Are older workers more active copers? Longitudinal effects of age‐contingent coping on strain at work

Summary This study addresses coping processes as explanation of age-related differences in strain experience. Based on the life-span theory of control, we posit that older workers employ more active problem-focused and more active emotion-focused coping strategies than younger workers, which should mediate age effects on strain at work. The correlation between age and passive avoidance coping, in contrast, is expected to be qualified by external resources such as job control. Hypotheses were tested in a two-wave panel study (8 months lag) with 634 workers (age range 16–65 years). Job demands were considered as control variables. As predicted, older as compared with younger workers reported more active problem-focused coping, which mediated age differences on strain in the longitudinal analysis. No mediation was found for active emotion-focused coping. Moreover, age-contingent effects of passive avoidance coping were moderated by job control. When job control was low, younger as compared with older workers reported more avoidance coping, which in turn decreased strain in the longitudinal analysis. Finally, reverse longitudinal effects of age-contingent strain on active problem-focused and active emotion-focused coping provide initial evidence for age-contingent resource spirals. Together, the results reveal specific strengths of older workers for stress management at work. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

[1]  Anja S Göritz,et al.  Individual payments as a longer-term incentive in online panels , 2008, Behavior research methods.

[2]  E. Skinner,et al.  Searching for the structure of coping: a review and critique of category systems for classifying ways of coping. , 2003, Psychological bulletin.

[3]  S. Robson,et al.  Stress and coping among older workers. , 2001, Work.

[4]  H. Gr.  Compensatory control in the regulation of human performance under stress and high workload; a cognitive-energetical framework. , 1997 .

[5]  G. Hertel,et al.  Age and work-related stress: a review and meta-analysis , 2013 .

[6]  Carol T. Kulik,et al.  Aging Populations and Management , 2014 .

[7]  Thomas W. H. Ng,et al.  THE RELATIONSHIPS OF AGE WITH JOB ATTITUDES: A META‐ANALYSIS , 2010 .

[8]  Tuija Muhonen,et al.  The role of gender and job level in coping with occupational stress , 2004 .

[9]  G. Labouvie-vief,et al.  Emotions and Self-Regulation: A Life Span View , 1989 .

[10]  Deborah J. Rumsey,et al.  Individuals without jobs: An empirical study of job-seeking behavior and reemployment , 1996 .

[11]  W. Schaufeli,et al.  Does Distraction Facilitate Problem-focused Coping with Job Stress? A 1 year Longitudinal Study , 2007, Journal of Behavioral Medicine.

[12]  M. Lieberman,et al.  The stress process. , 1981, Journal of health and social behavior.

[13]  Paul E. Spector,et al.  Age differences in coping and locus of control: a study of managerial stress in Hong Kong. , 2001, Psychology and aging.

[14]  Kristopher J Preacher,et al.  Addressing Moderated Mediation Hypotheses: Theory, Methods, and Prescriptions , 2007, Multivariate behavioral research.

[15]  A. Bakker,et al.  The job demands-resources model : state of the art , 2007 .

[16]  W. Fleeson,et al.  Developmental regulation before and after a developmental deadline: the sample case of "biological clock" for childbearing. , 2001, Psychology and aging.

[17]  Michael Frese,et al.  Maintaining a focus on opportunities at work: The interplay between age, job complexity, and the use of selection, optimization, and compensation strategies , 2011 .

[18]  Guido Hertel,et al.  The Munster Work Value Measure , 2013 .

[19]  P. Ackerman.  A theory of adult intellectual development: Process, personality, interests, and knowledge , 1996 .

[20]  Paul E. Spector,et al.  Methodological Urban Legends: The Misuse of Statistical Control Variables , 2011 .

[21]  L. Carstensen.  The Influence of a Sense of Time on Human Development , 2006, Science.

[22]  James D. Wright,et al.  Work Satisfaction and Age: Some Evidence for the ‘Job Change’ Hypothesis , 1978 .

[23]  Michael Frese,et al.  Remaining time and opportunities at work: Relationships between age, work characteristics, and occupational future time perspective. , 2009, Psychology and aging.

[24]  Kristopher J Preacher,et al.  Asymptotic and resampling strategies for assessing and comparing indirect effects in multiple mediator models , 2008, Behavior research methods.

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

[26]  Mark A. Griffin,et al.  Stress and well-being at work , 2011 .

[27]  M. Lawton,et al.  Dimensions of affective experience in three age groups. , 1992, Psychology and aging.

[28]  Richard Schulz,et al.  A motivational theory of life-span development. , 2010, Psychological review.

[29]  N. Semmer,et al.  Chronic job stressors and job control: Effects on event‐related coping success and well‐being , 2005 .

[30]  Thomas W. H. Ng,et al.  Evaluating Six Common Stereotypes About Older Workers with Meta‐Analytical Data , 2012 .

[31]  Scott B. MacKenzie,et al.  Working memory: theories, models, and controversies. , 2012, Annual review of psychology.

[32]  M. Lachman,et al.  Primary and secondary control strategies for managing health and financial stress across adulthood. , 2000, Psychology and aging.

[33]  Margie E. Lachman,et al.  The sense of control as a moderator of social class differences in health and well-being. , 1998 .

[34]  Stacy Campbell,et al.  Generational differences in psychological traits and their impact on the workplace , 2008 .

[35]  Stuart A. Kirk,et al.  Coping with job stress: Which strategies work best? , 1993 .

[36]  Paul E. Spector,et al.  An investigation of age-related factors in the age-job-satisfaction relationship. , 1987, Psychology and aging.

[37]  S. Jex,et al.  The impact of self-efficacy on stressor-strain relations: coping style as an explanatory mechanism. , 2001, The Journal of applied psychology.

[38]  J. Penley,et al.  The Association of Coping to Physical and Psychological Health Outcomes: A Meta-Analytic Review , 2002, Journal of Behavioral Medicine.

[39]  Guido Hertel,et al.  Facilitating age diversity in organizations – part I: challenging popular misbeliefs , 2013 .

[40]  P. Ackerman,et al.  Aging, Adult Development, and Work Motivation , 2004 .

[41]  S. Folkman,et al.  Age differences in stress and coping processes. , 1987, Psychology and aging.

[42]  Dieter Zapf,et al.  Emotion Work as a Source of Stress: The Concept and Development of an Instrument , 1999 .

[43]  C. Cooper,et al.  Do resources bolster coping and does coping buffer stress? An organizational study with longitudinal aspect and control for negative affectivity. , 1997, Journal of occupational health psychology.

[44]  N. Endler,et al.  Coping with coping assessment: A critical review , 1992 .

[45]  Terry A. Beehr,et al.  Occupational stress: Coping of police and their spouses , 1995 .

[46]  James H. Amirkhan,et al.  A factor analytically derived measure of coping: The Coping Strategy Indicator. , 1990 .

[47]  S. Charles.  Strength and vulnerability integration: a model of emotional well-being across adulthood. , 2010, Psychological bulletin.

[48]  Brenton M. Wiernik,et al.  Age and environmental sustainability: a meta-analysis , 2013 .

[49]  Wilmar B. Schaufeli,et al.  Active coping and need for control as moderators of the job demand-control model : effects on burnout , 1998 .

[50]  G. Hertel,et al.  Age differences in strain and emotional reactivity to stressors in professional careers. , 2011, Stress and health : journal of the International Society for the Investigation of Stress.

[51]  R. Schulz,et al.  A life-span theory of control. , 1995, Psychological review.

[52]  Thomas Rigotti,et al.  Irritation - ein Instrument zur Erfassung psychischer Beanspruchung im Arbeitskontext. Skalen- und Itemparameter aus 15 Studien , 2005 .

[53]  N. Endler,et al.  Multidimensional assessment of coping: a critical evaluation. , 1990, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[54]  Paul Jansen,et al.  Older workers motivation to continue to work: five meanings of age: A conceptual review , 2008 .

[55]  A. Bakker,et al.  Spillover and crossover of exhaustion and life satisfaction among dual-earner parents , 2005 .

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

[57]  A. Bakker,et al.  Job demands, job resources, and their relationship with burnout and engagement: a multi‐sample study , 2004 .

[58]  Richard S. Lazarus,et al.  Transactional theory and research on emotions and coping , 1987 .

[59]  M. Frese,et al.  Longitudinal studies in organizational stress research: a review of the literature with reference to methodological issues. , 1996, Journal of occupational health psychology.

[60]  S. Hobfoll.  Conservation of resources. A new attempt at conceptualizing stress. , 1989, The American psychologist.

[61]  G. Hertel,et al.  No time for compromises: Age as a moderator of the relation between needs–supply fit and job satisfaction , 2013 .

[62]  D. Zapf.  Stress-oriented Analysis of Computerized Office Work , 1993 .