Chronic and acute stressors among military personnel: do coping styles buffer their negative impact on health?

This study examined the moderating impact of positive and negative coping styles on the relationship of acute and chronic job stressors with self-reported health symptoms of 521 military personnel. The number of acute work-related events was associated with a high frequency of self-reported symptoms. Similarly, role ambiguity, overload, and lack of job stimulation were associated with increased symptoms. Only the negative coping styles (i.e., venting of negative emotions and denial/disengagement) were uniquely associated with symptoms. Only 5 of the 13 proposed Stressor x Coping interactions were significant, and they all involved the negative coping styles. That is, instead of alleviating the negative outcomes of work stressors, these coping styles were associated with high strain, regardless of the amount of stressor, and, in some cases, these coping styles exacerbated the negative effect of the stressor on the strain outcomes.

[1]  Peter G. van der Velden,et al.  Acute stress at work , 2009 .

[2]  David B. Balkin,et al.  Workplace Innovations in Large, Unionized Canadian Organizations , 2001 .

[3]  Mark H. Anshel,et al.  A Conceptual Model and Implications for Coping with Stressful Events in Police Work , 2000 .

[4]  A Steptoe,et al.  An investigation of coping strategies associated with job stress in teachers. , 1999, The British journal of educational psychology.

[5]  T. Begley,et al.  Coping strategies as predictors of employee distress and turnover after an organizational consolidation: A longitudinal analysis , 1998 .

[6]  J. Hurrell,et al.  Measuring job stressors and strains: where we have been, where we are, and where we need to go. , 1998, Journal of occupational health psychology.

[7]  M. Dollard,et al.  A test of the demand-control/support model of work stress in correctional officers. , 1998, Journal of occupational health psychology.

[8]  M. Robertson,et al.  Sources of acute stress and their appraisals and reappraisals among Australian police as a function of previous experience , 1997 .

[9]  Pårl Ulleberg,et al.  Job stress, social support, job satisfaction and absenteeism among offshore oil personnel , 1997 .

[10]  Steven L. Sauter,et al.  Organizational Risk Factors for Job Stress , 1995 .

[11]  C. Cooper,et al.  The role of coping in the stress-strain relationship among senior police officers , 1995 .

[12]  A. Spitzer,et al.  Coping use versus effectiveness as moderating the stress—strain relationship , 1994 .

[13]  F. Borgen,et al.  Dimensions of work appraisal: stress, strain, coping, job satisfaction, and negative affectivity , 1993 .

[14]  C. Judd,et al.  Statistical difficulties of detecting interactions and moderator effects. , 1993, Psychological bulletin.

[15]  R. Burke.  Work-family stress, conflict, coping, and burnout in police officers. , 1993 .

[16]  C. Cooper,et al.  Occupational Stress in Head Teachers: A National UK Study , 1993 .

[17]  J. Violanti.  Coping strategies among police recruits in a high-stress training environment. , 1992, The Journal of social psychology.

[18]  J. C. Latack,et al.  Coping with job stress: A conceptual evaluation framework for coping measures. , 1992 .

[19]  B C Amick,et al.  Structural determinants of the psychosocial work environment: introducing technology in the work stress framework. , 1991, Ergonomics.

[20]  M. Prout,et al.  Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: A Clinician's Guide , 1991 .

[21]  K. Parkes.  Coping, negative affectivity, and the work environment: additive and interactive predictors of mental health. , 1990, The Journal of applied psychology.

[22]  Julian Barling,et al.  Employment, Stress, And Family Functioning , 1990 .

[23]  Dov Eden,et al.  Acute and chronic job stress, strain, and vacation relief , 1990 .

[24]  D. McFarlin,et al.  Chronic occupational stressors, self-focused attention, and well-being: testing a cybernetic model of stress. , 1989, The Journal of applied psychology.

[25]  R. Ursano,et al.  The Impact of a Military Air Disaster on The Health of Assistance Workers: A Prospective Study , 1989, The Journal of nervous and mental disease.

[26]  Tim Newton,et al.  Occupational Stress and Coping with Stress: A Critique , 1989 .

[27]  C. Carver,et al.  Assessing coping strategies: a theoretically based approach. , 1989, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[28]  R. Turner,et al.  Stressful life events and depressive symptoms: disaggregating the effects of acute stressors and chronic strains. , 1988, Journal of health and social behavior.

[29]  Manuel Barrera,et al.  Distinctions between social support concepts, measures, and models , 1986 .

[30]  S. Folkman,et al.  Appraisal, coping, health status, and psychological symptoms. , 1986, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[31]  M. Evans.  A Monte Carlo study of the effects of correlated method variance in moderated multiple regression analysis , 1985 .

[32]  S. Folkman.  Personal control and stress and coping processes: a theoretical analysis. , 1984, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[33]  S. Brodsky.  Criminal Justice and Behavior , 1980 .

[34]  T. H. Holmes,et al.  The Social Readjustment Rating Scale. , 1967, Journal of psychosomatic research.

[35]  C. L. Cooper,et al.  Handbook of Work and Health Psychology , 2003 .

[36]  D. Harcourt,et al.  Same-day diagnosis of symptomatic breast problems: Psychological impact and coping strategies , 1999 .

[37]  B. Compas,et al.  Effortful and Involuntary Responses to Stress Implications for Coping with Chronic Stress , 1997 .

[38]  B. Gottlieb.  Conceptual and Measurement Issues in the Study of Coping with Chronic Stress , 1997 .

[39]  B. Gottlieb.  Coping with chronic stress. , 1997 .

[40]  Pascale Carayon,et al.  Chronic effect of job control, supervisory social support, and work pressure on office-worker stress. , 1995 .

[41]  P. Tyler,et al.  Stress in nurses: The effects of coping and social support , 1995 .

[42]  P. Perrewé,et al.  Occupational stress : a handbook , 1995 .

[43]  B. Jones,et al.  Perception of support from the organization in relation to work stress, satisfaction, and commitment. , 1995 .

[44]  S. Sauter,et al.  The changing face of work and stress. , 1995 .

[45]  Katharine R. Parkes,et al.  Personality and coping as moderators of work stress processes: Models, methods and measures , 1994 .

[46]  S. West,et al.  Multiple Regression: Testing and Interpreting Interactions. , 1994 .

[47]  Charles S. Carver,et al.  Situational coping and coping dispositions in a stressful transaction. , 1994, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[48]  B. Evans,et al.  General versus specific measures of occupational stress: An Australian police survey , 1993 .

[49]  Joseph J. Hurrell,et al.  The value of work, the risk of distress, and the power of prevention. , 1992 .

[50]  M. Appley,et al.  Dynamics of stress: Physiological, psychological, and social perspectives. , 1986 .

[51]  M. Frese.  Coping as a Moderator and Mediator between Stress at Work and Psychosomatic Complaints , 1986 .

[52]  J. Neter,et al.  Applied Linear Regression Models , 1983 .