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Item The effects of occupational stress on the family in five occupations : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology at Massey University(Massey University, 1983) Voges, Kevin E.An experimental study was conducted which investigated the effects of various sources of occupational stressors, life event stressors, and housework stressors on a number of criterion variables assessing the levels of family disruption, marital stress, marital communication, and psychological health. In addition, the moderating effects of both social support mechanisms and the personality construct of locus of control were investigated. An extension of the design included comparing the results of this investigation across five occupational groups, sampling the occupational categories of professional (represented by barristers and solicitors), intermediate non-manual (represented by primary school teachers and insurance salesmen), skilled non-manual (represented by ambulance officers), and semi-skilled non-manual (represented by prison officers). In addition, the levels of effects on the four criterion variables were assessed from two viewpoints, that of the husband's and that of the wife's. A number of reviews were made, covering theoretical issues concerning the type of model proposed, a discussion of various concepts of the term stress, an analysis of sources of occupational stress, a discussion of two moderators of the effects of stress, and a comprehensive review of previous studies investigating the effects of stress on the family. The first stage of the analysis of the results utilized analysis of variance and multiple regression to compare the occupational groups across the various measures, and to investigate the relationship between the occupational and life event stressors and the various criterion variables for each occupational group separately. The results obtained for the comparisons of occupational groups suggested that prison officers perceived their job as being more stressful than did the other occupational groups, on four of the dimensions, those of role conflict, role ambiguity, work underload, and co-worker conflict. In addition, the results indicated that prison officers were consistently high in their assessment of the impact of their occupation on the family. As well, a comparison of moderator variables across the occupational groups showed significant differences in three of the social support variables. These were support by supervisor, co-workers and friends. Support, by co-workers and support by friends tended to be similar for all groups, suggesting that the job incumbents may see these two as basically the same. For the personality measure of locus of control, the results showed that prison officers tended towards external orientation and insurance salesmen tended towards internal orientation. For the investigation of the relationship between the stressors and the criterion variables, the overall pattern suggested that job qualities (work overload, work underload) and organizational role (role conflict, role ambiguity) were important stressors effecting marital relationships. For the level of impact on the family, the stressor variable assessing the lack of free time as a result of work was most important. Within these broad statements of results however, many specific findings were indicated, showing clear differences in effects across the various occupational groups. For example, prison officers perceived a higher impact on the family from their job, in comparison with the other occupational groups studied. The second stage of the analysis of results used multiple regression to investigate the interaction between all the variables in the design for all the occupational groups combined. Both the stressor and the moderator variables were considered as predictor variables in the regression analysis, with the criterion variables corresponding to the various effects of stress measures. Differences in the effects of various stressors and moderators were obtained, and clear indications of overlap between the husband's and wife's stressors were found. For example, the stressor category of the wife's stresses of housework was found to have significant adverse effects on the level of a number of the husband's criterion variables. Finally, the results obtained clearly showed the importance of assessing stress from a number of areas, including both the husband's and wife's occupation and the wife's housework. In addition, the importance of moderator variables, especially in the area of social support, was clearly shown. The value of measuring a number of stress sources and moderators was demonstrated by the significant increases in the levels of explained variance over those usually obtained in research of this nature.Item Suicidal ideation in a non-clinical sample : cross-sectional and longitudinal relationships with minor stressors, depression, hopelessness and coping behaviour : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology at Massey University(Massey University, 1994) Beaumont, Graeme Rex; Beaumont, Graeme RexThe intention of this study was to gain a greater understanding of the way minor stressors, depression, hopelessness and coping behaviour relate to suicidal ideation in a non-clinical sample. Little is known about the mechanisms through which minor stressors impact on suicidal ideation. This study examined the roles of depression and hopelessness as potential mechanisms through which minor stressors could influence suicidal ideation. The way a person copes with stress affects health outcomes but this has yet to be demonstrated with suicidal ideation. This study examined the influence coping behaviour has on the relationship between minor stressors and suicidal ideation. The mechanisms through which coping behaviour impacts on suicidal ideation are largely unknown. Therefore, the possibility that coping behaviour interacts with minor stressors to influence depression and hopelessness and thus suicidal ideation was investigated. The use of prospective research designs in the study of suicidal ideation is rare, but longitudinal validation of cross-sectional findings is important in furthering our understanding. This study also examined whether the hypothesised relationships between current suicidal ideation and minor stressors, depression, hopelessness and coping behaviour extended to the prediction of further suicidal ideation. The subjects were 402 undergraduate university students who volunteered to complete measures of suicidal ideation, minor stressors, depression, hopelessness and coping behaviour on two occasions five months apart. The results showed that minor stressors, depression, hopelessness and emotion-focused coping were all correlated with suicidal ideation. Depression and hopelessness, however, were the best predictors of suicidal ideation. Depression was a better predictor than hopelessness, and also mediated the relationship between minor stressors and suicidal ideation. Emotion-focused coping interacted with minor stressors to modify their relationship with suicidal ideation and depression. In both cases the greater use of emotion-focused coping to deal with high levels of stressors, was associated with higher levels of suicidal ideation and depression. The findings for current suicidal ideation generally did not extend to the prediction of further suicidal ideation. Prior suicidal ideation proved to be the best predictor of later suicidal ideation. Concurrent levels of minor stressors, depression, hopelessness and coping behaviour were better predictors of further suicidal ideation than were their prior levels. The results suggest that depression is more important than hopelessness in predicting current suicidal ideation in non-clinical samples. Depression is the mechanism through which minor stressors influence current suicidal ideation and coping behaviour impacts on suicidal ideation through its influence on the relationship between minor stressors and depression. Further suicidal ideation appears to be influenced more by the concurrent states of minor stressors, depression, hopelessness and coping behaviour, than by their prior states. The implications of these results are discussed in relation to the development of an interactive model of suicidal ideation, and suggestions for future research are made.