Faculty Time Expenditure Across Research, Teaching, and Service: Do Gender Differences Persist?

Faculty members are continually confronted with a multitude of activities among which they must divide their time. Prior research suggests that while men and women academics spend the same number of weekly hours working, women tend to expend more time on teaching and service relative to men while men expend more time on research relative to women. Based on cross-sectional survey data from a sample of 783 tenured or tenure-track faculty members from multiple universities, we examine gender differences in time spent in research, teaching, and university service. Regression analyses show that gender differences in time allocation continue to persist after controlling for work and family factors. More specifically, women report more time on teaching and university service than do men, while men report more time spent on research than do women. Results provide evidence that gendered differences in faculty time allocation are robust across time. Potential implications for policy are discussed.

Childhood psychological maltreatment and work-family conflict throughout adulthood: A test of self-concept and social mechanisms.

This study uses a life course stress and attachment framework to examine the relationship between childhood psychological maltreatment and adulthood work interference with family (WIF) and family interference with work (FIW). We analyze longitudinal survey data across 20 years collected in the Midlife Development in the United States (MIDUS) study (N = 307). We suggest childhood psychological maltreatment is associated with reduced perceptions of control (decreases in mastery, increases in perceived constraints) and social support (reduced supervisor and spouse support), which are then positively associated with WIF and FIW levels and increases over 20 years. Consistent with attachment theory, psychological maltreatment is associated with increased levels of WIF and FIW in adulthood through increased levels of perceived constraints and reduced levels of supervisor and spouse support. Results do not show support for life course stress proliferation ideas that suggest psychological maltreatment should be indirectly associated with escalating WIF and FIW over time. Our study illuminates novel developmental mechanisms that link childhood experiences with chronic WIF and FIW in adulthood. Our findings extend the known implications of psychological maltreatment to managing two central adulthood roles: work and family. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Understanding how family demands impair health behaviors in working sole mothers: The role of perceived control over leisure time.

Working sole mothers (i.e., nonpartnered women who work) may experience elevated family demands that impose barriers to pursuing health behaviors during their daily leisure time. We aimed to map the process through which evening family demands influence leisure-time health behaviors in this priority population of employees, in an effort to identify targets for intervention development and health disparity reduction. Conducting a 7-day daily survey study in a sample of 102 working sole mothers, we supported perceptions of control over leisure time as a key mechanism linking evening family demands to leisure-time exercise. Furthermore, we identified the individual difference of present focus (i.e., a tendency to focus on current experiences) as a key factor that alters how evening family demands affect control over leisure time, which ultimately mitigates the detrimental influence of these demands on evening exercise engagement. In contrast, we did not find evidence to support relationships of evening family demands with the health behaviors of leisure time consumption of alcohol or high sugar, high fat foods via control over leisure time. We discuss how our findings advance theory regarding how family demands influence health and inform practical efforts to reduce health disparities that working sole mothers face.

Longitudinal effects of transitioning into a first-time leadership position on wellbeing and self-concept.

Transitioning into leadership remains a distinct, common career experience that may have implications for employee health and wellbeing, yet these effects are not well understood. We draw upon role theory (role transitions and role expansion) to frame leadership as a dynamic career phenomenon with implications that change as individuals become socialized into their leadership role. This study adds clarity by focusing on changes over time and in response to the novel transition into leadership, and by exploring gender as a moderator of these relationships. We examine the impact of first-time leadership transitions on negative (tension, depression) and positive (emotional wellbeing, job satisfaction) indicators of wellbeing, and self-concept (self-esteem, locus of control). We used data collected every 1 to 2 years from 184 individuals (Youth Development Study Waves 12 through 19, Mortimer, 2011) to conduct two-level (time nested within person) discontinuous growth modeling. Results suggest taking on a leadership role is associated with tension at the time of transition, consistent with role theory and empirical data on macro role transitions. Over time, transitioning into a leadership role bolsters emotional wellbeing and self-esteem in a lasting way, consistent with role expansion propositions. Unexpectedly, men experienced a significant drop in self-esteem at the point of transition compared to women, but otherwise, there were no significant gender differences at the time of, or following, a leadership transition. We show transitioning into leadership is a time-sensitive double-edged sword, such that temporary tensions at the time of transition may pay off over following years in self-concept gains. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

"A blessing and a curse": Work loss during coronavirus lockdown on short-term health changes via threat and recovery.

The coronavirus pandemic resulted in national lockdown orders, followed by employment changes to reduce labor costs. We assess how health varied for hospitality workers due to the lockdown (i.e., comparing health a month before to a month after), employment change (i.e., comparing those with loss vs. no change), and employee response (i.e., more job threat vs. more personal recovery). Comparing pre- and post-lockdown surveys of 137 U.S. and U.K. hospitality employees, psychological health (i.e., negative and positive affect) worsened but physical health (i.e., symptoms and sleep) improved. We proposed those facing work loss (66% had reduced hours, furloughs, or layoffs) had more job threat but also more personal recovery (i.e., relaxation, mastery, exercise), resulting in opposing pathways to health. Results from a path analysis showed that work loss indirectly linked to higher psychological distress due to job threat, but to lower distress and fewer physical symptoms due to relaxation. Regardless of work loss, mastery (e.g., hobbies) was related to immediate changes in positive affect and sleep, while exercise did not have short-term health benefits. Further, recovery benefits from work loss were short-lived; only job threat carried the effect to psychological distress 2 months later. We offer quotes from the hospitality workers to contextualize the blessing and curse of work loss during the lockdown for these particularly vulnerable employees. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Capturing the underlying distribution in meta-analysis: Credibility and tolerance intervals.

Tolerance intervals provide a bracket intended to contain a percentage (e.g., 80%) of a population distribution given sample estimates of the mean and variance. In random-effects meta-analysis, tolerance intervals should contain researcher-specified proportions of underlying population effect sizes. Using Monte Carlo simulation, we investigated the coverage for five relevant tolerance interval estimators: the Schmidt-Hunter credibility intervals, a prediction interval, two content tolerance intervals adapted to meta-analysis, and a bootstrap tolerance interval. None of the intervals contained the desired percentage of coverage at the nominal rates in all conditions. However, the prediction worked well unless the number of primary studies was small (<30), and one of the content tolerance intervals approached nominal levels with small numbers (<20) of primary studies. The bootstrap tolerance interval achieved near nominal coverage if there were sufficient numbers of primary studies (30+) and large enough sample sizes (N ≅ 70) in the included primary studies, although it slightly exceeded nominal coverage with large numbers of large-sample primary studies. Next, we showed the results of applying the intervals to real data using a set of previously published analyses and provided suggestions for practice. Tolerance intervals incorporate error of estimation into the construction of proper brackets for fractions of population true effects. In many contexts, such intervals approach the desired nominal levels of coverage.

A cross-national meta-analytic examination of predictors and outcomes associated with work-family conflict.

Through the lens of boundary theory, we systematically examined cultural context as a moderator of relationships between work-family conflict and its key theoretical predictors (work/family hours and work/family demands) and outcomes (job satisfaction, family satisfaction, and life satisfaction). We used 2 different approaches to examine cultural variation in the strength of work-family conflict relationships: (a) individual cultural values (collectivism, power distance, uncertainty avoidance); and (b) regional cluster configurations (e.g., Eastern Europe, South Asia). Our meta-analytic investigation is based on data drawn from 332 studies (2,733 effect sizes) that represent 58 different countries. Consistent with prediction, results revealed that collectivism moderated WIF/FIW and satisfaction outcomes such that relationships were weaker in more collectivistic contexts than in less collectivistic contexts. Little evidence was found to support power distance or uncertainty avoidance as individual cultural moderators. Findings also indicated that work-family conflict relationships differ in strength as a function of regional clusters, lending support to the use of configural approaches to examine cross-cultural variation. Overall, our findings suggest that domain demands are a robust predictor of work-family conflict across countries and that affective correlates to work-family conflict meaningfully vary in strength as a function of cultural context. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Episodic work-family conflict and strain: A dynamic perspective.

A sizable body of research has established work-family conflict and its nomological network. Despite decades of research, we have yet to form a precise understanding of what happens when a conflict arises. The current research addresses this question using a growth modeling, episodic approach. We use stressor-strain and allostatic load theories to examine changes in daily patterns of psychological (fatigue, negative affect) and physiological (heart rate, blood pressure) strains that occur during and after a work-family conflict episode. We found some evidence for acute changes in psychological strain during and after work-to-family conflict episodes. Daily family-to-work conflict was associated with mixed reactions. State fatigue and heart rate decreased at the time of a family-to-work conflict, although state negative affect increased at the time of family-to-work conflict, and state fatigue increased more rapidly throughout the day after the second time family-to-work conflict was experienced. Additionally, we found evidence that state negative affect increases throughout the day as work-to-family conflict episodes accumulate. Daily family-to-work conflict accumulation was also associated with decreased fatigue, increased state negative affect, and increased systolic blood pressure. Lagged analyses showed some evidence that negative mood predicts work-family conflict occurrence within the next few hours. Implications for the theoretical relationship between work-family conflict and strain are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Challenge and hindrance stressors in relation to sleep.

RATIONALE: Research using the challenge-hindrance stressor framework shows hindrance stressors tend to have detrimental affective and work-related outcomes, whereas challenge stressors have relatively more salutary affective and work-related outcomes. The extent to which this pattern extends to health behaviors, such as sleep, is unknown. OBJECTIVE: The current study examines challenge and hindrance work stressors in relation to sleep quantity and quality. METHODS: We use survey data from the MIDUS II (Phase 1 and Phase 4) to test the relationship between self-reported challenge and hindrance stressors and assessments of sleep, including cross-sectional and prospective indicators of sleep quantity, sleep quality (sleep onset latency, sleep disturbance), and sleepiness. RESULTS: Hindrance stressors are associated with prospective sleep quantity, as well as cross-sectional and prospective sleep quality and sleepiness. Further, the pattern of results for sleep quality and sleepiness reflects the expected challenge-hindrance pattern, such that hindrance stressors are more strongly associated with poor sleep quality and sleepiness than are challenge stressors. The same challenge-hindrance pattern was not significant sleep quantity. Work hours and time lag generally did not moderate associations between work stressors and sleep. CONCLUSION: The challenge-hindrance pattern holds for sleep quality and sleepiness, but not sleep quantity. Relationships appear to be consistent across time and differences in work hours. Results have implications for expanding the challenge-hindrance stressor framework and underline the importance of distinguishing between different types of stressors and sleep dimensions.

Challenge and hindrance stressors and metabolic risk factors.

The current study investigates differential relationships between challenge and hindrance stressors and metabolic risk factors using data from the National Survey of Midlife Development in the United States (MIDUS II). Guided by the challenge-hindrance stressor model and the allostatic load model, we test two theoretically driven paths: a direct physiological path and an indirect path via health behaviors (i.e., high-risk eating, cigarette smoking, and alcohol consumption). Challenge stressors versus hindrance stressors were hypothesized to differentially predict health behaviors and metabolic risk factors. Results favor the health behavior-mediated pathway in comparison with the direct physiological pathway. High-risk food consumption served as a link between hindrance stressors and metabolic risk factors. Some evidence supported smoking as a link between hindrance stressors and metabolic risk factors, and alcohol consumption as a link between challenge stressors and metabolic risk factors. The pattern of findings supported the challenge-hindrance distinction, particularly in relation to health behaviors. By combining the challenge-hindrance and allostatic load literatures, our study theoretically and empirically extends knowledge of how work stressors relate to physiological outcomes. Moreover, we also extend the nomological network of challenge and hindrance stressors to behavioral and physiological outcomes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

How honest are the signals? A protocol for validating wearable sensors.

There is growing interest among organizational researchers in tapping into alternative sources of data beyond self-reports to provide a new avenue for measuring behavioral constructs. Use of alternative data sources such as wearable sensors is necessary for developing theory and enhancing organizational practice. Although wearable sensors are now commercially available, the veracity of the data they capture is largely unknown and mostly based on manufacturers' claims. The goal of this research is to test the validity and reliability of data captured by one such wearable badge (by Humanyze) in the context of structured meetings where all individuals wear a badge for the duration of the encounter. We developed a series of studies, each targeting a specific sensor of this badge that is relevant for structured meetings, and we make specific recommendations for badge data usage based on our validation results. We have incorporated the insights from our studies on a website that researchers can use to conduct validation tests for their badges, upload their data, and assess the validity of the data. We discuss this website in the corresponding studies.

A meta-analysis of work-family conflict and social support.

The relationship between social support and work-family conflict is well-established, but the notion that different forms, sources, and types of social support as well as contextual factors can alter this relationship has been relatively neglected. To address this limitation, the current study provides the most comprehensive and in-depth examination of the relationship between social support and work-family conflict to date. We conduct a meta-analysis based on 1021 effect sizes and 46 countries to dissect the social support and work-family conflict relationship. Using social support theory as a theoretical framework, we challenge the assumption that social support measures are interchangeable by comparing work/family support relationships with work-family conflict across different support forms (behavior, perceptions), sources (e.g., supervisor, coworker, spouse), types (instrumental, emotional), and national contexts (cultural values, economic factors). National context hypotheses use a strong inferences paradigm in which utility and value congruence theoretical perspectives are pitted against one another. Significant results concerning support source are in line with social support theory, indicating that broad sources of support are more strongly related to work-family conflict than are specific sources of support. In line with utility perspective from social support theory, culture and economic national context significantly moderate some of the relationships between work/family support and work interference with family, indicating that social support is most beneficial in contexts in which it is needed or perceived as useful. The results suggest that organizational support may be the most important source of support overall. (PsycINFO Database Record