Suicide risk is increased for previous suicide attempters, who may be vulnerable to exacerbating factors such as daily hassles; yet, individual-level, adaptive characteristics may ameliorate risk. We examined the influence of daily hassles on suicidal ideation and the moderating role of spiritual well-being and its subscales of religious and existential well-being. In our cross-sectional study, 148 African-American female suicide attempters were recruited from a large, urban hospital and completed the Survey of Recent Life Events, Spiritual Well-Being Scale, and Beck Scale for Suicide Ideation. Religious and existential well-being moderated the association between hassles and suicidal thoughts; this relationship was weaker for individuals with greater levels of spiritual well-being. Historically, spiritual beliefs have been important to the African-American community and their promotion may effectively prevent additional thoughts of suicide by attempters experiencing hassles of daily life.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Michigan, 1993.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Michigan, 1993.

En hög känsla av sammanhang (KASAM) har kopplats till flera positiva aspekter av livet, exempelvis god hälsa, hög livskvalité, bättre prestationer samt mindre psykisk ohälsa. Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka den relativt outforskade relationen mellan KASAM och hur studenter hanterar dagliga förtret, hur många dagliga förtret de rapporterar samt könsskillnader gällande dessa. Deltagare var 274 högskolestudenter från två högskolor i mellansverige, varav 60 var män. Data samlades in via en enkät som bestod av 3 bakgrundsfrågor, 64 frågor om dagliga förtret samt 29 frågor som mätte KASAM. Analysen bestod av två tvåvägs ANOVOR för oberoende mätningar. Resultatet visade att studenter med en högre KASAM både hanterar dagliga förtret bättre samt rapporterar färre dagliga förtret. Resultaten tyder även på att kvinnor rapporterar fler dagliga förtret än män, speciellt i den låga KASAM gruppen. Inga könsskillnader gällande KASAM och hantering av dagliga förtret hittades.

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U.S. working mothers experience frequent daily hassles, yet little is known about how working mothers have disproportionate abilities to handle stress. The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to determine the extent to which coping self-efficacy mediated the effect that cumulative daily hassles had on working mothers' health outcomes (i.e., physical functioning, role-physical, bodily pain, general health, vitality, social functioning, role-emotional, and mental health). The transactional model of stress and coping, social cognitive theory, and self-efficacy theory provided the theoretical foundations for this study. Daily hassles were used for this study as an additional theoretical approach for measuring stress. A total of 235 working mothers completed the Daily Hassles Scale, Coping Self-Efficacy Scale, and Short Form 36 version 2 (SF-36v2) on a secure online website. The respondents reported moderate confidence in their abilities to cope with life despite experiencing an average of 44 daily hassles per month. Simple regressions confirmed repeated exposure to daily hassles was significantly associated with reduced coping self-efficacy and health outcomes. Mediation with multiple regression analysis revealed that coping self-efficacy partially mediated the relationship between cumulative daily hassles and health outcomes, suggesting coping self-efficacy was a protective psychosocial factor for working mothers. This study contributes to positive social change by aiding practitioners in identifying protective psychosocial factors and helping working mothers to implement the findings with the intention of reducing daily hassles and improving health outcomes.

Thesis (Ph.D. (Industrial Psychology) )--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.

Internationally, as well as locally, the trend is for companies to use call centres as their preferred method of service delivery. The increase in the use of call centres as a service delivery mechanism thus provides many more employment opportunities. Within call centres, service is primarily delivered by frontline employees referred to as customer service representatives (CSRs). While nothing seems to stop the growth of call centres and the increase of employment opportunities within them, working in call centres is not necessarily experienced as pleasant. Working in a call centre is frequently seen as stressful and the work in such a centre can foster burnout. Burnout is considered to be a pathogenic construct. The first purpose of this study was to describe and investigate the contribution of six central characteristics (antecedents) of call centre work environments and their influence on burnout, affective commitment and turnover intentions. These characteristics were work overload; electronic performance monitoring; lack of career and promotion opportunities, lack of skill variety and emotional labour. An incidental sample of customer service representatives (N=146) was obtained from the inbound service call centre of a large financial company. AU six independent variables were found to be significantly related to the experience of burnout, affective commitment and turnover intentions. Multiple regression analysis made it possible to establish that work overload, lack of career and promotion opportunities and skill variety, and emotional labour were the most important predictors of burnout, whereas lack of career and promotion opportunities was the most significant predictors of both affective commitment and turnover intentions. Burnout had a direct effect on turnover intentions and was not mediated by affective commitment. One antecedent that is often associated with the development of burnout is daily hassles, but daily hassles as an antecedent of burnout in call centres has not been studied before. The second purpose of this study was to develop a short Call Centre Daily Hassle Diagnostic Questionnaire that could be used to identify the most common daily hassles that call centre agents experience in their working lives, both within the work environment and within their day-to-day personal lives, and to determine the relationship between it and burnout. A cross-sectional survey research design was used with an accidental sample (N=394) taken from a service and sales call centre. An exploratory factor analysis of the data resulted in a six-factor model of daily hassles within call centres that significantly predicted exhaustion. The factors were daily demands, continuous change, co-worker hassles, demotivating work environment, transportation hassles and inner concerns. In the third part of this research thesis there is a shift away from the pathogenic paradigm towards a more salutogenic/fortigenic paradigm. Very little previous research has been done on adult resilience. The purpose of the third study was to explore the concept of adult resilience and to identify and describe the protective and vulnerability factors that play a role in adult resilience. Through the use of an exploratory factor analysis, eight factors were identified that played a role in adult resilience. They were Confidence and Optimism, Positive Reinterpretation, Facing Adversity, Support, Determination, Negative Rumination, Religion and Helplessness. Based on the findings of this research, some practical recommendations were made for the management of call centres to reduce the development of burnout and turnover intentions, on how to utilise the Hassle-based Diagnostic Scale and on how to apply the Adult Resilience Indicator in the training and development of resilience. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Industrial Psychology) )--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.

Internationally, as well as locally, the trend is for companies to use call centres as their preferred method of service delivery. The increase in the use of call centres as a service delivery mechanism thus provides many more employment opportunities. Within call centres, service is primarily delivered by frontline employees referred to as customer service representatives (CSRs). While nothing seems to stop the growth of call centres and the increase of employment opportunities within them, working in call centres is not necessarily experienced as pleasant. Working in a call centre is frequently seen as stressful and the work in such a centre can foster burnout. Burnout is considered to be a pathogenic construct. The first purpose of this study was to describe and investigate the contribution of six central characteristics (antecedents) of call centre work environments and their influence on burnout, affective commitment and turnover intentions. These characteristics were work overload; electronic performance monitoring; lack of career and promotion opportunities, lack of skill variety and emotional labour. An incidental sample of customer service representatives (N=146) was obtained from the inbound service call centre of a large financial company. AU six independent variables were found to be significantly related to the experience of burnout, affective commitment and turnover intentions. Multiple regression analysis made it possible to establish that work overload, lack of career and promotion opportunities and skill variety, and emotional labour were the most important predictors of burnout, whereas lack of career and promotion opportunities was the most significant predictors of both affective commitment and turnover intentions. Burnout had a direct effect on turnover intentions and was not mediated by affective commitment. One antecedent that is often associated with the development of burnout is daily hassles, but daily hassles as an antecedent of burnout in call centres has not been studied before. The second purpose of this study was to develop a short Call Centre Daily Hassle Diagnostic Questionnaire that could be used to identify the most common daily hassles that call centre agents experience in their working lives, both within the work environment and within their day-to-day personal lives, and to determine the relationship between it and burnout. A cross-sectional survey research design was used with an accidental sample (N=394) taken from a service and sales call centre. An exploratory factor analysis of the data resulted in a six-factor model of daily hassles within call centres that significantly predicted exhaustion. The factors were daily demands, continuous change, co-worker hassles, demotivating work environment, transportation hassles and inner concerns. In the third part of this research thesis there is a shift away from the pathogenic paradigm towards a more salutogenic/fortigenic paradigm. Very little previous research has been done on adult resilience. The purpose of the third study was to explore the concept of adult resilience and to identify and describe the protective and vulnerability factors that play a role in adult resilience. Through the use of an exploratory factor analysis, eight factors were identified that played a role in adult resilience. They were Confidence and Optimism, Positive Reinterpretation, Facing Adversity, Support, Determination, Negative Rumination, Religion and Helplessness. Based on the findings of this research, some practical recommendations were made for the management of call centres to reduce the development of burnout and turnover intentions, on how to utilise the Hassle-based Diagnostic Scale and on how to apply the Adult Resilience Indicator in the training and development of resilience. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Industrial Psychology) )--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.

This study examines the impact of gender on the coping mechanisms employed to manage work-related stress. The aim of the investigation was to determine whether male and female professionals differ in terms of the coping mechanisms that they employ in managing work-related stress. In order to achieve this aim an assessment battery containing a Biographical Checklist, the Coping Checklist, the Hassles Scale and the Daily Uplifts Scale was distributed to a sample of professional men and women. The fmdings indicate that male and female professionals differ significantly in only two of the six coping mechanisms measured, namely social support and symptom management; that men and women do not differ significantly in terms of coping repertoire; and that women cope more effectively than their male counterparts with work-related· stress. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / M.A. (Industrial Psychology)