Journal of Occupational Health Psychology最新文献

Employees differ in their circadian preferences, which dictate the timing of activity and sleep during the day. Despite their relevance for daily fluctuations in energy and performance, research and practice indicate prevalent biases and misconceptions regarding circadian processes at work. Individuals seem to believe in the malleability of these circadian preferences, that earlier circadian preferences are associated with being an ideal worker, and that the morning is universally the best time for work. To systematically investigate this phenomenon, we introduce the concept of implicit theories on circadian processes at work (ITCP) to the literature and developed scales assessing three facets of ITCP: (a) the malleability facet, (b) the ideal worker facet, and (c) the time-of-day facet. Starting with construct and item development, we collected qualitative data from 141 employees (Study 1a) and quantitative data from 22 researchers (Study 1b). Next, we surveyed 1,249 participants (Studies 2-5) to establish the three-factor structure and excellent psychometric properties of the ITCP scales in both German and English. Additionally, we identified a range of personal predispositions associated with higher levels of ITCP (e.g., chronotype and workaholism) and, in turn, demonstrated that higher levels of ITCP are partly related to unfavorable individual outcomes. The findings particularly emphasize the undesirability of the ITCP ideal worker (for well-being and work-related outcomes) and the ITCP time-of-day (for sleep-related outcomes) facets. In conclusion, we hope to inspire research on circadian processes at work to finally reduce the lingering implicit theories surrounding these processes. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

Boundary theory posits boundary management tactics as specific behaviors. Yet, little is known about whether and why individuals use these tactics variably. Incorporating control theory and boundary theory, we conceptualized boundary management tactics intended to segment work from family (BMT) as dynamic, goal-directed behaviors adopted in response to a perceived work-family discrepancy (i.e., work-to-family conflict). Using 10-week weekly diary data (N = 247), we examined within-person variation in the use of multidimensional BMT to determine whether increased work-to-family conflict prompts greater future use of BMT and whether BMT subsequently relate to less work-to-family conflict. Aligned with theory, we found substantial within-person variability in BMT (31%). Physical, technological, and temporal tactics were used more often and in a relatively more routinized way than communication tactics. Results revealed that strain-based work-to-family conflict related to greater future use of temporal and physical tactics, with the strongest effect across a 1-week interval. Unexpectedly, overall BMT did not relate to later time- and strain-based work-to-family conflict, and temporal tactics related to more time-based work-to-family conflict in following weeks. This study offers more nuanced knowledge about the dynamic use of multidimensional BMT and lays a foundation for further research to advance a process-oriented understanding of work-family boundary management. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

Occupational accidents, injuries, and illnesses remain critical challenges for organizations, particularly in extreme contexts where unusual or atypical events occur. While organizational responses to extreme events have been widely studied, there is less research on how individuals appraise and respond to such events. This leaves us with insufficient evidence on the microfoundations of extreme events, including differences in how individuals perceive the intensity or severity of such events, as well as the implications for safety performance. Drawing on affective events theory, we conducted two quasiexperiments to understand how three distinct levels of exposure to extreme events affect safety performance. In Study 1, data from 292 Iranian male firefighters reveal a significant reduction in safety performance among employees experiencing high, rather than medium and low, exposure to extreme events. This reduction is mediated by heightened negative emotions and lower work engagement. Study 2 replicates these findings with data from 315 Iranian male seafarers and further examines the moderating role of self-emotion appraisal. We find that individuals with strong self-emotion appraisal experience reduced negative emotions confronted with high exposure to extreme events. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of our findings. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

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).