Thesis (M.A.)--Texas State University-San Marcos, 2007. / Vita. Appendices: leaves 57-61. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 62-67).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Tulsa, 1989. / Bibliography: leaves 55-59.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 2005. / Title from PDF title page screen. Includes bibliographical references (p. 172-186)

Thesis (Ph.D.)--McMaster University, 2004. / Advisor: Dr. Carolyn J. Rosenthal. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 206-230).

Thesis (M.A.)--Texas State University-San Marcos, 2007. / Vita. Appendices: leaves 57-61. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 62-67).

The Employment Equality (Age) Regulations were introduced in England and Wales in 2006, seeking to prohibit age discrimination in employment and vocational training. This thesis assesses whether the legislation adopted is an effective mechanism by which to address age discrimination in the workplace and achieve the dual but contradictory objectives of the European Union Framework Directive on Equal Treatment of achieving equal treatment between age cohorts whilst encouraging the active participation of older citizens in the workplace. The thesis sheds light on this hitherto unregulated suspect ground of discrimination by means of a quantitative and qualitative analysis of all employment tribunal judgments which relate to an age discrimination claim over a three and a half year period. This study shows that very few claimants were successful if their claim of age discrimination was considered by a tribunal and there was considerable inconsistency of implementation and interpretation of the legislation by individual tribunals. Employers have quickly developed defences against claims of age discrimination in order to maintain their freedom to contract and the imbalance between the two parties was particularly noticeable with claimant credibility often under scrutiny – a process claimants appeared unprepared for. Regional discrepancies were found in terms of success rates and compensation awards. A gender award gap was found in both overall compensation and injury to feelings awards, with women given smaller awards than men, whilst younger workers were given smaller awards than older workers. Legal representation made a substantial difference to success rates and compensation awards, but the majority of awards were low and many would not have covered legal costs. The low compensation awards do not provide an effective deterrent, as required by the Article 17 of the Directive. The legislation is particularly ineffective for those who claimed they had suffered multiple discrimination. Although an important first step in regulating ageist behaviour, the Regulations and the subsequent Equality Act 2010 will be unlikely to achieve the aims of the Directive as they provide little incentive for claimants to undertake the stressful process of making a claim under the legislation, which relies upon individual fault-finding.

Magister Artium - MA (Psychology) / Families in South Africa are faced with manifold hardships that negatively impact the family as a unit. However, there are a variety of protective factors that have been identified as meaningful resources that facilitates healing and growth within a family unit. The study aims to investigate whether age, gender, employment status and level of education significantly predicts family resilience. The study utilised secondary data compromised of (N=656) participants from a low socio-economic rural community in South Africa. Family resilience views the family as a functional system of which provides positive adaption to family members who have experienced stressful events. Walsh's key processes in family resilience is outlined, highlighting a multi-level developmental systems orientation. The study utilised a multiple regression analysis consisting of four predictor variables namely, age, gender, employment status and level of education to assess whether these variables predict high levels of family resilience. The model found that amongst the four predictor variable, only employment status significantly predicted family resilience.

It is estimated that by 2020, 25% of the US labor force will be aged 55 or older. Along with this demographic shift, Americans and employees in other industrialized nations are now working longer than before, either out of preference or financial necessity. Therefore, it is essential that we understand how to support employees so that they can continue working in a healthy, happy, and productive manner as they age. The construct of work ability (the extent to which people perceive they can meet the mental and physical demands of their jobs) has the potential to guide research and practice on how best to support employees throughout the lifespan. However, though studied extensively in the occupational health literature, work ability has only recently gained attention in the Industrial/Organizational Psychology and Occupational Health Psychology literatures. This study helps to further integrate work ability into our field and theoretically ground the construct using the Job Demands-Resources model (Demerouti, Bakker, Nachreiner, & Schaufeli, 2001). Specifically, this study examined psychosocial characteristics of the work environment (age diversity climate, team cohesion, organizational justice, and leader-member exchange) that were expected to buffer against the negative effects of increased age and poor health on work ability. The interaction between team cohesion and poor health had a significant effect on work ability. While the other hypothesized interaction relationships were unsupported, ancillary analyses showed that both team cohesion and age diversity climate do relate positively to work ability, even after controlling for age and health. These findings highlight the importance of a positive social work environment in supporting employees' work ability throughout the lifespan. Suggestions for future research include examining additional psychosocial predictors and behavioral outcomes of work ability, as well as conducting intervention studies aimed at increasing work ability by improving social aspects of the work environment.

As the workforce ages, enabling individuals to work effectively across the lifespan is critical for individuals, organizations, and societies. Put simply, societies and organizations are beginning to face a "new normal" in which people must continue working later in life. Investigations of work ability (WA), an individual's ability to meet the demands of their job, is a line of research that facilitates our understanding of the factors related to working successfully across the lifespan. Although research has established that WA is influenced by a range of organizational and personal factors and linked WA to retirement and disability, a number of gaps and underlying conceptual issues have limited the value of the WA research to the organizational sciences. Through a series of three studies -- a meta-analysis (Study 1a) with k = 247 studies and N = 312,987 individuals, a supplemental online data collection (Study 1b), a nurse sample (Study 2), and a healthcare sample (Study 3) -- this dissertation draws on the JD-R model to move the WA literature forward and advance WA theory within the organizational science literature. Study 1 provides a quantitative synthesis of the WA literature, establishes its nomological network, and provides a straightforward conceptual definition of WA. This synthesis provides a roadmap for researchers and practitioners by highlighting leverage points to promote WA across the lifespan. Second, these studies answer lingering questions regarding the concept of WA. In doing so, these studies provide a clear conceptual distinction between WA as measured by the Work Ability Index (WAI), which includes health-based questions, and measures of perceived WA (PWA), which are perceptions of WA as rated by individual. PWA measures performed similarly to the WAI in the vast majority of analyses, lending substantial support to the use of relatively simple PWA measures. Third, Study 1 and Study 2 provide evidence that PWA explains unique variance in organizational (e.g., engagement, burnout) and personal (e.g., disability intentions, health) correlates above and beyond the established constructs of perceived fit, general self-efficacy, and job self-efficacy. Fourth, Study 2 identified age discrimination as an important yet understudied antecedent of WA and showed that PWA can serve as a mediator between age discrimination and negative outcomes (e.g., lower life satisfaction and task performance). Finally, Study 3 showed that PWA is related to supervisor ratings of task and creative performance. Taken together, these three studies situate WA within the organizational literature and provide substantial evidence of the value of WA for meeting the challenges of an aging and age-diverse workforce.

As the baby boomer generation move inexorably towards retirement and the requirement for health care services increases, the supply of nurses available to provide care at the patient bedside is forecast to fall significantly short of demand. This thesis has explored the perspectives of midlife nurses, asking what it would take to keep them in bedside practice until retirement. These nurses have provided insights which offer employers of valuable senior nurses, suggestions for maximising their potential. Through the use of questionnaires and focus groups nurses aged 45 years and over were asked what the employer can do to ensure that they are able to continue to work at the patient bedside until they reach the age of retirement. The results of this research demonstrate a workforce of nurses who are passionate and committed to their profession, but feeling disillusioned and disempowered. The nursing environment has changed over the span of their career and they find the increased workload, together with increasing professional demands, too hard to cope with. They feel they have no control over their workload, their shift patterns, or the expectations of their patients and colleagues. They want their experience to be recognized but they do not want to have to prove competency; they want to have a voice but they are unwilling to pursue postgraduate education to learn how to become visible and emancipated.