Work stress and problem alcohol behavior: a test of the spillover model

Abstract

Although previous research has found weak support for the model of stressful work ‘spilling over’ to negative coping responses during nonwork hours, we argue that a variety of conceptual and methodological problems may partially explain the weak and inconsistent findings. Two important shortcomings are inadequately specified models and a failure to consider nonescapist responses to job‐related stress. We therefore propose that there may be escapist (i.e. increased drinking, working through job dissatisfaction for those who believe that alcohol consumption is an effective means to reduce stress) and nonescapist (i.e. decreased drinking for those who are dissatisfied with their jobs but do not believe alcohol is an effective coping strategy) responses to work stress. These hypotheses were tested on a sample of 972 production workers in the Pacific northwest. Results show moderate support for the existence of both escapist and nonescapist responses to job‐related stresses. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Individual and Organizational Consequences of Job Insecurity: A European Study

“…They also replicate previous research that has uncovered negative effects of job insecurity on individually oriented work attitudes, such as job satisfaction (e.g. Ashford et al, 1989;Grunberg et al, 1998;Lim, 1996;Rosenblatt and Ruvio, 1996), as well as organizationally oriented attitudes (e.g. Armstrong-Stassen, 1993;Davy et al, 1997;Iverson and Roy, 1994;McFarlane Shore and Tetrick, 1991).…”

Work stress and self-reported alcohol use: The moderating role of escapist reasons for drinking.

“…The results of this study, along with those of several recent studies on the relationship between work and drinking (e.g., Grunberg et al, in press), strongly indicate that work stress does not directly or simply result in increased self-reported alcohol use or alcohol problems. The type of interaction effect we have found between work stress and escapist drinking reasons suggests that work stress affects employee's drinking behavior differently.…”

Stress and alcohol use: A daily process examination of the stressor–vulnerability model.

“…Similar to the effect for positive expectancies, men with relatively weak careless unconcern expectancies displayed a negative relationship between stress and consumption. Although this effect was not predicted, it is in line with Grunberg et al's (1998Grunberg et al's ( , 1999 nonescapist model of stress and alcohol use. Grunberg et al (1999) found that higher levels of work stress were associated with lower levels of drinking for individuals who did not endorse alcohol consumption as an appropriate coping strategy.…”