Gender differences in the use of social support as a moderator of occupational stress

Abstract

Studies of the moderating effect of social support on the direct effects of occupational stressors have yielded conflicting results that have differed in direction and significance. These differences may have been due to the narrow range and/or poor quality of the measures used. Also, males and females may differ in their perceptions of stress sources and outcomes and their use of social support across stressors. This study used the well-validated Pressure Management Indicator (PMI) to measure social support and eight sources and nine outcomes of occupational stress in a sample of 204 Australian managers (55 per cent females, mean age 41.4 years) from various companies. Multiple regression revealed that for both males and females, social support moderated the effects of stressors on energy levels, job satisfaction, organizational security and organizational commitment, although social support interacted with different stressors across genders. Social support had a significant interaction effect on organizational commitment for males only, and, for females only, a significant interaction effect on state of mind. These results suggest that social support interventions will not reduce the effects of stress on all outcomes, and will produce different results for males and females.

Work locus of control and its relationship to health and job satisfaction from a gender perspective

“…Also, factors apart from WLC, e.g. coping strategies and social support, could influence the stress-health relationship either directly or indirectly (Bellman, Forster, Still & Cooper, 2003;Daniels & Guppy, 1994;Greenglass, 1993). Yet another limitation of the study is its cross-sectional design, which does not allow causal conclusions to be drawn on the basis of the results.…”

Is there a gender difference in the effect of work-related physical and psychosocial risk factors on musculoskeletal symptoms and related sickness absence?

“…One explanation for these gender differences lies in the so-called "vulnerability hypothesis" (13,14); similar exposure to the same risk factors might have a larger effect on women than men as a result of differences in biological [eg, hormones, physiology (15-18)� or psychological factors [eg, coping strategies (19)�. An earlier review (20) attempted to answer the question of whether there indeed are gender differences in vulnerability to work-related physical and psychosocial risk factors between men and women.…”

Gender differences in the relations between work-related physical and psychosocial risk factors and musculoskeletal complaints

“…Therefore tasks performed with the same (absolute) exposure will, in most cases, result in a higher relative workload for women (8,17,18), which could lead to more complaints. Finally, men and women have been found to use different coping strategies for dealing with occupational stressors (19), and this difference could result in different outcomes.…”