value on adoption intention of online learning. The adoption intention of online learning is higher for low neuroticism when perceived emotional value increases. Neuroticism does not moderate the effects of functional value and social value on adoption intention of online learning. This study fills the gap in online learning adoption literature by generalizing the effects of perceived values on online learning adoption to a specific personality trait. It also provides guidance for universities to shape their online learning strategy for neurotic students who are difficult to cope with new learning phenomenon. The paper discusses the study limitations and directions for future research.
... Neuroticism refers to the tendency to experience negative emotions, fear, nervousness, insecurity, anxiety, irritability, social anxiety, low self-esteem, impulsiveness, and helplessness [69]. In addition, this personality trait has been associated with ineffective coping strategies [70,71], and emotional exhaustion [66,67,72,73]. ...
... Finally, higher levels of agreeableness and of neuroticism were associated with higher levels of emotional exhaustion. The literature on this subject suggests that the same tendencies hold for agreeableness [68] and neuroticism [66,67,72,73]. ...
Background:
Job stressors can cause a salivary cortisol secretion dysregulation which in turn can lead to burnout. However, job stressors do not induce the same cortisol secretion dysregulation and psychic consequences systematically to all workers. Personality traits may influence job stressor's adaptation. The objectives of this study were (a) to verify the mediating effect cortisol has on the relationship between work conditions and burnout, and (b) to identify the moderate mediation effects that personality traits have on the relationship between work conditions and salivary cortisol secretion.
Method:
Multilevel regression analyses were carried out on a sample of 352 employees in 34 Québec firms. Saliva samples were collected five times a day (on awakening, 30 minutes after awakening, at 2 p.m., 4 p.m., and bedtime) on three days (1 day off, 2 work days). Work conditions variables comprised skill utilization, decision authority, psychological demands, physical demands, job insecurity, irregular schedules, number of working hours, and social support. Personality traits included self-esteem, locus of control, and the Big Five. Both work conditions and personality traits were assessed with a psychosocial questionnaire.
Results:
The level of salivary cortisol secretion was negatively associated with burnout. Certain workplace and personality variables had a significant effect on emotional exhaustion (psychological demands was positively associated, social support from supervisors was negatively associated) and on cortisol levels (job insecurity was negatively associated). Cortisol did not play any mediating role in the relationship between work conditions and burnout, which is moderated by personality traits.
Conclusions:
We conclude that work conditions (skill utilization, decision authority, psychological demands, physical demands, job insecurity, irregular schedules, number of working hours, and social support) and the interaction of personality traits with work conditions have no indirect effects on burnout.
... Certains traits de personnalité dont le travailleur dispose seraient susceptibles d'influencer son adaptation au stress, et ainsi agir comme des modérateurs de la relation entre les stresseurs du travail et les symptômes d'épuisement professionnel (Pearlin, 1999). Bien que les traits de personnalité aient fait l'objet de plusieurs études montrant des associations avec l'épuisement professionnel (Armon et al., 2012 ;Barford & Whelton, 2010 ;Garrosa et al., 2010 ;Kalimo et al., 2003 ;Madnawat & Mehta, 2012 ;Spence Laschinger, & Finegan, 2008), très peu d'études ont examiné la capacité des traits de personnalité à modérer l'association entre les stresseurs en milieu de travail et l'expérience de l'épuisement professionnel. Si les traits de personnalité peuvent agir dans l'adaptation au stress, il s'avère primordial de mieux comprendre quels sont les traits de personnalité pouvant favoriser ou défavoriser cette adaptation et quels sont les stresseurs du travail dont le décodage est influencé par la personnalité. ...
... De plus, ce trait de personnalité est associé à l'utilisation de stratégies d'adaptation inefficaces (Bolger et al., 1989 ;Heppner et al., 1995). La majorité de la littérature s'entend sur le fait que le névrosisme fait augmenter l'épuisement émotionnel et le cynisme et à faire diminuer le sentiment d'efficacité (Bakker et al., 2006 ;Kokkinos, 2007 ;Lakin et al., 2008 ;Madnawat & Mehta, 2012). ...
Cette étude vise à évaluer l’effet modérateur des traits de personnalité sur la relation entre les conditions de l’organisation du travail et l’épuisement professionnel. Selon les théories du stress (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984 ; Marchand, 2004 ; Pearlin, 1999), certains traits de personnalité dont le travailleur dispose seraient susceptibles d’influencer son adaptation au stress, et ainsi agir comme des modérateurs de la relation entre les stresseurs du travail et l’épuisement professionnel. Les principaux résultats obtenus confirment que l’estime de soi et le centre de contrôle sont des traits de la personnalité qui modèrent la relation entre le travail et l’épuisement professionnel. Les résultats de cette étude peuvent être utiles pour des activités de gestion de ressources humaines, notamment la gestion des carrières, la gestion des promotions et la sélection de personnel.
... La personne subit alors de manière croissante le poids des stresseurs organisationnels, ce qui augmente la probabilité d'apparition d'un burnout. L'impact des tempéraments névrosés et extravertis sur le burnout a été établi par Madnawat et Mehta (2012). En effet, les tempéraments négatifs conduisent au burnout alors que les attitudes positives, en lien avec l'efficacité professionnelle, protègent du burnout. ...
... Le burnout dépend aussi de facteurs individuels tels que la personnalité. Des tempéraments névrosés sont sujets au burnout (Madnawat & Mehta, 2012) et des tempéraments plus positifs protègent du burnout. Nous supposons sur la base de travaux antérieurs que le burnout est lié à des inducteurs personnels (H4) : l'absence d'extraversion (H4a), d'agréabilité (Hb), la conscience (H4c) et le névrosisme (H4d) chez les cadres peuvent être liés au burnout. ...
L’enjeu de cet article ancré dans une approche de la santé psychologique a été de mesurer simultanément le bien-être subjectif et le burnout des cadres. Nous testons les liens entre d’une part, la charge psychologique, la latitude décisionnelle, la justice organisationnelle ainsi que les facteurs de personnalité et l’estime de soi avec le bien- être subjectif et le burnout. Nous mesurons, par ailleurs, l’effet médiateur de la satisfaction des besoins psychologiques entre les inducteurs liés au travail et les inducteurs de personnalité ainsi que l’estime de soi avec le bien-être subjectif et le burnout. Les données issues d’un questionnaire soumis auprès de 163 cadres ont fait l’objet de corrélations, de régressions linéaires sur le bien-être subjectif et le burnout et d’analyses de médiation. Des liens significatifs sont trouvés entre les inducteurs liés au travail et le burnout, entre l’estime de soi, le névrosisme, l’agréabilité et le burnout, entre le besoin d’affiliation et le burnout.
... Third, exploring the observed relationships in other sectors could provide valuable insights regarding the generalizability of the findings. For example, little is known regarding work addiction or burnout among managers in the manufacturing sector, despite knowledge that this sector has important psychosocial risk factors (Madnawat and Mehta, 2012). Future inquiry in this sector with both quantitative and qualitative methods could shed light on the specific conditions of manufacturing organizations and their impact on managers. ...
Introduction
Using the conservation of resources (COR) theory, our study explores the interaction between role ambiguity and leader-member exchange (LMX) quality on burnout using work addiction as a mediator among Canadian first-level healthcare managers.
Methods
Cross-sectional data was collected among 165 first-level managers working in healthcare with the support of interprofessional associations in Canada. Linear regression was used to test the presented hypotheses.
Results
Work addiction fully mediated the positive relationship between role ambiguity and burnout among first-level managers. In addition, high LMX exacerbated both the direct and indirect effects of role ambiguity.
Conclusion
Our study contributes by identifying role ambiguity as a context under which LMX can have adverse effects for first-level managers in healthcare. Moreover, work addiction acted as a mediator, theorized as a risky resource investment which depletes managers’ resources. Having a good relationship with their team further entices managers to develop a pathological relationship with their work to protect its members, which in turn is related to higher levels of burnout.
... Neuroticism is the tendency to experience negative emotions such as fear, tension, insecurity, anxiety, irritability, social anxiety, low self-esteem, impulsivity, and helplessness. Many studies have proved that neuroticism is related to job burnout [29]. Self-efficacy refers to an individual's belief that he has the ability to organize and execute to meet the requirements of a situation [30]. ...
In this study, 275 higher vocational teachers from Shaanxi province serve as the subjects. Cluster analysis, multiple variance analysis, logistic regression, and other statistical investigations are carried out with SPSS. The study is based on the personal center perspective. The findings pointed to the fact that, with a burnout rate of 58.2 percent, higher vocational teachers fall into the category of having mild levels of job exhaustion. There are three categories of professional values held by those who teach in higher vocational schools: the survival type (14.9 percent), the common type (65.8 percent), and the development type (19.3 percent). The percentage of teachers who experience burnout is lowest among those who hold progressive professional values, and the incidence of burnout among these teachers is just 45.1% of that of survival instructors. There is a large amount of variation in the kinds of professional values held by different sorts of educators, each of whom possesses their own unique qualities. This study offers some suggestions on the formation of positive professional values by both schools and individuals. These proposals are based on the findings of empirical research that was conducted.
... Studies have confirmed that individuals who are considered leaders tend to show fewer neurotic traits, sustain a higher level of openness, a balanced level of integrity, and a balanced level of extraversion (Judge et al., 2002). Further systematic studies link burnout at work and home with neuroticism, and extraversionwith permanent positive work experience (Mehta, 2012). Some studies show that the results of professional activities are correlated with the personality traits of Big-5. ...
The purpose of this study was to explore the indirect and direct relationships of Big-5 and dark personality traits (i.e., extroversion, neuroticism, agreeableness, openness, conscientiousness, narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy, sadism, and spitefulness) with job performance via perfectionism, stress, and social media addiction. A total of 514 private sector employees filled out a query sheet that included the assessment tools for the variables. Path analysis using a multiple mediation model indicated that neuroticism was negatively directly and indirectly related to job performance via stress and social media addiction. Machiavellianism and spitefulness were directly positively associated with job performance, and Machiavellianism-related higher social media addiction diminished the direct positive effect of Machiavellianism on job performance, indicating complex relationships. Furthermore, stress, social media addiction, and perfectionism were related to different personality traits positively and negatively. Findings of the present study suggest that an anti-social personality may promote higher job performance. However, job performance may be adversely affected by the adverse consequences relating to these traits. Professionals and firms that attempt to increase job performance should take anti-social personality traits and their complex effects on job performance into account.
... However, it was found that the scores for factors Extraversion and Agreeableness aligned differently from the pattern in the United States normative data. Four FFM studies in which the NEO-FFI was used with adults, reported acceptable alpha reliability values ranging from 0.63 to 0.88 (Dubey et al., 2010;Madnawat and Mehta, 2012;Dabke, 2014;Magan et al., 2014). However, in a study on postgraduate students, Joshi and Thingujam (2009) reported inadequate alpha reliability values for the NEO-FFI. ...
The Five-Factor Model (FFM) is one of the most commonly examined constructs of personality across cultures in recent times. However, there is a lacuna of evidence for the suitability of FFM measures for Indian adolescent school students below the age of 17 years. We carried out two independent studies for the psychometric evaluation of the measures BFI-10 and NEO-FFI-3 on Indian adolescent school students. Both studies examined two socio-culturally distinct linguistic groups of secondary and senior secondary school students with a total sample of N = 1117 students. There was very limited support for a five-factor solution in both cases. Model fit was poor when applying FFM measures to our samples, whether applying confirmatory factor analysis or exploratory structural equation models. The results provide evidence against using adult personality measures with adolescents without separate psychometric validation and applying the Western age norms to Indian students without considering that the process of personality consolidation during adolescence may not be identical across cultures.
Burnout is an underlying issue that has an adverse effect on the working enthusiasm of the employees. In this chapter, the researcher has attempted to assess the influence of stressors on burnout and work engagement in the context of the Indian law enforcement agents. The study evaluates the correlations between burnout factors—emotional exhaustion, cynicism, low professional efficacy—with vigor, dedication, and absorption. For the purpose of this study, items from MBI-GS for assessing burnout, scale for stressors, and employee engagement are adapted. The construct of the scale developed was established using confirmatory factor analysis. The study was carried out for 145 law enforcement agents in the selected cities of a North Indian state. T-test results applied on stressors between male and female groups show varying results. A significant negative effect of burnout factors on work engagement factors is observed through the empirical examination using SEM AMOS.
Employees’ responses to work demands are crucially related to their occupational well‐being. The present study aimed to identify Big Five personality profiles of working adults and examine their connection to two central responses to work stress: work engagement and burnout. Four latent personality profiles emerged (i.e., overcontroller, undercontroller, reserved, and resilient) and, in line with Block(2002) self‐regulation theory, related differently to burnout and engagement. Specifically, both under‐ and overcontrollers experienced higher burnout and lower engagement whereas resilients experienced higher engagement and lower burnout. Reserved profile members were low in both. The results suggest that management of healthy, engaged workers may be aided by consideration of personality profiles and that Block’s self‐regulation theory may be a useful framework for connecting personality to occupational well‐being.
This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
ABOUT JOURNAL Scientific Papers of the University of Pardubice, Series D journal aims to be an open platform for publication of innovative results of theoretical, applied and empirical research across a broad range of disciplines such as economics, management, finance, social sciences, law, computer sciences and system engineering with the intention of publishing high quality research results, primarily academics and researchers. The journal is published every year since 1996 and papers are submitted to review.
Nowadays, it is crucial for organisations to attract highly skilled employees due to the competitive environment, as well as due to the current structure of the workplace. To retain talented employees, it is necessary to care about their needs and satisfaction. As differences regarding gender and/or generations exist among employees, it is necessary to create new human resources policies that suit every employee. This is especially important for start-ups as they have limited funding and cannot compete with salaries and job security from bigger and more established organisations. The objective of this article is to evaluate employees' preferences across 27 factors that influence employees' retention in a tech start-up on a general level and then with a focus on the gender difference in such preferences to be able to propose adjustments in human resources policies. Results indicate that significant differences regarding gender exist in training and working environment preferences. On the other hand, there is consensus among employees over the importance and type of personal recognition and necessity of work-life balance. Identification of such differences creates an opportunity for human resource policies adjustments.
Burnout is an underlying issue that has an adverse effect on the working enthusiasm of the employees. In this chapter, the researcher has attempted to assess the influence of stressors on burnout and work engagement in the context of the Indian law enforcement agents. The study evaluates the correlations between burnout factors—emotional exhaustion, cynicism, low professional efficacy—with vigor, dedication, and absorption. For the purpose of this study, items from MBI-GS for assessing burnout, scale for stressors, and employee engagement are adapted. The construct of the scale developed was established using confirmatory factor analysis. The study was carried out for 145 law enforcement agents in the selected cities of a North Indian state. T-test results applied on stressors between male and female groups show varying results. A significant negative effect of burnout factors on work engagement factors is observed through the empirical examination using SEM AMOS.
This study focuses on the burnout framework and aims at examining the links between, on the one hand, the psychological burden, decision latitude, organizational justice and self-esteem and, on the other hand, the burnout. We measure the mediator effect of the social support. The data derived from a questionnaire submitted to 122 managers allowed us to establish a correlation matrix, linear regressions on the burnout and mediation analyzes. The results indicate that the predominant variables would be the organizational justice, support from colleagues, self-esteem and affects. The mediator effect of the social support between the different types of justice and the burnout was partially validated.
Burnout is described as a state of depletion of a person's resources and energy resulting in apathetic and impassive behaviour towards others, having dysfunctional repercussions on the individual and adverse effects on organizations. Though an enormous amount of research is available on “stress” in both Western and Indian contexts, there is very little research on “burnout” in the Indian workplaces.
For this study, important considerations included evolving an exclusive construct of “executive burnout” in the industrial context which does not exist and also developing the construct of burnout in the Indian context. The Western construct of burnout using Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) developed in 1982 has largely been based on people occupations (like nurses and teachers) and later extended to non-service occupations. When tested by the author on the Indian sample of executives, it revealed the following: There is a difference in the dimension of diminished personal accomplishment which was not valid on the Indian sample. Those suffering from burnout did not have low personal accomplishment; on the contrary, high achieving executives were mostly found to suffer from burnout. Some dimensions, viz., ambiguity; dissatisfaction and powerlessness; inadequacy; and physical exhaustion, which were empirically found vital for executives in the Indian context, were not covered by MBI.
With technological advancements, workplaces have undergone drastic changes and many executives work in situations which require very little people contact, implying that the construct of executive burnout is qualitatively different and needs to be evolved for better understanding of this pivotal problem. The author's professional interactions with executives from a variety of industry and a study of mental health professionals in India revealed that the problem of burnout has been acute and on the increase. This study identifies the determinants of burnout among Indian executives and thus evolves an Indian model of executive burnout to help the executives/organizations in taking preventive measures to mitigate this problem.
Reliable tools are used on a representative sample of middle level executives from manufacturing and service industry representing both public and private sectors. Basic statistics, Pearson's correlation, factor analysis, t-test, and hierarchical regression test the hypotheses. The analysis of data reveal the following: Emotional intelligence mediates and leads to personal effectiveness which moderates the onset of burnout. Stress personality and personal inadequacy are personality-related predictors. Role expectation conflict, role stagnation, self-role distance, role overload, role erosion, resource inadequacy, inter-role distance, and role ambiguity are role- related predictors of burnout among executives in India.
The author (2005) has found that burnout can be prevented with early detection, timely intervention, and enhancement of emotional intelligence.
The objective of this research was to determine the relationship between burnout, personality traits and coping strategies. A survey design was used. The study population consisted of 131 employees in a corporate pharmaceutical group. The Maslach Burnout Inventory, NEO Personality Inventory Revised and COPE were administered. Active coping strategies were associated with Emotional Stability, Extraversion, Openness to Experience and Conscientiousness, while passive coping strategies were associated with Neuroticism, low Agreeableness and low Conscientiousness. Emotional Stability, Extraversion, Openness to Experience, Agreeableness and Conscientiousness were associated with lower emotional exhaustion and depersonalisation and higher personal accomplishment. Constructive coping strategies were associated with personal accomplishment.
Opsomming
Die doelstelling van hierdie navorsing was om te bepaal of daar ’n verband tussen uitbranding, persoonlikheidstrekke en coping-strategieë bestaan. ’n Opnameontwerp is gebruik. Die ondersoekgroep het bestaan uit 131 werknemers van ’n korporatiewe apteekgroep. Drie vraelyste is gebruik, naamlik die Maslach-Uitbrandingsvraelys, die NEO Personality Inventory Revised en die COPE. Aktiewe coping-strategieë is geassosieer met Emosionele Stabiliteit, Ekstroversie, Openheid vir Ervaring en Konsensieusheid, terwyl passiewe coping-strategieë geassosieer is met Neurotisisme, lae Inskiklikheid en lae Konsensieusheid. Emosionele Stabiliteit, Ekstroversie, Openheid vir Ervaring, Inskiklikheid en Konsensieusheid is geassosieer met lae emosionele uitputting, lae depersonalisasie en hoë persoonlike bereiking. Konstruktiewe coping-strategieë is geassosieer met persoonlike bereiking.
Burnout is frequently interpreted as a situationally induced stress reaction. However, the long-term stability of burnout scores and their correlations with subjective well-being measures suggest that burnout may also reflect enduring qualities of the individual. To assess the contribution of personality to the experience of burnout, an exploratory longitudinal study was done. At Time 1, 36 occupational therapists (32 women, 4 men) from two hospitals completed the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI; Maslach, 1982) and the NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI; Costa & McCrae, 1985; a measure of the five-factor model of personality). At Time 2, the MBI was again given along with the Work Environment Scale (Moos, 1981) to 29 of the original therapists. Moderately strong correlations were found between burnout scores and measures of the five factors both concurrently and longitudinally. Even when situational variables were controlled, personality continued to account for a significant portion of the variance in burnout scores. The implications of these findings are discussed.
This longitudinal study investigated the prevalence and antecedents of burnout in a large sample of school psychologists from a Southeastern state. Approximately 40% of the school psychologists reported high levels of emotional exhaustion, 10% reported depersonalization reactions, and 19% reported a reduced sense of personal accomplishment at Time 1. Cross-sectional regression analyses suggested that personality variables (e.g., extraversion, agreeableness) related to burnout reports over and above stressful occupational events and demographic variables. Furthermore, a multidimensional model of burnout was supported in that there were differential correlates of the burnout dimensions. For example, Emotional Exhaustion scores and Depersonalization scores were more strongly associated with stressful occupational experiences than Reduced Personal Accomplishment scores. The longitudinal data demonstrated the transactional nature of the relationship between burnout and stressful occupational experiences suggesting that not only may stressful occupational experiences predispose individuals to experience burnout, but also that high burnout levels may predispose individuals to experience additional occupational stress. Finally, moderate to high levels of stability were demonstrated for burnout reports over the 7-month time interval, indicating that many school psychologists are chronically stressed on the job.
This field study examined the role of procedural justice on escapist coping at work, affective outcomes, and intentions to quit. Results indicated that even after controlling for problem-solving coping, escapist coping mediated the effects of procedural justice on job satisfaction. Further, lower job satisfaction and higher strain mediated the effects of escapist coping on intentions to turnover. Managerial implications and suggestions for future research are offered.
This article presents a social-psychological model of teacher stress and burnout which emphasizes the importance of teacher performance variables and cycles of teacher-student interactions that develop over time. The theoretical statements that serve as the basis of the framework proposed in this report have been extracted and refinedfrom the Teacher Performance-Motivation Theory (TP-M Theory), a data-based, grounded theory developed directlyfrom a study of public school teachers.
This investigation examined the usefulness of a phase model of burnout. Eight hundred and twenty-eight men and women in police work provided data using a questionnaire completed anonymously. Eight progressive phases of burnout were created using high and low divisions on the three subscales of the Maslach Burnout Inventory. Measures of work setting, experienced stress, and emotional and physical well-being were significantly related to progressive phases of burnout. Work and personal experience grew worse as burnout progressed through more advanced phases. Comparisons with other data revealed potential occupational and organizational differences in numbers of respondents in various phases of burnout.
A vast academic literature shows that personality significantly mediates and moderates relationships between environmental stress and the onset and progression of physical disease. In the psychological literature, several models have been proposed for such links between personality and disease. Most of these models focus on the role of stress resistance, induced hyperactivity, constitutional predispositions, and risk factors such as the voluntary or forced exposure to perilous circumstances. It will be argued that at this moment, more than ever, personality psychologists and health psychologists should pose the fundamental question ‘What units shall we employ?’. A multifactor approach is suggested that acknowledges the role of (i) environmental factors as well as (ii) the individual's personal resources. Examples will be given of how the adoption of an ecological perspective can provide the tools for studying conditional effects in personality and disease research. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
This study sought to find evidence for: (a) a relationship between increased levels of work-related social support and decreased burnout, (b) a relationship between personality traits and burnout, and (c) a significant interaction of social support and extraversion in relation to burnout. Seventy-six staff nurses and their supervisors at a private medical hospital participated as subjects. Two subscales of the Work Environment Scale measured social support. Personality was measured using an instrument known as PROSCAN, and Scale H of the 16PF. Burnout was measured by the Maslach Burnout Inventory. A strong negative correlation between work-related social support and burnout was found. Also, nurses whose supervisors received positive-feedback training showed significant reductions in emotional exhaustion, compared to those whose supervisors did not receive this training. Some dimensions of personality explained a significant amount of burnout. The study also provided further evidence of the interactive effect of social support and extraversion in relation to an emotional distress variable. That is, extraverted nurses required more work-related peer support than did introverts to avoid emotional exhaustion. Suggestions for further research are given.
The perception of stress is believed to result in negative consequences as a result of complex interactions among a number of variables. This study of a random sample of 234 male highway patrol officers examined the relationship among stress measures (perception of stress, report of daily hassles, and items unique to police work) and the specific consequences of stress (burnout, physical symptoms, and job dissatisfaction). Our hypothesis was that hardiness and neuroticism would moderate the relationship between stress and its consequences and that the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) would emerge as a significant predictor of the strain experienced. The two moderator variables we examined exerted clearer main effects, rather than moderating influences, on the outcome measures. The authors found that the PSS was an important and significant predictor of stress-induced consequences.
The construction of a new Personality-Stress Inventory is discussed, based on previous research and other types of inventory constructed on the same principles. Scores on the inventory divide people into six types, selectively prone to different types of disease. The instrument is administered twice, with six months intervening, and changes in the inventory scores are prognostic of the probability of contracting different diseases. Evidence is presented to show the validity of the questionnaire and the method used.
The antecedents and outcomes of feelings of job-related stress and personal achievement were studied in a large sample of consultant doctors working in Scotland. In a sample of 333 doctors it was found that a tendency to use emotion-oriented coping strategies and negative appraisals of organizational changes in the practice of medicine mediated the effect of the personality dimension of Neuroticism on reported job stress. Job stress levels predicted the degree of 'burnout' experienced by doctors, i.e. their tendencies to be emotionally exhausted by their work and to dehumanize patients. Higher clinical workloads were related to higher levels of stress but also to higher feelings of personal achievement. A substantial proportion of the variance in many of the variables in the stress model was accounted for by a general tendency to experience negative emotions, closely related to Neuroticism; this general factor appeared to be similar to the recently formulated concepts of 'negative affectivity' and 'somatopsychic distress'. The personality factors of Extraversion and Conscientiousness both contributed to positive feelings of personal achievement (N = 344); the effect of Extraversion was direct, whereas the effect of Conscientiousness was mediated by a tendency to use task-oriented coping strategies. Models of the processes of stress and personal achievement were tested for acceptability using the EQS Structural Equations Program. The implications of the models for transactional theories of stress are discussed.