Homesickness,mood and self‐reported health

The present study focused on health status, mood, cognition, saliva cortisol, and social activities in homesick (N=80), homesick‐prone (N=152), recovered (N=48) and non‐homesick adult women (N=45). Self‐reported health and mood were decreased and cognitive functions were poorer in homesick and homesick‐prone subjects compared with non‐homesick and recovered persons. Cortisol levels, on the other hand, failed to differ among the four groups. Furthermore, homesick, homesick‐prone and recovered individuals reported more difficulties making friends, fear of heights, dislike of travelling alone, school phobia and less club membership in childhood compared to the non‐homesick. It is suggested that a personality‐linked vulnerability factor is responsible for making anxious individuals prone to develop homesickness. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Self‐focused attention and self‐monitoring influence on health and coping with stress

The issue of the presented study was to find relations between the elements of self‐focused attention, self‐monitoring and different styles of coping with stress and psychosomatic symptoms. The two factors of self‐focused attention must be considered: (1) the private self‐consciousness, the tendency to be aware of those aspects of one's own self which cannot be observed by others; (2) the public self‐consciousness, the tendency to be aware of the publicly displayed aspects of the self. The level of self‐monitoring determines the significance which a person attaches to indicators coming from his or her social surrounding while modifying and shaping his or her behaviour. The results indicate both similarities and differences within the scope of both constructs: self‐monitoring and self‐focused attention. The differences between the constructs in question also pertain to their relation with psychopathology. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Sleep: an important factor in stress‐health models

A growing body of literature supports the notion that psychological stress negatively impacts physical health. In parallel to this programme of stress/health investigations, researchers are demonstrating the deleterious health effects of poor sleep. The current study simultaneously examines the association of both stress and sleep with health. Two hundred and eighteen subjects completed an anonymous survey packet that included stress, sleep and health measures. Psychological stress (as assessed by both life‐events and by self‐perceived stress), daytime sleepiness and poor sleep quality, but not sleep quantity, were all negatively associated with health. A regression model that integrated both stress measures was a statistically significant predictor of health. Adding the sleep measures to the stress‐health model accounted for a statistically significantly greater proportion of the variance in health scores, with the stress + sleep model accounting for 39–56 per cent of the variance in health scores depending on the health measure used. These results suggest that studies of stress and health may benefit from the inclusion of sleep measures and that, from a practical standpoint, poor sleep might be best understood not simply as a sequela of psychological stress but rather as a factor that should be actively addressed as part of the treatment programme. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Work environment and changes in self‐rated health: a five year follow‐up study

A representative sample of 5001 Danish employees was followed for five years. The respondents were interviewed by telephone in 1990 and again in 1995. Social class, diseases, self‐rated health (SRH), and a number of psychosocial and other work environment factors were assessed in 1990, and SRH was measured again in 1995. We analyzed predictors of changes in SRH from 1990 to 1995. After control for age, gender, and disease, the following factors predicted worsening of SRH among respondents with good SRH in 1990: repetitive work, high psychological demands, low social support, high job insecurity, and high ergonomic exposures. After further control for social class, the ORs for some of these factors were reduced, but they all remained significant. Only one of the work environment factors, ergonomic exposures, predicted improvements in SRH among those respondents who had poor SRH in 1990. Many studies have shown that SRH is a powerful independent predictor for total mortality. This is the first study showing that a number of work environment factors predict worsening of SRH over time. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Optimism,self‐efficacy and information processing of threat‐ and well‐being‐related stimuli

The purpose of this study was to examine whether information bias associated with dispositional optimism and generalized self‐efficacy can account for the link between general expectations and well‐being. A modified Stroop task was used in this study. Our hypothesis was that individuals with high self‐efficacy expectations or dispositional optimism would show greater bias towards well‐being‐related stimuli, whereas individuals with low self‐efficacy or optimism would exhibit bias towards threat‐related stimuli. A secondary hypothesis was that both self‐efficacy and optimism would act as mediators of the latency, perceived distress relationship. One hundred and two undergraduate students participated in the study. After controlling for daily mood, the results showed that individuals high in optimism and self‐efficacy showed greater informational bias towards well‐being‐related stimuli. The low self‐efficacy group exhibited greater bias towards threat‐related stimuli. Also, consistent with our hypothesis, optimism and self‐efficacy mediated the relationship between the Stroop colour‐naming latencies and perceived distress. These findings suggest that associations, which refer to automatic processes, may form an additional way through which expectations are related to functioning. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Burnout and self‐employment: a cross‐cultural empirical study

This study examined the differences between full‐time self‐employed and organizationally employed individuals in Canada (n = 248) and Pakistan (n = 306) in terms of overall burnout and its three dimensions (emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and lack of accomplishment), turnover intentions and non‐work satisfaction. Data were collected by means of a structured questionnaire from Canadian employees in Montreal and Pakistani employees in Lahore. One‐way analysis of variance and multivariate analysis of variance were used to analyse the data. The self‐employed reported significantly higher overall burnout, emotional exhaustion, lack of accomplishment, non‐work satisfaction and turnover intention than the organizationally employed in both countries. No significant differences were found between self‐employed and organizationally employed in terms of depersonalization in both countries. Results are discussed in light of previous empirical evidence on self‐employment and the quality of work and non‐work life from cross‐cultural perspectives. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Applying a cognitive‐emotional model to nonsuicidal self‐injury

The recently proposed cognitive‐emotional model of nonsuicidal self‐injury (NSSI) draws on emotion regulation models and social cognitive theory to understand the onset, maintenance, and cessation of NSSI. We tested the prediction of the model that the relationship between emotional reactivity and NSSI is moderated by specific cognitions about self‐injury (i.e., self‐efficacy to resist NSSI, NSSI outcome expectancies), emotion regulation, and rumination. A sample of 647 university students aged 17–25 years (M = 19.92, SD = 1.78) completed self‐report measures of the constructs of interest. As expected, we found that emotional reactivity was positively related to NSSI, particularly for people who had weak self‐efficacy to resist NSSI. However, emotional reactivity was negatively related to NSSI for people who were more likely to use expressive suppression to regulate emotion. Implications for the theoretical understanding of NSSI are discussed.     

Social support,self‐efficacy and trauma in new recruits and experienced firefighters

This study compared new fire recruits in the first week of employment and following a 10‐week training period with a group of experienced firefighters. Results suggest that new firefighter recruits enter the fire service with considerable experience of exposure to critical events. Nevertheless, a significant linear relationship was found between years of experience and levels of traumatic stress and depression. Further, this study revealed that experienced firefighters had lower levels of social support and lower self‐efficacy than the new recruits. As these variables were associated with traumatic stress and depressive symptoms, it is concerning that these protective factors appear to diminish with time. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.