Stress and Emotion

Anxiety, Anger and Curiosity, Volume 17

Charles D. Spielberger, Irwin G. Sarason, Charles D. Spielberger, Irwin G. Sarason

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2007
• ISBN:
  9781135388553
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: Psychotherapy Counselling
• Index: Psychology

The 17th volume of this prestigious and long-standing Series on Stress and Emotion focuses on recent advances in research by internationally renowned contributors from over a dozen countries. Individual chapters explore the impact of anxiety and stress on emotions in the workplace, school settings, and interpersonal relationships. The original research and practical implications presented in this volume are of interest to all social, behavioral, and medical scientists concerned with stress and anxiety-related issues. The chapters in Part One of this volume examine efforts to assess and manage the effects of stress and anxiety in one's personal life, that result from medical illness, morality issues and athletic competition, along with coping mechanisms across culture and gender. Part Two considers the experience, expression, and control of anger in a variety of cultural, educational and family contexts. The chapters in the final section explore cross-cultural effects of occupational stress and its impact on particular jobs. The contributions to this volume further our understanding of how stress factors, anxious feelings, and emotional responses to both can impact and influence our lives.

III

CROSS-CULTURAL RESEARCH ON OCCUPATIONAL STRESS

12

The German Adaptation of the Job Stress Survey: A Multistudy Validation in Different Occupational Settings

Volker Hodapp

J.-W. Goethe-Universität, Frankfurt, Germany

Norbert K. Tanzer

Alliant International, San Diego, CA

Christian Korunka

University of Vienna, Austria

Ehrentraud R. Maier and Iris A. Pestemer

Karl-Franzens-Universität, Graz, Austria

Abstract The Job Stress Survey (JSS) is a self-report inventory designed to measure the perceived severity and frequency of occurrence of 30 job-related stressors that are encountered by female and male employees in a broad range of occupational settings. Two occupational stress factors, Job Pressure (e.g., meeting deadlines) and Lack of Organizational Support (e.g., fellow workers not doing their job), have been identified and found to be stable across gender and organizational levels. This chapter describes the development of a German adaptation of the JSS (JSS-G) and reports the results of validation studies for four occupational groups: primary-school teachers; secondary-school teachers; medical and nonmedical personnel associated with a large hospital; and bank employees. In all four studies, the two-factor structure of the original English JSS was replicated in the German adaptation, demonstrating cross-cultural construct validity for the JSS-G. Intercorrelations between the JSS-G and an organizational climate questionnaire, with scales that assessed staff cohesion, supervisory support, job satisfaction, and burnout, provided evidence of the convergent and discriminant validity of the German JSS.

THE GERMAN ADAPTATION OF THE JOB STRESS SURVEY: A MULTISTUDY VALIDATION IN DIFFERENT OCCUPATIONAL SETTINGS

Stress in the workplace has become an increasing problem in our society. It is well established that job-related stress affects productivity, absenteeism, worker turnover, and employee health and well-being (Cooper & Payne, 1988; Hinton & Hodapp, 1997; Karasek & Theorell, 1990; Keita & Sauter, 1992; Matteson & Ivancevich, 1987; Schnall & Landsbergis, 1994; Spielberger, 1994; Spielberger & Vagg, 1999). Absenteeism, turnover, and medical problems also have substantial direct costs for employers. Other factors, such as reduced productivity and diminished customer services, are hidden costs that often result from distressed and exhausted employees (Karasek & Theorell, 1990). Moreover, many employees with stress-related workplace problems expect compensation, including disability payments and early retirement benefits. Given the serious consequences of job-related stress for both employees and organizations, it is increasingly important to understand and evaluate the adverse effects of stress at work.

Unfortunately, the tremendous increase in research on occupational stress has not contributed to clarifying the findings of these studies because of the wide range of differences in research methodology and ambiguity in the conceptual definition of job stress (Spielberger & Reheiser, 1994; Weyer, 1982). Although some researchers have focused on antecedent conditions and the duties and responsibilities of a particular job, others have been concerned primarily with the consequences of environmental and job-related pressures. Moreover, the specific job pressures and work environment variables that differentially influence stress levels for men and women working at higher and lower organizational levels tend to be neglected.

This chapter describes the construction of a German adaptation (JSS-G) of Spielberger's (1994) Job Stress Survey (JSS) and evaluates the factor structure of this measure. The results of four JSS-G validation studies carried out with employees from different occupational groups are reported. These groups included teachers from primary and secondary schools (studies 1 and 2); medical, nursing, administrative, and technical personnel from a large psychiatric hospital (Study 3); and employees from commercial banks (Study 4). Because student misbehavior has been identified as a major source of stress for teachers in a number of studies (cf. Barth, 1992; Boyle, Borg, Falzon, & Baglioni, Jr., 1995; Brissie, Hoover-Dempsey, & Bassler, 1988; Burke, 1992; Cooper, 1995; Friedman, 1991; Harris, Halpin, & Halpin, 1985; Hart, 1994; Hart, Wearing, & Conn, 1995; Litt & Turk, 1985; Pithers & Fogarty, 1995; Tellenback, Brenner, & Löfgren, 1983), several items pertaining to student misconduct and teaching-related stress were included in Studies 1 and 2.

THE ORIGINAL ENGLISH-LANGUAGE JOB STRESS SURVEY

The Job Stress Survey is a self-report inventory designed to assess the impact of sources of stress in the workplace (Spielberger, 1994; Spielberger & Vagg, 1999). It consists of 30 statements that describe job-related events identified as stressful by employees in a variety of occupations (“job stressors”). Each of the 30 job stressor events is rated twice: Respondents first rate the perceived severity of the stress evoked by each JSS stressor event (“Severity” ratings); the second rating is for the frequency that each stressor was experienced during the last six months (“Frequency” ratings).

The perceived severity of each JSS item is rated on a nine-point intensity scale. Extreme ratings (1 and 9) are respectively labeled “Low” and “High”; the midpoint of the Severity scale, with a score of 5, is labeled “Moderate.” Respondents are instructed to base their ratings on personal experience, taking into account the amount of time and energy required to adjust to each stressor event as compared to the “Assignment of disagreeable duties.” This “standard stressor,” with a preassigned severity rating of 5, was rated as moderately stressful in previous research by employees working at different organizational levels in diverse work settings. Respondents also rated, on a 10-point scale, the approximate number of days each stressor was experienced during the last six months. Ratings of 0 indicate that the event did not occur at all; a rating of 9+ indicates that the stressor event was experienced on nine or more days.

The sum of the individual Severity and Frequency ratings of all 30 JSS items yields overall stress Severity and Frequency scores. For each JSS stressor event, a Stress Index score is calculated by multiplying the Severity rating by the Frequency rating. The sum of the cross-products of these ratings for the 30 JSS items (i.e., the sum of the Item Index scores) gives an overall Job Stress Index score, which provides an estimate of the total impact of occupational stress experienced by a particular worker. Factor analyses of the 30 JSS Severity and Frequency items have consistently identified Job Pressure (JP) and Lack of Organizational Support (LS) as the major components of occupational stress (cf. Spielberger & Reheiser, 1994). These components are assessed with factorially derived 10-item JSS Job Pressure and Lack of Organizational Support subscales.

DEVELOPMENT OF THE GERMAN ADAPTATION OF THE JOB STRESS SURVEY

It is widely accepted that the adaptation of a psychological test involves more than simply translating each test item into another language. The appropriate adaptation of a psychological test requires a balanced consideration of psychological, linguistic, and cultural factors (cf. Bracken & Barona, 1991; Brislin, 1980, 1986; Geisinger, 1994; Hambleton, 1994; Poortinga, 1989; Van de Vijver & Hambleton, 1996; Van de Vijver & Leung, 1997a, 1997b; Van de Vijver & Tanzer, 1997). In keeping with previous research, the German adaptation of the Job Stress Survey was developed in a series of studies (Hodapp, Tanzer, & Spielberger, 1996). Based on the empirical results and the experience gained from the preceding studies, the JSS-G was further modified for administration in each subsequent study. The four different versions of the JSS-G and the results of the studies based on each of these versions will be described.

Version 1. This first version of the JSS-G consisted of 28 items that were translated from the original English-language JSS by the second author for a study of Austrian teachers (cf. Study 1). Item 7 (“Dealing with crisis situations”) and Item 12 (“Periods of inactivity”) were not included. The JSS items were administered as part of a larger questionnaire (cf. Tanzer & Schwetz, 1996a), which included job stressors specific to the teaching profession and items related to student misconduct that were adapted from the Teacher Stress Survey (Grier, 1981). In rating stress severity, the respondents were instructed to assign a numerical value, between 0 (“Not stressful at all”) and 100 (“Highly stressful”), with a rating of 50 to indicate an average or moderate amount of stress. The frequency that each stressor was experienced was rated on a five-point scale, ranging from 0 (“Never”) to 4 (“All the time”). In order to evaluate the appropriateness of the English anchor item, “Assignment of disagreeable duties,” as a standard stressor that evoked an average amount of stress, the rating procedure was also applied to this item.

Version 2. Minor linguistic revisions based on the empirical results of Study 1 were made in the version of the JSS-G used in Study 2. The format for the Severity scale in Version 2 also differed from Version 1. Instead of using a numerical rating scale with values ranging from 0 to 100, respondents rated the severity of each stressor on a five-point scale, with ratings ranging from 0 (“No stress at all”) to 4 (“Very high degree of stress”). The format for the Frequency scale and the comparison of the perceived severity of each stressor event with the standard anchor item were the same as in Version 1. In addition, translations of Items 7 and 12 from the English JSS were included in Version 2.

Version 3. In developing Version 3 of the JSS-G, the form used in Version 2 was compared with an independent German translation of the original English JSS developed by the first author. The content and the connotative meanings of the 30 German JSS items were also back-translated, and each item was discussed with the author of the original English version. In addition, two alternative German translations of Item 26 (“Meeting deadlines”) were also included in Version 3, resulting in a 31-item form of the JSS-G. The procedures for rating perceived Severity and Frequency in Version 3 were modified to make them more similar to the original English JSS. The format for the perceived severity ratings was changed from a five-point scale to a nine-point scale; scores of 1 to 3 indicate a “Low degree of stress,” scores of 4 to 6 indicate an average or moderate amount of stress, and ratings of 7 to 9 indicate a “High degree of stress.” As in the original English JSS, “Assignment of disagreeable duties” was used as the standard anchor for the Severity ratings, with an assigned value of 5 on the 9-point Severity scale. The procedures for the Frequency ratings in Version 3 were also more similar to those used with the English JSS. Frequency of stressor experience was rated on a nine-point scale, with scores ranging from 1 (“Never”) to 9+ (“All the time”).

Version 4. As compared to Version 3, only relatively minor changes were made in the instructions for Version 4 and in reformulating the wording of the individual items. Based on the results of the three previous studies, the most important difference between Version 4 and the earlier versions was that “Assignment of disagreeable duties” was no longer used as the anchor for rating the Severity items.

STUDY 1: PRIMARY-SCHOOL TEACHERS

Participants and Procedure

A sample of 175 Austrian teachers (74% female, 26% male) who were teaching in primary or vocational schools in both rural and urban areas participated in this study on a voluntary and anonymous basis (cf. Tanzer & Schwetz, 1996a). They responded to a 76-item questionnaire on job-related stressors (cf. Version 1) that was administered at a meeting of a local teachers association or during a continuing-education workshop. Each item was rated for both perceived severity and frequency of occurrence. The abbreviated content for the 28 JSS stress items is given in Table 12.1 (Items 1–30; Items 7 and 12 were not included). The four items related to teacher-specific job pressures (Items 41–44) and the six items on teaching stress and student misconduct (Items 51 to 56) are also listed in Table 12.1. After completing the questionnaire, the participants were asked to rate the overall severity and frequency of their experience of job-related stress (“Overall Job-Stress Rating”) by responding to a single question: “How much and how often do you feel stressed in your job?”

Results

In all four studies, separate principal-axis exploratory factor analyses (EFAs), with subsequent oblimin-rotation (δ = 0), were carried out for the Severity and Frequency ratings and for the Stress Index scores (i.e., Frequency × Severity), which provided an estimate of the overall Stress Impact of the JSS-G stressor events. The EFAs were based on Pearson product-moment correlation matrices and were carried out with a Windows 6.0 version of the commercially available SPSS program (Norusis, 1993). The number of factors that were extracted in these analyses was based on eigenvalues greater than 1.00 and scree tests, the criteria most commonly used in EFA (cf. Bernstein, 1988).

Factor structure. The Severity and Frequency ratings and Stress Index Impact scores based on the 28 JSS-G items were factored together with similar data based on the four teacher-specific job stress and six teacher stress/student misconduct items. For all three sets of scores, the scree plots indicated that the three-factor solutions provided the best fit, a...