Effects of occupational future time perspective on managing stressful work situations

According to the socioemotional selectivity theory (SST; Carstensen, 2006), older adults perceive their future time as increasingly limited, which motivates them to focus more on emotional goals and prefer passive emotion‐focused strategies. This study aims to investigate the effect of occupational...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of psychology 2016-08, Vol.51 (4), p.261-268
Main Authors: Ho, Henry C. Y., Yeung, Dannii Y.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Aged
Clerical personnel
Emotions
Emotions - physiology
Employment
Female
Humans
Job stress
Male
Middle Aged
Occupational future time perspective
Occupational psychology
Occupational stress
Older people
Older workers
Problem solving
Problem Solving - physiology
Problem-solving strategies
Psychological distress
Psychological well being
Questionnaires
Stress, Psychological - psychology
Surveys and Questionnaires
Time Factors
Workplace - psychology
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:According to the socioemotional selectivity theory (SST; Carstensen, 2006), older adults perceive their future time as increasingly limited, which motivates them to focus more on emotional goals and prefer passive emotion‐focused strategies. This study aims to investigate the effect of occupational future time perspective (OFTP) on the use of problem‐solving strategies in stressful work situations and to examine the effectiveness of these strategies on psychological well‐being. A sample of 199 Chinese clerical workers responded to a structured questionnaire on problem‐solving strategy use in relation to hypothetical work scenarios. Results revealed that relative to those with limited OFTP, workers with expansive OFTP preferred problem‐focused and proactive strategies in both low‐ and high‐emotionally salient scenarios. Workers with limited OFTP consistently preferred passive strategies irrespective of emotional salience. OFTP moderated the effect of problem‐focused strategies on psychological distress. In particular, there was a significant negative relationship between problem‐focused strategies and psychological distress among workers with expansive OFTP, but such pattern of relationship was not observed among workers with limited OFTP. Findings of this study inform the training strategies employed by practitioners to fit the developmental goals of workers in order to maximise their strengths at work.
ISSN:0020-7594
1464-066X
DOI:10.1002/ijop.12144