|
Article Excerpt
In this paper, the Job Demand-Control (JDC) model is used to predict depression and work-to-family conflict for married lawyers working full-time. The objectives of this paper are: (1) to determine whether the JDC model applies to work-to-family conflict; (2) to incorporate domain-specific job demand and job control variables; and (3) to examine a wider array of different forms of social support. First, the JDC model also helps explain work-to-family conflict. Second, domain-specificity does not appear key to documenting the buffering effects for job control. Third, spouse's support of one's career has the strongest main effect on both depression and work-to-family conflict, whereas coworker support functions as a moderator of lawyers' job demands and has both buffering and amplifying effects. This paper closes by discussing the possible conditions under which members of support systems may transfer or exacerbate stress effects rather than alleviate them.
En este articulo, el modelo Demanda--Control de trabajo (DCT) es utilizado para predecir la depresion y el conflicto trabajo--familia de los abogados casados que trabajan a tiempo completo. Los objetivos de este articulo son : (1) determinar si el modelo DCT se aplica al conflicto trabajo--familia, (2) incorporar las variables especificas de este ambito respecto a las demandas de trabajo y el control en el trabajo; y (3) examinar un espectro mas amplio de diferentes formas de apoyo social. Primero, el modelo DCT ayuda tambien a explicar el conflicto trabajo--familia. Segundo, la especificidad de ambito no aparece como clave para documentarlos efectos amortiguadores de control en el trabajo. Tercero, el apoyo del conyuge tiene el efecto mas fuerte sobre la depresion y el conflicto trabajo--familia, mientras que el apoyo de colegas funciona como un moderador de las demandas de trabajo de los abogados que tiene efectos amortiguadores y amplificadores. Este articulo termina con una discusion sobre las condiciones posibles bajo las cuales los miembros del sistema de apoyo pueden transferir o exacerbar los efectos del estres en lugar de aliviarlos.
**********
Research on the legal profession suggests that excessive work demands and long hours are stressful conditions of work that contribute to significant numbers of lawyers feeling dissatisfied with their jobs and leaving the profession (Brockman, 1992; Hagan and Kay, 1995). The practice of law generally demands total commitment and expects lawyers to put work first so that they are endlessly available to work long hours around the clock at the office and at home (Wallace, 1997, 1999; Epstein et al., 1999; Hagan and Kay, 1995; Seron and Ferris, 1995). Because the literature on the legal profession clearly illustrates that law is a "greedy institution" (Coser, 1974), this paper focuses on work-related time pressures and demands that may negatively affect lawyers' well-being. Lawyers' well-being is examined in this study in terms of depression, which has been recognized as the most common form of psychological distress that is experienced by everyone at some time to some degree (Pearlin and Johnson, 1977; Ross and Mirowsky, 1989).
In examining potentially stressful working conditions, it bas been suggested that these conditions may have implications beyond an individual worker's well-being and that their effects can spill over into one's life at home (Westman, 2001) by contributing to work-to-family conflict. Work-to-family conflict occurs when work pressures are incompatible with family responsibilities. It is argued that excessive time pressures and demands may not only negatively affect lawyers' general well-being, but may also affect their ability to balance work and family (Wallace, 1999, 2001; Brockman, 1992; Hagan and Kay, 1995). Despite recognition of the dynamic interaction between various life domains, most researchers studying job stress limit their attention to what takes place in the work domain and neglect how work experiences can affect other areas, such as the family domain (Cooper, Dewe and O'Driscoll, 2001; Thoits, 1995). Throughout the literature on work-to-family conflict, however, it has been well established that long work hours, working evenings and weekends and inflexible schedules exacerbate work-family tensions (MacDermid et al., 1994). The first objective of this paper then is to determine whether the models applied to depression in the stress literature also apply to work-to-family conflict.
In examining married lawyers' depression and work-to-family conflict, hypotheses were derived from Karasek's (1979) model of job demands and job control, as well as from the social support literature. Job demands are a commonly studied form of stress and a key determinant of depression and work-to-family conflict (Cooper, Dewe and O'Driscoll, 2001). Job control and social support are the most frequently studied coping resources typically examined by those researching the stress process (Thoits, 1995). Coping resources include social and personal characteristics that individuals may draw upon in response to stressful conditions (Pearlin and Schooler, 1978). In applying Karasek's model to depression and work-to-family conflict, this paper also examines the extent to which job control and social support buffer the negative effects of excessive job demands experienced by practicing lawyers.
In doing so, the second objective of this paper is to incorporate domain-specific job control variables as potential coping resources. The literature, described in greater detail below, suggests that if both the job demand and the job control variables are located within the same specific domain, such as work time, it is more likely that having control over the time aspects of one's job will buffer the effects of the time demands. Given that lawyers comprise the sample of this study, time-based demands and time-based control are the focus of this analysis.
The third objective of this study is to examine a wider array of various forms of social support in order to determine whether one type is more effective in buffering job demands than is another. Social support is generally viewed as a coping strategy that may reduce or alleviate the effects of stressors on workers' well being either directly as a main effect or as a moderating "buffer" effect. Emotional support from coworkers and one's spouse is examined, and these sources of support have been found to be important coping resources in the stress literature. In addition, this paper proposes two forms of social support that are not often examined in the literature, namely organizational support and spouse's support of one's career.
KARASEK'S JOB DEMAND-CONTROL MODEL
The Job Demand-Control (JDC) model (Karasek, 1979) has been one of the most influential models of occupational stress for the last 25 years (see Van der Doef and Maes (1999) for a review). Also known as the strain model, the JDC model argues there are two key elements of the work environment that are important for understanding the job stress process: (1) the job demands placed on the worker; and (2) job control or how much discretion the worker has in attempting to meet these demands (Karasek, 1979). Job demands refer to workload stressors and have been typically examined in terms of time pressures, role conflict or role overload. Job control, also referred to as decision latitude, denotes a worker's ability to control his or her work activities.
Karasek (1979) suggests that high job demands are not problematic in and of themselves, but when these demands are accompanied by low decision-making power, this negatively affects workers' well being. The demands of the job may lead to negative psychological outcomes, such as depression, when the worker is constrained in how she or he may take action to reduce or cope with such potential stressors. A sense of control benefits individuals' well-being because it encourages active problem solving and allows them to change their environment in order to cope with the demands of the job (Ross and Mirowsky, 1989). Thus control is argued to be one possible coping strategy that workers may use to improve their well-being.
Two basic hypotheses may be drawn from the JDC model. First, the strain (main effect) hypothesis predicts that workers in what Karasek (1979) labels "high strain" jobs will experience less well-being as compared to workers in "low strain" jobs. "High strain" jobs are characterized by excessive work demands and workload and little job control. This hypothesis suggests that depression will result from the additive, independent effects of demands and control. Second, the buffer (interaction effect) hypothesis predicts that control has an interactive effect, such that control can moderate the effects of job demands on well-being. That is, having control over one's work can buffer the potentially negative effects of excessive job demands on worker health and well-being. Increased control reduces the effects of potential stressors because it provides workers the opportunity to adjust their work demands according to their needs, abilities and circumstances (Wall et al., 1996). The crucial issue for the second hypothesis then, is not whether having high demands and low control has a negative effect on worker well-being, but whether there is an interaction between the two.
There has been considerable empirical support for the strain hypothesis where working in a demanding job and having little control over one's job are associated with lower job satisfaction, lower psychological well-being, more job-related distress and greater work-to-family conflict. The results in the literature are less consistent in regards to the buffering, or moderating, effects of job control on the relationship between demands and psychological well-being (Van der Doef and Maes, 1999). Some suggest these inconsistent findings are because the arguments have not been tested with the proper statistical techniques (i.e., they failed to test for statistical interactions) or that the measures are not valid indicators of the model's constructs (Beehr et al., 2001; Fox, Dwyer and Ganster, 1993). Wall et al. (1996) argue convincingly and demonstrate empirically that the commonly documented failure to find empirical support for the buffer hypotheses likely results from the inadequate operationalization of control where the measures are poor reflections of the intended theoretical construct. It is also proposed that buffering effects may be expected when the specific type of control corresponds more closely to the specific demands of the job (Kushnir and Melamed, 1991). That is, control over one's hours may be more effective in buffering the effects of working long hours than merely having general discretion in one's job or life. As indicated above, one objective of this paper is to include job demand and job control variables that are domain-specific, which may provide a more valid test of the JDC hypotheses. That is, they are both work time-based because they relate to time pressures (demands) and control over one's work time.
As mentioned above, Karasek's original model is typically limited to the prediction of stress in the workplace and worker well-being. It is proposed here that his model should be applicable to work-to-family conflict because the central arguments and predictors are consistent with those in the literature examining how the work domain interferes with the family domain. More specifically, it seems reasonable to expect that the extent to which work conflicts with family will be positively related to one's work demands and negatively related to the amount of control workers have over their work demands.
Several studies support the application of the JDC model to work-to-family conflict. For example, Voyandoff (1988) found that perceived control over one's work schedule and job demands buffered some of the relationships between work role characteristics (e.g., workload pressure, working a non-day or weekend shift) and work-family conflict. Duxbury, Higgins and Lee (1994) made arguments similar to the ones proposed here and found empirical support for their application of Karasek's model to work-to-family conflict. For example, they found that those with low perceived control over their life had significantly higher levels of interference from work to family. Neither...
|
