Journal of Occupational Health Psychology最新文献

Recovery from work is important for promoting employees' well-being but little is known about which environments are most conducive for recovery. This article examines the relationship between recovery and experiencing nature and, thus, provides a link between recovery research and environmental psychology. In two studies, we drew on the effort-recovery model and proposed that contact with nature is associated with employees' recovery experiences and affective well-being. In Study 1, we theorized that appraising nature as esthetic is an underlying mechanism in the relationship between being in nature and recovery. Using an experience sampling approach with multisource data from self-reports and smartphone photos (N = 50, measurements = 411), we found that being in nature was indirectly related to recovery experiences (i.e., relaxation, detachment) and affective well-being (i.e., positive activation, serenity, low fatigue) via perceived attractiveness. In Study 2, we theorized that appreciative contact with nature (i.e., nature savoring) is linked to enhanced recovery and well-being. Using a randomized controlled trial (N = 66), we found that a nature-savoring intervention, compared to a waiting-list control group, had beneficial effects on recovery experiences and positive affective states. Overall, our results suggest that contact with nature is a prototypical setting for employees' recovery, and we discuss theoretical and practical implications of this finding for occupational health psychology. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

This study extends previous research on temporal dynamics and change processes of strain and work-related stressors by examining adaptive change in both emotional exhaustion and time pressure. Drawing on adaptation and the conservation of resource theories, we used latent growth and change score modeling to explore (a) whether employees adapt to emotional exhaustion over time and (b) how changes in the levels of emotional exhaustion and time pressure are related over time, considering their reciprocal relationship. Using data collected from 252 employees in a weekly diary study spanning 8 consecutive work weeks, our findings revealed that employees adapted to emotional exhaustion, as indicated by a negative relationship between previous levels of the construct with its change from 1 week to the next. This change was affected by the level of time pressure in the previous week, resulting in lower adaptive change in emotional exhaustion when time pressure was high, and vice versa. Specifically, time pressure had a positive effect on the change in emotional exhaustion, and emotional exhaustion had a positive effect on the change in time pressure, while the overall adaptive change process prevailed. This study contributes valuable insights into the temporal process of how time pressure relates to emotional exhaustion in a health-impairing manner (e.g., via reduced adaptation). The implications of our findings are discussed from the theoretical perspective of adaptation and resource loss, and potential directions for future research are proposed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

Military personnel are trained throughout their career for wartime, yet the expectation and the valence associated with being in combat differs quite extensively. Despite factors that could influence military personnel's perception of being exposed to combat, happenstance in combat theaters frequently results in experiencing combat even for those who would not necessarily expect to. Although the importance of expectations within the context of trauma has been evidenced in multiple contexts, combat expectancy has never been examined as having an influence in the trauma-posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) relationship. Based on stress-related theories that suggest expecting and valuing an event would act as a buffering agent, we introduce the concept of "positive-expectancy factors" (expectations of event, valence of the expected event) and argue that expectations and valence of events moderate the relationship between job demands (trauma exposure) and distress following combat (PTSD). Rooted in job resource demand, we test our hypothesis on a sample of Norwegian military personnel (N = 396) over four time points pre- to postdeployment to Afghanistan. Results support our hypothesis and reveal a buffering positive-expectancy interaction such that when experienced together, met expectations of an event (combat) and high event valence decrease PTSD. However, met expectations of combat, nor valence of combat by themselves, decrease PTSD. Results showed that military personnel who did not expect, nor hold valence for combat, were most at risk for PTSD if combat was experienced. We further discuss implications for high-risk occupations in military and civilian contexts. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

Based on the conservation of resources model we examined the trajectories of work-home conflict (WHC) for women and their partners in the context of the major life event of having a(nother) child and mothers' subsequent return to work. We further examined how these trajectories relate to both parents' mental health. In the context of a cohort study (the "DResdner Studie zu Elternschaft, Arbeit und Mentaler Gesundheit"-Dresden Study on Parenting, Work, and Mental Health), we examined 347 women and 223 men at three measurement points: during pregnancy (Time 1), 14 months after birth (Time 2), and 2 years after birth (Time 3; when all women had returned to work). We found three WHC profiles for women: (a) a low-WHC profile, (b) an average-WHC profile, and (c) a high-and-increasing-WHC profile. All profiles differed in their starting levels. Overall, women with a low-WHC profile reported the best mental health, while the other profiles showed poorer mental health. Partners of women with these latter profiles (b and c) reported comparable mental health, but partners of women with low-WHC profile reported partly poorer mental health. Similar patterns were found for subsamples of couples where the women had returned to work prior to Time 2 and a subsample of first-time parents. We conclude that high and average initial levels of WHC are required for the birth of a child to trigger a resource loss which manifests in worse mental health among women. We integrate the findings with respect to conservation of resources model theory and identify the advantages and limitations of the resource perspective in interpreting WHC trajectory outcomes. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

As the workplace becomes more team based, interpersonal relationships at work are a central topic that affects both employees and the organization. Despite ample evidence showing the detrimental effects of workplace ostracism on employees' health and productivity, why someone is ostracized by others at work warrants more research. Based on social comparison theory, we predict that task proactivity could be perceived negatively and can elicit ostracism from team members; this effect is dependent upon the boundary condition of team envy. Furthermore, perceived coworker ostracism explains why task proactivity may turn into production deviance. We tested these predictions based on data from 630 employees in 131 teams collected in various industries in China. The results showed that individual-level task proactivity positively predicted coworker ostracism perceived by the proactive employee, and this relationship was moderated by team envy. Task proactivity was indirectly and positively related to production deviance via perceived coworker ostracism, especially in teams with high levels of team envy. Based on these results, we suggest that proactive employees need to be aware of possible unexpected interpersonal consequences in the workplace, given that proactive work behaviors may elicit unwanted and unintended treatment from team members. Managers should monitor team contextual factors, which may affect the extent to which good soldiers turn into bad apples. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Healthy sleep is essential to employee well-being and productivity, but many modern workers do not obtain adequate sleep. Are technology-related changes to job design (i.e., computer use, sedentary work, nontraditional work schedules) related to long-term worsening of employee sleep health? The present study seeks to address this question using nationally representative data from the Midlife in the United States study, which includes detailed information on sleep duration, regularity, sleep onset latency, insomnia symptoms, napping, and daytime tiredness from full-time workers (N = 1,297) at two time points separated by approximately 10 years. Using latent transition analysis to consider how these sleep health dimensions co-occur, we identify three multidimensional sleep health phenotypes at both time points: good sleepers, catch-up sleepers, and insomnia sleepers. Sedentary work is linked to the insomnia sleeper phenotype. Nontraditional work schedules are linked to the catch-up sleeper phenotype. These findings test assumptions of modern models of job design regarding the impact of technology on employee sleep health and advance measurement of sleep health in the organizational sciences to be multidimensional and dynamic. Further, results point to specific sleep needs in the working adult population and identify potential points of intervention via job design. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Twenty years ago, Rotundo et al. (2001) meta-analyzed the gender differences in sexual harassment (SH) perception. They found an overall d of 0.30: Women are more likely than men to label certain behaviors as SH. Much has changed since then, including the increased social awareness and the prevalence of SH training. Given the prevalence of SH in the workplace and the importance of SH perception in SH research, we conducted a mixed-methods research program to explore possible changes in the gender gap. In Study 1 (k = 72, N = 27,767), we meta-analyzed the perceptual gender differences to compare with those in Rotundo et al. and examined several moderators of the differences. We found an overall mean d of 0.33, implying a similar gender gap in SH perception as 20 years ago, yet none of the moderators examined in this study showed significant results. In Study 2, we empirically examined gender differences in mean levels of SH perception using the same measurement scales used in two older studies and compared with the differences found in these two studies. We found higher levels of SH perception for both men and women, but no difference in the mean d between men and women, suggesting that no change over time in mean d does not mean no change in SH perception. The implications of our findings are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Research on employee perfectionism and its duality is shifting from a mere dispositional perspective to consider the state-like nature of this phenomenon. Despite recent findings identifying negative work experiences as antecedents of daily perfectionism, the role of positive experiences remains to be elaborated. Bridging the principles of trait activation and stress-as-offense-to-self theory, the present study examined the role of daily appreciation as a positive, self-affirming experience for the expression of daily perfectionistic cognitions at work and its implications for well-being (vigor, serenity) beyond the workday. We expected that the impulse of daily appreciation would carry over into vigor and serenity at bedtime and at the beginning of the next workday by triggering daily perfectionistic strivings and serving as a protective factor against daily perfectionistic concerns. Data from 170 employees who participated in a daily diary study over two consecutive working weeks were analyzed using multilevel mediation analyses (multilevel structural equation modeling). In support of our hypotheses and the idea of a butterfly effect, daily appreciation was indirectly related to serenity at bedtime and to vigor and serenity at the beginning of the next workday via daily perfectionistic cognitions. We discuss implications for supervisors and organizations and encourage scholars and practitioners alike not to underestimate the role of positive self-affirming experiences and personality dynamics at work. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

The high, and still rising, rate of loneliness is a threat to public health (Office of the Surgeon General, 2023), with negative mental and physical health consequences (e.g., Holt-Lunstad, 2021). Given that loneliness is a risk factor for poor mental health, efforts to address loneliness are urgently needed. Workplaces can facilitate an employee's social connection through supervisor support training, which can help mitigate loneliness. Among occupational groups, the military is at higher risk for mental health disorders, suicide, and loneliness (Fikretoglu et al., 2022; Naifeh et al., 2019). This study evaluated the efficacy of an evidence-based supportive-leadership training intervention targeting active-duty U.S. Army platoon leaders and targeting both proactive support behaviors that help bolster employee social connection and responsive support behaviors, including destigmatizing mental health. Ninety-nine platoon leaders (69.7% of eligible leaders) completed the 90-min training that consisted of both in-person and computer-based components. Using a cluster-randomized controlled trial design, intervention effects were tested using an intent-to-treat approach and revealed a significant effect, whereby loneliness of service members whose leaders were randomized to the intervention group (N = 118) was significantly reduced compared to loneliness reports for service members in the control group (N = 158). Additionally, service members with higher baseline loneliness were more strongly and positively impacted by the supervisor training, reporting higher levels of supportive behaviors from their leaders at 3 months postbaseline. In sum, these results suggest how workplaces, especially those that are considered high-risk occupations, and their leaders play a critical role in a national strategy to address Americans' well-being. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Physical exercise is widely recognized for its benefits to individuals' general health, yet its implications for in-role and extrarole job performance, especially on demanding workdays, have rarely been explored. This oversight is concerning as high work demands can deter employees from exercising when they are unaware that exercise can improve their job performance on demanding workdays. In this research, we draw on the effort-recovery model to propose that daily physical exercise not only promotes next-day well-being but also enhances next-day in-role job performance and extrarole organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) by fostering positive affect and work engagement the following day. Moreover, these benefits of daily physical exercise are more pronounced on days with high rather than low work demands. Results from two experience sampling studies generally support our hypotheses, revealing that daily physical exercise contributes to next-day well-being, both self- and leader-rated in-role job performance and self-rated, but not leader-rated, extrarole OCB, through the sequential mediation of next-morning positive affect and next-day work engagement. Furthermore, these benefits of physical exercise are more evident on days when employees face high overall work demands (Study 1) and in particular on days with high-hindrance demands but on days with low-challenge demands (Study 2). (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).