Social effects of diazepam use: A longitudinal field study

A longitudinal panel study examined the effects of actual use of diazepam (ValiumR) on subjective reports of life quality, affect, performance, stress, social support, control, coping and other variables related to mental health. Standardized interviews were conducted with 675 persons from the Detroit Metropolitan Area. Based on prescription records, diazepam users and nonusers were selected to represent a variety of sociodemographic characteristics rather than to be a completely random sample. Significant others in work and in personal life were also interviewed. Four interviews took place, one approximately every 6 weeks. Testing for social effects was conducted by within- and accross-person analyses of 367 respondents who reported taking the medication at some time during the study and by comparisons with 308 respondents who did not report taking Valium. Users of Valium tended to take less Valium than prescribed. They also reported consuming less alcohol when using Valium than at other times and less than non-Valium users. Although there was a modest, positive cross-sectional relation between Valium use and distress, numerous multivariate analyses controlling for levels of stress and health indicated no notable effects of Valium use on any of the social or psychological indicators, including anxiety. Several interpretations of the results are examined including the possibility that the effects of Valium use were short-lived rather than long-term and that Valium may have been taken in anticipation of anxiety rather than after its occurrence.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/25927/1/0000490.pd

When job performance is all relative: how family motivation energizes effort and compensates for intrinsic motivation

Supporting one's family is a major reason why many people work, yet surprisingly little research has examined the implications of family motivation. Drawing on theories of prosocial motivation and action identification, we propose that family motivation increases job performance by enhancing energy and reducing stress, and it is especially important when intrinsic motivation is lacking. Survey and diary data collected across multiple time points in a Mexican maquiladora generally support our model. Specifically, we find that family motivation enhances job performance when intrinsic motivation is low—in part by providing energy, but not by reducing stress. We conclude that supporting a family provides a powerful source of motivation that can boost performance in the workplace, offering meaningful implications for research on motivation and the dynamics of work and family engagement

Job Stressors, Strains, Job Performance, Social Support, And Social Conflict: Causal Relationships In A Four-wave Longitudinal Panel Study (structural Model, Health, Work).

This study examined causal relationships among job stressors, psychological strains, and job performance, as well as main and interaction effects of social support and social conflict. The 281 respondents were a demographically and organizationally heterogeneous group from the Detroit area, who were employed during the study. They were given four structured in-home interviews, approximately six weeks apart, over a period of eighteen weeks. Interviews were also conducted with a significant other, nominated by the respondents, from each respondent's work life. Stressors examined were role ambiguity, role conflict, and job insecurity. Strains were job dissatisfaction, anxiety/depression, anger, and health dissatisfaction. Technical and social aspects of respondents' job performance were measured separately, and each was evaluated by primary respondents and their coworker. Measures of social support and social conflict asked respondents to think of some one person from whom they received each of several aspects of support and conflict. The primary analytic tools were lagged correlational analyses (similar to cross-lagged panel analyses) and structural equation models. Lagged correlations showed: (a) little evidence of causal directions, and (b) concurrent relationships were stronger than lagged relationships, which diminished over time. Sixty-four structural models of stressors, strains, and job performance at each of the four timepoints were examined. Final models included causal effects of stressors on strains, stressors on performance, performance on stressors, strains on performance, and performance on strains. Models with reciprocal effects met with limited success. In general, stressors increased strains and decreased performance. Effects of performance on stressors varied. Effects of strains on performance and vice-versa were zero. The strongest effects were concurrent. Lagged effects diminished over time, and were generally indirect, due mainly to concurrent effects plus the effects of variables on themselves at later timepoints. All relationships were found to be linear. Social support was positively related to performance, and negatively related to stressors and strains; the opposite was found for social conflict. Little evidence was found for moderating effects of social support. Minimal evidence suggested social conflict increased the positive relationships between stressors and strains and the negative relationships between strains and performance. The literature review includes meta-analyses of the relationships of role stressors to job satisfaction and job performance. Hypotheses and results are discussed in light of theories of expectancy and information-processing, and emphasize the complexities of behavioral, affective, and cognitive processes.Ph.D.Occupational psychologyPsychologyUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/127738/2/8520851.pd

Work Role Ambiguity, Job Satisfaction, and Job Performance: Meta-Analyses and Review

Formal meta-analytic methods were used to examine studies of two primary correlates of work role ambiguity, (a) job satisfaction (global and intrinsic) and (b) job performance (self- and independently evaluated). 88 studies were examined, 39 of which were included in the meta-analyses. Results suggest role ambiguity is significantly and negatively related to both satisfaction and performance but very weakly to the latter. Also, true variance in correlations exists across studies, suggesting that the effects of role ambiguity vary depending upon other variables. Results are consistent with previous research and suggest that role ambiguity is a valid construct in organizational research and is usually associated with lower job satisfaction. The primary sources used in the meta-analysis are included. </jats:p

Relationship of Job Stressors to Job Performance: Linear or an Inverted-U?

This study evaluated the potential positive effects of stressors on job performance by examining the shape of the relation between stressors and job performance. The 281 respondents were a demographically and organizationally heterogeneous group from the Detroit area, who were employed during the study. They were given four structured in-home interviews, approximately 6 weeks apart, over a period of 18 weeks. Interviews were also conducted with a significant other, nominated by each respondent from work life. Stressors examined were role ambiguity, role conflict, and job insecurity. Strains, also examined as potential stressors, were job dissatisfaction, anxiety, depression, and anger. Technical and social aspects of respondents' job performance were measured separately, as were absenteeism and tardiness. All zero-order Pearson correlations were either statistically significant and in predicted directions or essentially zero. All relationships were monotonic, suggesting that, for these stressors, their optimal amounts are generally zero. Results are discussed in terms of arousal and activation, information-processing, and expectancy theory. </jats:p