Access to Categories of Experience and Mental Health in a Sample of Managers

Abstract

This study of 28 managers investigated the importance for mental health of Jahoda's (1982) five categories of experience, measured for both work and leisure. Each of the categories of experience of time structure, social contact, collective purpose, status, and activity correlated with at least one measure of mental health. Multiple regression analysis showed that collective purpose and status, in both work and leisure, had moderate to large β coefficients, indicative of their potential influence, for a range of measures of mental health, covering positive mental health and freedom from negative mental health. Analyses of Warr's (1987) nine “principal environmental influences” (PEI) also supported the importance of collective purpose and status. This showed that the PEI “valued social position,” which includes these two categories of experience, remained significantly associated with several measures of mental health. Analysis of the PEIs also showed that opportunity for use of existing skills in leisure, and variety in leisure, were significantly associated with several measures of mental health. The importance of valued social position and active leisure for the well‐being of managers is discussed.

Are workers in high-status jobs healthier than others? Assessing Jahoda's latent benefits of employment in two working populations

“…Jahoda's (1981Jahoda's ( , 1982Jahoda's ( , 1997 propositions have received empirical support in several cross-sectional studies, which demonstrated that employed persons have more access to the latent functions than unemployed persons and persons who are out of the labour force (Creed & Reynolds, 2001;Waters & Moore, 2002). The latent functions were also shown to be positively correlated with mental health (Creed & Macintyre, 2001;Haworth & Paterson, 1995;Wanberg, Griffiths, & Gavin, 1997;Waters & Moore, 2002), and recently conducted longitudinal studies support the assumption that these correlations reflect an underlying causal effect of the latent functions on mental health (Selenko, Batinic, & Paul, 2009).…”

Environmental Categories of Experience & Well-being: the Importance of Leisure

“…Downloaded by [Bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal] at 12:01 03 December 2014 rent well-being of the individual, but which, nevertheless, can produce high enjoyment, which can also be associated with a range of other positive subjective states and better psychological well-being (Csikszentmihalyi andCsikszentmihalyi, 1988, Clarke &Haworth, 1993).…”

“…Another study on the importance of ACE in work and leisure for mental health was undertaken on a sample of managers by Haworth & Paterson (1993). This showed that all of Jahoda's five categories of experience in both work and leisure correlated with at least one of a range of measures of psychological well-being.…”

Self-Esteem, Affectivity, and Deprivation: Predictors of Well-Being in the Unemployed

“…Until recently, research has largely examined the two theories independently and support has been found for both (e.g., Creed & Machin, 2002;Creed & Macintyre, 2001;Haworth & Paterson, 1995;Whelan, 1992). From studies that have integrated the theories, it appears that the manifest benefit, typically operationalised as financial strain or economic deprivation, is a better predictor than latent deprivation of well-being in unemployed samples (Brief et al, 1995;Creed & Macintyre, 2001).…”

“…The detrimental effects of unemployment on the psychological wellbeing of the unemployed have been firmly established in the literature (see Feather, 1990;Murphy & Athanasou, 1999;Winefield, 1995 for reviews). Theories of economic and latent deprivation, predominantly those of Jahoda (1982) and Fryer (1986), have been used by many researchers to explain the deterioration in well-being typically experienced by the unemployed (Brief, Konovsky, Goodwin, & Link, 1995;Creed & Evans, 2002;Creed & Macintyre, 2001;Creed, Muller, & Machin, 2001;Haworth & Paterson, 1995). Jahoda (1982) proposed that employment provides access to five important categories of experience, including time structure, activity, social contact, collective purpose, and status.…”