Social Psychological Correlates Of Occupational Conditio

该项目调查了社会环境条件如何影响老年人的心理功能。它测试了一些假设，即随着年龄的增长，社会结构决定的环境条件（如复杂性）如何影响认知功能、自主的自我导向取向、一个人对自己和自己所处环境的感受以及身心健康。这些数据来自一项三波纵向调查，该调查基于美国工人及其妻子的代表性样本。调查波发生在1964年、1974年和1994年。利用1994年第三波访谈和结构方程模型（SEM）的数据，我们测试了早期的研究结果，即自我导向的职业条件增加智力功能和自我导向的方向举行时，受访者20岁以上。结果证实，即使在生命的后期，工作的自我导向性仍然会影响智力功能和自我导向性。这些心理特征反过来又影响了社会结构地位，从而增加了弱势群体和弱势群体之间的差距。从社会学的角度来看，研究结果表明，一个社会的工人的职业自我导向可能会影响其社会规范，价值观和生产模式。 今年，我们不仅研究了有偿工作的影响，还调查了家务劳动的复杂性与智力灵活性和自尊之间的关系。纵向交互效应SEM分析显示，对于男性和女性来说，参与更复杂的家务劳动会增加智力灵活性。对于女性来说，复杂的家务劳动也会增加自信，减少自我贬低。对于男性来说，复杂的家务劳动与自信心下降有关。这一结果与其他类型的环境复杂性对智力功能的影响的研究结果一致，也与当前的自尊理论一致。 我们还研究了在财务压力的背景下，社会经济地位（SES），控制信念，和两种应对方式（以问题为中心v.以情绪为中心）之间的关系。我们假设，来自较低社会经济地位阶层的个人不太可能从事以问题为中心的应对，因为个人控制感水平下降。我们的研究结果支持这一假设：较低的SES与更多地使用以情绪为中心的财务应对和较少使用更有效的以问题为中心的财务应对相关。因为当人们认为自己几乎没有控制权时，使用以问题为中心的财务应对方式的可能性就会显著降低--这是社会经济地位较低的人的一个特征？社会经济地位较低的人不仅财力较少，而且由于他们在处理所面临的财务压力时采取的应对策略不那么有效，他们也处于双重不利地位。

This project investigated how socio-environmental conditions affect the psychological functioning of the elderly. It tested hypotheses about how, as one grows older, social-structurally determined environmental conditions such as complexity affect cognitive functioning, autonomous self-directed orientations and one's feelings about oneself and one's circumstances, as well as mental and physical health. The data came from a three wave longitudinal survey based on a representative sample of American working men and their wives. The survey waves took place in 1964, 1974 and 1994. Using data based on the 1994 third wave interviews and structural equation modeling (SEM), we tested whether earlier findings that self-directed occupational conditions increased intellectual functioning and self-directed orientations hold when the respondents were twenty years older. The results confirmed that even late in life self-directedness of work continued to affect intellectual functioning and self-directedness of orientation. These psychological characteristics, in turn, affected social-structural position in ways that increase disparities between advantaged and disadvantaged. From a sociological perspective, the findings suggest that the occupational self-directedness of a society's workers may affect its social norms, values and modes of production. This year we went beyond examining the effects of paid work by investigating the relationship between the complexity of household work and both intellectual flexibility and self-esteem. Longitudinal reciprocal-effects SEM analyses revealed that for both men and women, participating in more complex household work leads to increased intellectual flexibility. For women, complex household work also increased self-confidence and decreased self-deprecation. For men, complex household work is associated with decreased self-confidence. The results are consistent with findings on the effects of other types of environmental complexity on intellectual functioning, and also with current theories of self-esteem. We also examined the relations among socioeconomic status (SES), control beliefs, and two coping styles (problem-focused v. emotion-focused) in the context of financial stress. We hypothesized that individuals from lower SES strata would be less likely to engage in problem-focused coping, because of decreased levels of perceived personal control. Our findings supported this hypothesis: lower SES is associated with greater use of emotion-focused financial coping and lesser use of more effective problem-focused financial coping. Because the likelihood of using problem focused financial coping is significantly lessened when people perceive themselves as having little control- a characteristic of lower SES individuals?those in lower SES positions, not only have fewer financial resources, they are also doubly disadvantaged because they use less effective coping strategies in dealing with the financial stresses they face.