abstract: Numerous psychosocial and health factors contribute to perceived stress, social support, and problem-solving coping relating to overall well-being and life satisfaction in older adults. The effect of social support and problem-solving coping, however, remains largely untested as potential moderators. The present study was conducted to test whether social support and problem- solving coping would moderate the relation between perceived stress and life satisfaction in older adults. First, I anticipated that stress will be negatively related to life satisfaction at low levels of social support, while at high social support; stress will be unrelated to life satisfaction. Second, I expected that with low problem- solving coping, stress will be negatively related to life satisfaction, whereas, at levels of high problem- solving coping, stress will be unrelated to life satisfaction. Using an experimental survey and interview design with hierarchical regression analyses, I found no support that social support would moderate the relation between stress and life satisfaction. I found support that problem-solving coping moderated the relation between stress and life satisfaction. For individuals who engage in higher levels of problem- solving coping, higher levels of stress predicted lower levels of life satisfaction. On the other hand, at lower levels of problem-solving coping, more stress predicted lower levels of life satisfaction. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Psychology 2017

En alltmer globaliserad och konkurrensutsatt ekonomi har de senaste decennierna krävt ökad flexibilitet på arbetsmarknaden. Tidigare forskning har uppmärksammat hur förändringarna påverkar anställdas attityder och välbefinnande i olika sektorer. Anställningsotrygghet, det vill säga oron över att förlora arbetet eller att arbetssituationen ska försämras, är ett väldokumenterat fenomen som visat sig ha negativ påverkan på psykisk hälsa. Få studier har dock undersökt anställningsotrygghet inom vård och omsorg. Syftet med föreliggande tvärsnittsstudie var att undersöka relationen mellan trygghet och otrygghet i anställningen, organisatorisk rättvisa samt copingstrategier för vård- och omsorgspersonal. Anställda inom kommunal vård och omsorg i Västerbotten (n = 205) besvarade en enkät om deras nuvarande anställning, arbetssituation och hur de hanterar problem kopplade till arbetet. Svarsfrekvensen uppskattades vara 12 %. Regressionsanalyserna visade att anställningstid minskar kvantitativ men inte kvalitativ anställningsotrygghet i vår data. Därtill fann vi ett negativt samband mellan anställningsotrygghet och organisatorisk rättvisa samt ett positivt samband mellan anställningsotrygghet och undvikande coping. Tvärtemot tidigare forskning fann studien inget samband mellan anställningstrygghet och problemlösande eller emotionsfokuserad coping. Sammantaget stödjer delar av resultatet tidigare forskning och belyser vikten av att studera anställningsotrygghet för yrkesgrupper med olika arbetsvillkor. / The labor market has changed dramatically during the last decades due to increased globalization and competition, and thus consequently increased the demands of flexibility. Thus, previous studies have examined the effects on employees’ attitudes and well-being in different sectors of the labor market. The negative impact of job insecurity – i.e worrying about potential job loss or loss of valued job features – on mental health is well established in the academic field of psychology. The purpose of the present thesis was therefore to investigate the relationship between job insecurity, organizational justice and coping mechanisms for health care workers in the public sector by using a cross-sectional study design. Municipality workers in Västerbotten (n = 205) answered a questionnaire concerning their current employment, work environment and how they cope with problems at work. The estimated response rate was 12 %. The regression analysis showed a statistically significant decrease of quantitative but not qualitative job insecurity in relation to job tenure. Furthermore, the results showed a negative correlation between job insecurity and organizational justice, and a positive correlation between job insecurity and avoidant coping. However, contrary to our hypothesis and previous studies no relationship was detected between job insecurity and problem-solving or emotion-focused coping. The results of this study partly supports the findings of previous research. Nevertheless it highlights the importance of research on job insecurity for employeesin different sectors with varying conditions.