The purpose of this study was to examine whether physical health and well-being are
affected by work rumination and the role of work interruptions as job events. It was
hypothesized that stressful work interruptions, would be related to affective
rumination, psychosomatic symptoms and poorer general health.
OBJECTIVE:
To determine the role of work rumination in the relationship between work
interruptions, physical and general well-being.
METHODS:
Self-reports of distressing work interruptions, psychosomatic symptoms and general
health data were gathered from employees (N = 139) from diverse
occupational groups.
RESULTS:
Affective rumination acted as a partial mediator (β= 0.37) and
moderator (β= 0.24) in the relationship between stressful work
interruptions and psychosomatic symptoms. As a mediator affective rumination explains
34.8% of the effect of work interruptions on psychosomatic symptoms.
CONCLUSION:
Affective rumination about work hinders psycho-physiological recovery, and such an
effect relates to stressful work interruptions. Implications for future research are
discussed.
KarasekRA, TheorellT. Healthy
work: Stress productivity and the reconstruction of working life.
New York: Basic Books;
1990.
2.
TheorellT, KarasekR.
Current issues relating to psychosocial job strain and cardiovascular
disease research. J Occup Health Psychol.
1996;1:9–26.
3.
MeijmanTF, MulderG.
Psychological aspects of workload. In: DrenthPJD, ThierryH, editors.
Handbook of work and organizational psychology: Work psychology
2. Hove, UK:
Psychology Press; 1998. p.
5–33.
4.
HausserJA, MojzischA, NieselM, Schulz-HardtS.
Ten years on: A review of recent research on the job demand-control
(support) model and psychological well-being. Work
Stress.
2010;24:1–35.
5.
RydstedtLW, CropleyM, DevereuxJJ, MichalianouG.
The effects of gender, long-term need for recovery and trait
inhibition-rumination on morning and evening saliva cortisol secretion.
Anxiety Stress Coping. 2009;
22.4:465–474.
6.
SluiterJK, Van der
BeekAJ, Frings-DresenMHW.
The influence of work characteristics on the need for recovery and
experienced health: A study on coach drivers. Ergon.
1992;42:573–583.
7.
LindenW, EarleTL, GerinW,
ChristenfeldN.
Physiological stress reactivity and recovery: Conceptual siblings
separated at birth. J Psychosom Res.
1997;42(2):117–135.
8.
CraigA, CooperRE.
Symptoms of acute and chronic fatigue. In: SmithAP, JonesDM, editors.
Handbook of Human Performance: Stait and Trait. San
Diego: CA: Academic Press Inc;
1992;3:289–339.
9.
SonnentagS, FritzC.
The recovery experience questionnaire: Development and validation of a
measure for assessing recuperation and unwinding from work. J
Occup Health Psychol.
2007;12(3):204–221.
10.
CropleyM, MichalianouG, PravettoniG, MillwardLJ.
The relation of post work ruminative thinking with eating
behaviour. Stress Health.
2012;28(1):23–30.
11.
SyrekCJ, AntoniCH.
Unfinished tasks foster rumination and impair sleeping-Particularly if
leaders have high performance expectations. J Occup Health
Psychol.
2014;19(4):490–499.
12.
VerhaeghenP, JoormannJ, AikmanSN.
Creativity, mood, and the examined life. Self-reflective rumination
boosts creativity, brooding breeds dysphoria. Psychology of
Aesthetics, Creativity and the Arts.
2014;8:211–218.
13.
LyubomirskyS,
Nolen-HoeksemaS.
Effects of self-focused rumination on negative thinking and interpersonal
problem-solving. J Pers Soc Psychol. 1995;
69
(1):176–190.
14.
Nolen-HoeksemaS.
The role of rumination in depressive disorders and mixed
anxiety/depressive symptoms. J Abnorm Psychol.
2000;100:569–582.
15.
CropleyM, MillwardLJ.
How do individuals ‘switch-off’ from work during leisure? A qualitative
description of the unwinding process in high and low ruminators.
Leisure Studies.
2009;28:333–347.
16.
PravettoniG, CropleyM, LeonaSN, BagnaraS.
The differential role of mental rumination among industrial and knowledge
workers. Ergon.
2007;50:1–10.
17.
BrosschotJF, Van
DijkE, ThayerJF.
Daily worry is related to slow heart rate variability during waking and
the subsequent nocturnal sleep period. Int J
Psychophysiol.
2007;63:39–47.
18.
QuerstretD, CropleyM.
Exploring the relationship between work-related rumination, sleep quality
and work-related fatigue. J Occup Health Psychol.
2012;17(3):341–353.
19.
Vahle-HinzT, MaunoS,
De
BloomJ, Kinnunen,U.
Rumination for innovation? Analysing the longitudinal effects of
work-related rumination on creativity at work and off-job recovery.
Work Stress.
2017;1–23.
20.
DonahueEG, ForestJ, VallerandRJ, LemyrePN, Crevier-BraudL,
BergeronE.
Passion for work and emotional exhaustion: The mediating role of
rumination and recovery. Appl Psychol Health Well
Being.
2012;4(3):341–368.
21.
CropleyM, ZijlstraFRH.
Work and Rumination. In: Langan-FoxJ, CooperCL, editors.
Handbook of Stress in the Occupations.
UK: Edward Elgar Publishing
Ltd; 2011.
22.
LuongA, RogelbergSG.
Meetings and more meetings: The relationship between meeting load and the
daily wellbeing of employees. Group dynamics: Theory, Research
and practice.
2005;9:58–67.
23.
ZijlstraFRH, RoeRA,
LeonoraAB, KredietI.
Temporal factors in mental work: Effects of interrupted
activities. J Occup Organ Psychol.
1999;72:163–185.
24.
ZoharD. When
things go wrong: The effect of daily work hassles on effort exertion and negative
mood. J Occup Organ Psychol.
1999;72:265–283.
25.
Van den
BergP, RoeRA,
ZijlstraFRH, KredietI.
Temperamental factors in the execution of interrupted
tasks. Eur J Pers.
1996;10:233–248.
26.
ZoupanouZ, RydstedtLW.
Do work beliefs moderate the relationship between work interruptions,
well-being and psychosomatic symptoms?Eur J Psychol.
2017;13(2):214–230.
27.
ThomsenDK, MehlsenMY, HoklandM, ViidikA, OlesenF, AvlundK, MunkK,
ZachariaeR.
Negative thoughts and health: Associations among rumination, immunity and
health care utilization in a young and elderly sample. Psychosom
Med.
2004;66:363–371.
28.
CropleyM, DijkDJ,
StanleyN.
Job strain, work rumination and sleep in school teachers.
Eur J Work Organ Psychol.
2006;15(2):181–196.
29.
HarveyAG.
Pre-sleep cognitive activity: A comparison of sleep-onset insomniacs and
good sleepers. Br J Clin Psychol.
2000;39:275–286.
30.
ThomsenDK, MehlsenMY, ChristensenS, ZachariaeR.
Rumination-relationship with negative mood and sleep
quality. Pers Individ Dif.
2003;34(7):1293–1301.
31.
ZoupanouZ.
Being work interrupted: A qualitative study of office
managers. Int J Quant Qual Res Methods.
2015;3(1):1–24.
32.
SteptoeA.
Invited review. The links between stress and illness.
J Psychosom Res.
1991;35(6):633–644.
33.
MorrisonR, O’ConnorR.
Predicting psychological distress in college students: The role of
rumination and stress. J Clin Psychol.
2005;61(4):447–460.
34.
BrosschotJF, GerinW,
ThayerJF.
The perseverative cognition hypothesis: A review of worry, prolonged
stress-related physiological activation, and health. J Psychosom
Res.
2006;60:113–124.
35.
VandevalaT, PaveyL,
ChelidoniO, Feng-ChangN, Creagh-BrownB, CoxA.
Psychological rumination and recovery from work in intensive care
professionals: associations with stress, burnout, depression and health.
J Intensive Care.
2017;5:1–9.
36.
BersetM, ElferingA, LuthyS,
SemmerNK.
Work stressors and impaired sleep: Rumination as a
mediator. Stress Health.
2010.
37.
AkerstedtT, KnutssonA, WesterholmP, TheorellT, KecklundG.
Sleep disturbances, work stress and work hours: A cross-sectional
study. J Psychosom Res.
2002;53:741–748.
38.
SiegristJ, StarkeD, ChandolaT, GodinI,
MarmotM, NiedhammerI, PeterR.
The measurement of effort-reward imbalance at work: European
comparisons. Soc Sci Med.
2004;58:1483–1499.
39.
ZoupanouZ, CropleyM, RydstedtLW.
Recovery after work: The role of work beliefs in the unwinding
process. PLoS One.
2013;8(12):1–9.
40.
GoldbergDP.
Manual of the General Health Questionnaire.
Windsor, UK: NFER
Publishing; 1978.
41.
GoldbergD, HillierVF. A
scaled version of the general health questionnaire. Psychol
Med.
1979;9(1):139–145.
42.
GoldbergDP, GaterR,
SartoriusN, UstunTB, PiccinelliM, GurejeO, RutterC. The
validity of two versions of the GHQ in the WHO study of mental illness in general health
care. Psychol Med.
1997;27:191–197.
43.
StansfeldSA, FuhrerR, ShipleyMJ, MarmotMG.
Work characteristics predict psychiatric disorder: Prospective results
from the Whitehall II Study. Occup Environ Med.
1999;56:302–307.
44.
GoldbergD, WilliamsP. A
User’s Guide to the General Health Questionnaire.
Windsor, UK:
NFER-Nelson; 1988.
45.
WinefieldH, GoldneyR, WinefieldA, TiggermannM.
The General Health Questionnaire: Reliability and validity for Australian
Youth. Australia and New Zealand J Psychiatr.
1989;23:53–58.
46.
PolitiP, PiccinelliM, WilkinsonG.
Reliability, validity and factor structure of the –item General Health
questionnaire among young males in Italy. Acta Psychiatr
Scand.
1994;90:432–437.
47.
SteptoeA, CropleyM, JoekesK. Job
strain, blood pressure and responsivity to uncontrollable stress.
J Hypertens.
1999;17:193–200.
48.
BennettP, SmithP,
GallacherJE.
Vital exhaustion, neuroticism and symptom reporting in patients with
cardiac and non-cardiac chest pain. Br J Health
Psychol.
1996;1:309–313.
49.
WamboldtMZ, FritzG,
MansellA, McQuaidEL, Klein,RB.
Relationship of asthma severity and psychological problems in
children. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry.
1998;37:943–950.
50.
PennebakerJ.
The psychology of physical symptoms. New
York: Springer Verlag;
1982. p. 169–171.
51.
BaronRM, KennyDA. The
moderator-mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: Conceptual,
strategic and statistical considerations. J Pers Soc
Psychol.
1986;51:1173–1182.
52.
SobelME.
Asymptotic intervals for indirect effects in structural equations
models. In: LeinhartS, editor.
Sociological methodology. San Francisco:
Jossey-Bass. 1982. p.
290–312.
53.
IsaacowitzDM,
Blanchard-FieldsF.
Linking process and outcome in the study of emotion and
ageing. Perspect Psychol Sci.
2012;7:3–17.
54.
Iso-AholaSE.
The social psychology of leisure and recreation.
Dubuque, IA: WC
Brown; 1980.
55.
Thogersen-NtoumaniC,
LoughrenEA, TaylorIM, DudaJL,
FoxKR. A
step in the right direction? Change in mental well-being and self-reported work
performance among physically inactive university employees during a walking
intervention. Ment Health Phys Act. 2014;
7(2):89–94. doi: 10.1016/j.mhpa.2014.06.004.
56.
McEwenBS.
Stress, adaptation, and disease: Allostasis and allostatic
load. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences.
1998;840:33–44.
57.
PodsakoffPM, MackenzieSB, Jeong-YeonLee, PodsakoffNP.
Common method biases in behavioural research: A critical review of the
literature and recommended remedies. J Appl Psychol.
2003;88:879–903.
58.
VandevalaT, PaveyL,
ChelidoniO, ChangNF, Creagh-BrownB, CoxA.
Psychological rumination and recovery from work in intensive care
professionals: Associations with stress, burnout, depression and health.
J Intensive Care. 2017:
5–16. doi: 10.1186/s40560-017-0209-0.
59.
EjlertssonL, HeijbelB, EjlertssonB, AnderssonI.
Recovery, work-life balance and work experiences important to self-rated
health: A questionnaire study on salutogenic work factors among Swedish primary health
care employees. Work. 2018:
59:155–163.
60.
DuxburyL, HalinskyM.
When more is less: An examination of the relationship between hours in
telework and role overload. Work. 2014:
48:91–103. doi:10.3233.
61.
ZoupanouZ.
The recovery process: The role of work beliefs and interruptions at
work. Dissertation. University of
Surrey, Guildford, UK,
2012.
