This article was downloaded by: [Moskow State Univ Bibliote] On: 24 November 2013, At: 07:05 Publisher: Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK
The Journal of Social Psychology Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/vsoc20
Subjective Underemployment and Psychosocial Stress: The Role of Perceived Social and Supervisor Support a
Gloria Jones-Johnson & W. Roy Johnson a
b
Department of Sociology , Iowa State University , USA
b
Department of Psychology , Iowa State University , USA Published online: 01 Jul 2010.
To cite this article: Gloria Jones-Johnson & W. Roy Johnson (1992) Subjective Underemployment and Psychosocial Stress: The Role of Perceived Social and Supervisor Support, The Journal of Social Psychology, 132:1, 11-21, DOI: 10.1080/00224545.1992.9924684 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00224545.1992.9924684
PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use of the Content. This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden.
Downloaded by [Moskow State Univ Bibliote] at 07:05 24 November 2013
Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/ page/terms-and-conditions
Downloaded by [Moskow State Univ Bibliote] at 07:05 24 November 2013
The Journal of Social Psychology, 132(1), 11-21
Subjective Underemployment and Psychosocial Stress: The Role of Perceived Social and Supervisor Support GLORIA JONES-JOHNSON Department of Sociology Iowa State University W. ROY JOHNSON Department ofPsychology Iowa State University
ABSTRACT. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of subjective underemployment on psychosocial stress, The moderator effects of perceived social and supervisor support were also investigated. Data were collected during the summer of 1987 in a public utility governmental agency in the United States. The sample size was 212 with a 71% response rate. Multiple regression analysis was used to examine the relationship between subjective underemployment and psychosocial stress. As expected, the results revealed a significant positive relationship between subjective underemployment and five indexes of psychosocial stress. The interactions between subjective underemployment and social and supervisor support were not significant; however, the relationships were in the expected directions. Supervisor support was positive and significantly related to psychosocial stress, but social support was not.
THE LITERATURE ON UNDEREMPLOYMENT has grown considerably since the 1970s; however, few studies have examined its impact on individual lives. With some exceptions (B. Burris, 1983; Jones-Johnson, 1986, 1989, 1990), the existing research on underemployment lacks in-depth quantitative and qualitative analyses of the microsocial dimensions of this problem. Nevertheless, several studies (e.g., Coburn, 1975; Gardell, 1982) support the contention that a discrepancy between workers' skills and the skills required in their jobs may result in a deterioration in mental health. Address correspondence to Gloria Jones-Johnson, Department of Sociology, Iowa State University, Ames, /A 5001/-1070. 11
Downloaded by [Moskow State Univ Bibliote] at 07:05 24 November 2013
12
The Journal of Social Psychology
Subjective reports of underemployment may provide important insights into the nature of stress. In the Quality of Employment Survey (QES), over 30% of American workers reported that their talents were underutilized on the job (Quinn & Staines, 1979). In a study of 32 low-level clerical workers in a large metropolitan financial services corporation, B. Burris (1983) found that 60% of the lesser educated group felt over qualified for their jobs and that virtually every respondent with a BA degree expressed feelings of overeducation. Extensive research concerning the relationship between negative life events and psychological distress (e.g., Dohrenwend & Dohrenwend, 1974; Lloyd, 1980; Tennant & Andrews, 1978) indicates that social support may act as a buffer against the harmful psychological effects of underemployment. Alternatively, the direct-effect or independent-effect model posits an overall effect of social support on psychological health: Social support can itself promote good health, both in the absence and in the presence of stressful life events. These two models are not, in principle, mutually exclusive (see Aneshensel & Frerichs, 1983; Lin, Simeane, Ensel, & Kuo, 1979; Thoits, 1982). The following three hypotheses were examined in this study. Our first hypothesis was that the more underemployed individuals feel, the greater their psychosocial stress. The greater the opportunity available, the more a person uses his or her skills. Thus, workers in jobs with greater opportunity for use of their skills will tend to be mentally more healthy than those in jobs with less opportunity (Warr, 1987). Our second hypothesis was that the effects of subjective underemployment on psychosocial stress will be greater for those perceiving low social support than for those perceiving high social support. Caplan, Cobb, French, Harrison, and Pinneau (1975) and Pinneau (1976) found that manifestations of psychosocial strain, such as depression and anxiety, were influenced by both home and work support. Our third hypothesis was that the effects of subjective underemployment on psychosocial stress will be greater for those perceiving low supervisor support than for those perceiving high supervisor support. House, McMichael, Wells, Kaplan, and Landerman (1980) found that supervisor support tended to reduce all forms of perceived work stress. Similarly, Papper (1983) found supervisor support to be significant and negatively related with symptom reports. In this study, we examined the relationship between subjective underemployment and psychosocial stress and investigated the importance of perceived social and supervisor support in understanding the effects of subjective underemployment on psychosocial stress. Subjective underemployment is viewed as an individual's perception of his or her inability to perform particular tasks and lack of opportunities to develop skills and talents. Psychosocial stress represents affective well-being, as measured by a composite of different aspects or dimensions of subjective adjustment.
Jones-Johnson & Johnson
13
Downloaded by [Moskow State Univ Bibliote] at 07:05 24 November 2013
Method We collected data during the summer of 1987 in an American public utility government agency. We distributed questionnaires on site to 300 employees, and we requested participation on a voluntary basis; 212 completed questionnaires were returned, for a 71 % response rate. The ages of the participants ranged from 24 to 70 years, with a median age of 37 years. The median years of schooling completed was 15 years, and the median salary was $27,500. The sample was largely made up of White men (67%); 18% of the respondents were White women, 10% were Black men, and 5% were Black women. The subjects were employed in skilled, technical, and professional positions.
Subjective Underemployment In a procedure similar to that of Shockey (1985), we used a subjective measure that combined the information provided by four questions: Would you say that you feel overeducated in your present job? Would you say that you feel overqualified in your present job? Do you have some skills from your experience and training that you would like to be using in your work but can't use on your present job? On your current job, would you say you feel underemployed? For each question, the responses were yes (1) and no (0). These four questions were combined to create a subjective underemployment scale (alpha = 0.75) ranging from 0 to 4.
Psychosocial Stress We used symptom measures to assess multiple indicators of well-being. A checklist of scales of psychological, physical, and psychosomatic symptoms were used (Gurin, Veroff, & Feld, ]960). We performed principal components analysis on 29 stress systems; eight factors were extracted. We also performed principal-axes analysis by using squared multiple correlations as initial communality estimates on the: eight factors. Five stress scales were created from five dominant factors: psychosomatic stress (alpha = 0.76), depression (alpha = 0.83), frustration (alpha = 0.74), hostility (alpha = 0.79), and insecurity (alpha = 0.64) .
Social and Supervisor Support as Moderator Variables Social Support. We used a four-item social support scale (alpha = .77) that covers an individual's perceptions of his or her spouse/partner, relatives, coworkers, and friends as supportive or unsupportive. It is similar to an eightitem social support index invented by Gore (1978) and Kasl and Cobb (1979). The following question was asked: How much do the following people (hus-
14
The Journal of Social Psychology
Downloaded by [Moskow State Univ Bibliote] at 07:05 24 November 2013
band/wife/partner, relatives, co-workers, other friends) understand, encourage, and reassure you concerning your feelings of being underemployed? The responses ranged from a great deal (5) to not at all (I). Supervisor Support. We used the Papper (1983) nine-item scale, and the nine items were as follows: (My supervisor) (1) gives emotional support; (2) is indifferent; (3) makes work life easier; (4) can be relied on when things get tough at work; (5) helps solve work-related problems; (6) is good to work with; won't stand by when I need help; (7) will do anything to help; and (8) helps solve personal problems. The responses ranged from strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (5). A factor analysis revealed that the responses could be treated as a set of items; they were combined to create a supervisor support scale (alpha = 0.92). Using the same scale, Papper (1983) reported a coefficient alpha of 0.93, and Johnson (1986) reported a coefficient of 0.91. To test the stress-buffering hypothesis, we paired each of the support variables (social and supervisor) with subjective underemployment and conducted a multiple regression analysis separately for all five measures of stress. Control Variables Income represented the respondent's personal income for the previous year, and age of respondent was given in years. Marital status was dichotomized into married (1) and not married (0). For sex, a dummy variable was created with a score of I for men and 0 for women. Education was measured as years of formal schooling completed. Job tenure was measured as length of time at current place of employment, rounded to years. Parental status was another dummy variable, with a score of I if children were living at home and 0 if no children were living at home. Results There was a significant relationship, p < .01, between subjective underemployment and the five indexes of psychosocial stress (Table l), a finding that supports the first hypothesis. The more subjective underemployment a person felt, the greater the person's psychosomatic stress, depression, frustration, hostility, and insecurity. Subjective underemployment explained more than three times as much variance in insecurity, R2 = .105, or 10.5%, as it did in the other sources of psychosocial stress. Moreover, the relationship between subjective underemployment and the five indexes of psychosocial stress remained significant when education, income, job tenure, age, sex, marital status, and children living at home were controlled for. These findings are suggestive of recent work in the cognitive aspects of survey research (Angel & Gronfein, 1988) indicating that subjective reports are complex products of
.032
7.46** .330** .276 .127
Psychosomatic symptoms Coefficient SE
*Significant at p < .05. **Significant at p < .01.
R2
Constant Underemployment
Independent variable andR2
.036
7.18** .418** .330 .152
Depression Coefficient SE
.034
8.03** .414**
.335 .154
Frustration Coefficient SE
.034
2.24** .141**
.113 .052
Hostility Coefficient SE
.105
2.94** .434**
.193 .089
Insecurity Coefficient SE
TABLE 1 Regression Coefficients Predicting Subjective Underemployment and Psychosocial Stress (N =204)
Downloaded by [Moskow State Univ Bibliote] at 07:05 24 November 2013
VI
-
g
~
P:>
g
~
'"
5'
s
Downloaded by [Moskow State Univ Bibliote] at 07:05 24 November 2013
16
The Journal of Social Psychology
the need dispositions, cognitive capacities, and interpretive procedures used by the respondent to generate reports concerning internal states (Angel & Thoits, 1987; Fienberg, Loftus, & Tanur, 1985a, 1985b, 1985c; Jabine, Straf, Tanur, & Tourangeau, 1984). Although none of the interactions between subjective underemployment and social support were significant, they were in the expected directions (Table 2). The interactions between subjective underemployment and social support did not help to further explain the variance in any of the psychosocial stress variables. Thus, it appears that social support did not have the hypothesized buffering effect on the relationship between subjective underemployment and psychosocial stress. The relationships among subjective underemployment and psychosomatic stress and depression were no longer significant once the interaction between underemployment and social support was added to the equation. Social support was not significantly related to any of the stress variables. Thus, we found no main effect for social support on psychosocial stress. Although the direction and significance of the relationships did not change when the control variables were added, these variables helped to further explain the variance in psychosocial stress. The interactions between subjective underemployment and supervisor support were not significant (see Table 3). These interactions were in the expected direction only for frustration and insecurity, but the interaction terms were zero or near zero, indicating no contribution to the variance explained in psychosocial stress. Similar to social support, supervisor support appeared to lack the hypothesized buffering effect on the relationship between subjective underemployment and psychosocial stress. Once the interaction between subjective underemployment and supervisor support was added to the equation, the relationships between underemployment and depression and between underemployment and frustration were no longer significant. Unlike social support, supervisor support was positive and significantly related to all of the psychosocial stress variables except psychosomatic stress. The main effect for supervisor support was consistent with previous studies (Papper, 1983; Pinneau, 1976). The control variables did not alter the direction and significance of the relationships, but they added significantly to the variance explained. Discussion In this study, we examined the effects of subjective underemployment on psychosocial stress for American workers employed in a public utility government agency (N = 212). As hypothesized, the data indicated a significant positive relationship between perceived underemployment and psychosomatic stress, depression, frustration, hostility, and insecurity: The more underemployed a person felt, the greater his or her feeling of psychosocial
.292 -.056 -.046
.038
8.35**
.157 .059 .040
.uv"'"'
!/fI"!
Psychosomatic symptoms Coefficient SE
*Significant at p < .05. **Significant at p < .01.
R2
Constant Underemployment Social Support Underemployment x Social Support
Independent variable andR2
.040
.277 .127 - .028
The Journal of Social Psychology Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/vsoc20
Subjective Underemployment and Psychosocial Stress: The Role of Perceived Social and Supervisor Support a
Gloria Jones-Johnson & W. Roy Johnson a
b
Department of Sociology , Iowa State University , USA
b
Department of Psychology , Iowa State University , USA Published online: 01 Jul 2010.
To cite this article: Gloria Jones-Johnson & W. Roy Johnson (1992) Subjective Underemployment and Psychosocial Stress: The Role of Perceived Social and Supervisor Support, The Journal of Social Psychology, 132:1, 11-21, DOI: 10.1080/00224545.1992.9924684 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00224545.1992.9924684
PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use of the Content. This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden.
Downloaded by [Moskow State Univ Bibliote] at 07:05 24 November 2013
Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/ page/terms-and-conditions
Downloaded by [Moskow State Univ Bibliote] at 07:05 24 November 2013
The Journal of Social Psychology, 132(1), 11-21
Subjective Underemployment and Psychosocial Stress: The Role of Perceived Social and Supervisor Support GLORIA JONES-JOHNSON Department of Sociology Iowa State University W. ROY JOHNSON Department ofPsychology Iowa State University
ABSTRACT. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of subjective underemployment on psychosocial stress, The moderator effects of perceived social and supervisor support were also investigated. Data were collected during the summer of 1987 in a public utility governmental agency in the United States. The sample size was 212 with a 71% response rate. Multiple regression analysis was used to examine the relationship between subjective underemployment and psychosocial stress. As expected, the results revealed a significant positive relationship between subjective underemployment and five indexes of psychosocial stress. The interactions between subjective underemployment and social and supervisor support were not significant; however, the relationships were in the expected directions. Supervisor support was positive and significantly related to psychosocial stress, but social support was not.
THE LITERATURE ON UNDEREMPLOYMENT has grown considerably since the 1970s; however, few studies have examined its impact on individual lives. With some exceptions (B. Burris, 1983; Jones-Johnson, 1986, 1989, 1990), the existing research on underemployment lacks in-depth quantitative and qualitative analyses of the microsocial dimensions of this problem. Nevertheless, several studies (e.g., Coburn, 1975; Gardell, 1982) support the contention that a discrepancy between workers' skills and the skills required in their jobs may result in a deterioration in mental health. Address correspondence to Gloria Jones-Johnson, Department of Sociology, Iowa State University, Ames, /A 5001/-1070. 11
Downloaded by [Moskow State Univ Bibliote] at 07:05 24 November 2013
12
The Journal of Social Psychology
Subjective reports of underemployment may provide important insights into the nature of stress. In the Quality of Employment Survey (QES), over 30% of American workers reported that their talents were underutilized on the job (Quinn & Staines, 1979). In a study of 32 low-level clerical workers in a large metropolitan financial services corporation, B. Burris (1983) found that 60% of the lesser educated group felt over qualified for their jobs and that virtually every respondent with a BA degree expressed feelings of overeducation. Extensive research concerning the relationship between negative life events and psychological distress (e.g., Dohrenwend & Dohrenwend, 1974; Lloyd, 1980; Tennant & Andrews, 1978) indicates that social support may act as a buffer against the harmful psychological effects of underemployment. Alternatively, the direct-effect or independent-effect model posits an overall effect of social support on psychological health: Social support can itself promote good health, both in the absence and in the presence of stressful life events. These two models are not, in principle, mutually exclusive (see Aneshensel & Frerichs, 1983; Lin, Simeane, Ensel, & Kuo, 1979; Thoits, 1982). The following three hypotheses were examined in this study. Our first hypothesis was that the more underemployed individuals feel, the greater their psychosocial stress. The greater the opportunity available, the more a person uses his or her skills. Thus, workers in jobs with greater opportunity for use of their skills will tend to be mentally more healthy than those in jobs with less opportunity (Warr, 1987). Our second hypothesis was that the effects of subjective underemployment on psychosocial stress will be greater for those perceiving low social support than for those perceiving high social support. Caplan, Cobb, French, Harrison, and Pinneau (1975) and Pinneau (1976) found that manifestations of psychosocial strain, such as depression and anxiety, were influenced by both home and work support. Our third hypothesis was that the effects of subjective underemployment on psychosocial stress will be greater for those perceiving low supervisor support than for those perceiving high supervisor support. House, McMichael, Wells, Kaplan, and Landerman (1980) found that supervisor support tended to reduce all forms of perceived work stress. Similarly, Papper (1983) found supervisor support to be significant and negatively related with symptom reports. In this study, we examined the relationship between subjective underemployment and psychosocial stress and investigated the importance of perceived social and supervisor support in understanding the effects of subjective underemployment on psychosocial stress. Subjective underemployment is viewed as an individual's perception of his or her inability to perform particular tasks and lack of opportunities to develop skills and talents. Psychosocial stress represents affective well-being, as measured by a composite of different aspects or dimensions of subjective adjustment.
Jones-Johnson & Johnson
13
Downloaded by [Moskow State Univ Bibliote] at 07:05 24 November 2013
Method We collected data during the summer of 1987 in an American public utility government agency. We distributed questionnaires on site to 300 employees, and we requested participation on a voluntary basis; 212 completed questionnaires were returned, for a 71 % response rate. The ages of the participants ranged from 24 to 70 years, with a median age of 37 years. The median years of schooling completed was 15 years, and the median salary was $27,500. The sample was largely made up of White men (67%); 18% of the respondents were White women, 10% were Black men, and 5% were Black women. The subjects were employed in skilled, technical, and professional positions.
Subjective Underemployment In a procedure similar to that of Shockey (1985), we used a subjective measure that combined the information provided by four questions: Would you say that you feel overeducated in your present job? Would you say that you feel overqualified in your present job? Do you have some skills from your experience and training that you would like to be using in your work but can't use on your present job? On your current job, would you say you feel underemployed? For each question, the responses were yes (1) and no (0). These four questions were combined to create a subjective underemployment scale (alpha = 0.75) ranging from 0 to 4.
Psychosocial Stress We used symptom measures to assess multiple indicators of well-being. A checklist of scales of psychological, physical, and psychosomatic symptoms were used (Gurin, Veroff, & Feld, ]960). We performed principal components analysis on 29 stress systems; eight factors were extracted. We also performed principal-axes analysis by using squared multiple correlations as initial communality estimates on the: eight factors. Five stress scales were created from five dominant factors: psychosomatic stress (alpha = 0.76), depression (alpha = 0.83), frustration (alpha = 0.74), hostility (alpha = 0.79), and insecurity (alpha = 0.64) .
Social and Supervisor Support as Moderator Variables Social Support. We used a four-item social support scale (alpha = .77) that covers an individual's perceptions of his or her spouse/partner, relatives, coworkers, and friends as supportive or unsupportive. It is similar to an eightitem social support index invented by Gore (1978) and Kasl and Cobb (1979). The following question was asked: How much do the following people (hus-
14
The Journal of Social Psychology
Downloaded by [Moskow State Univ Bibliote] at 07:05 24 November 2013
band/wife/partner, relatives, co-workers, other friends) understand, encourage, and reassure you concerning your feelings of being underemployed? The responses ranged from a great deal (5) to not at all (I). Supervisor Support. We used the Papper (1983) nine-item scale, and the nine items were as follows: (My supervisor) (1) gives emotional support; (2) is indifferent; (3) makes work life easier; (4) can be relied on when things get tough at work; (5) helps solve work-related problems; (6) is good to work with; won't stand by when I need help; (7) will do anything to help; and (8) helps solve personal problems. The responses ranged from strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (5). A factor analysis revealed that the responses could be treated as a set of items; they were combined to create a supervisor support scale (alpha = 0.92). Using the same scale, Papper (1983) reported a coefficient alpha of 0.93, and Johnson (1986) reported a coefficient of 0.91. To test the stress-buffering hypothesis, we paired each of the support variables (social and supervisor) with subjective underemployment and conducted a multiple regression analysis separately for all five measures of stress. Control Variables Income represented the respondent's personal income for the previous year, and age of respondent was given in years. Marital status was dichotomized into married (1) and not married (0). For sex, a dummy variable was created with a score of I for men and 0 for women. Education was measured as years of formal schooling completed. Job tenure was measured as length of time at current place of employment, rounded to years. Parental status was another dummy variable, with a score of I if children were living at home and 0 if no children were living at home. Results There was a significant relationship, p < .01, between subjective underemployment and the five indexes of psychosocial stress (Table l), a finding that supports the first hypothesis. The more subjective underemployment a person felt, the greater the person's psychosomatic stress, depression, frustration, hostility, and insecurity. Subjective underemployment explained more than three times as much variance in insecurity, R2 = .105, or 10.5%, as it did in the other sources of psychosocial stress. Moreover, the relationship between subjective underemployment and the five indexes of psychosocial stress remained significant when education, income, job tenure, age, sex, marital status, and children living at home were controlled for. These findings are suggestive of recent work in the cognitive aspects of survey research (Angel & Gronfein, 1988) indicating that subjective reports are complex products of
.032
7.46** .330** .276 .127
Psychosomatic symptoms Coefficient SE
*Significant at p < .05. **Significant at p < .01.
R2
Constant Underemployment
Independent variable andR2
.036
7.18** .418** .330 .152
Depression Coefficient SE
.034
8.03** .414**
.335 .154
Frustration Coefficient SE
.034
2.24** .141**
.113 .052
Hostility Coefficient SE
.105
2.94** .434**
.193 .089
Insecurity Coefficient SE
TABLE 1 Regression Coefficients Predicting Subjective Underemployment and Psychosocial Stress (N =204)
Downloaded by [Moskow State Univ Bibliote] at 07:05 24 November 2013
VI
-
g
~
P:>
g
~
'"
5'
s
Downloaded by [Moskow State Univ Bibliote] at 07:05 24 November 2013
16
The Journal of Social Psychology
the need dispositions, cognitive capacities, and interpretive procedures used by the respondent to generate reports concerning internal states (Angel & Thoits, 1987; Fienberg, Loftus, & Tanur, 1985a, 1985b, 1985c; Jabine, Straf, Tanur, & Tourangeau, 1984). Although none of the interactions between subjective underemployment and social support were significant, they were in the expected directions (Table 2). The interactions between subjective underemployment and social support did not help to further explain the variance in any of the psychosocial stress variables. Thus, it appears that social support did not have the hypothesized buffering effect on the relationship between subjective underemployment and psychosocial stress. The relationships among subjective underemployment and psychosomatic stress and depression were no longer significant once the interaction between underemployment and social support was added to the equation. Social support was not significantly related to any of the stress variables. Thus, we found no main effect for social support on psychosocial stress. Although the direction and significance of the relationships did not change when the control variables were added, these variables helped to further explain the variance in psychosocial stress. The interactions between subjective underemployment and supervisor support were not significant (see Table 3). These interactions were in the expected direction only for frustration and insecurity, but the interaction terms were zero or near zero, indicating no contribution to the variance explained in psychosocial stress. Similar to social support, supervisor support appeared to lack the hypothesized buffering effect on the relationship between subjective underemployment and psychosocial stress. Once the interaction between subjective underemployment and supervisor support was added to the equation, the relationships between underemployment and depression and between underemployment and frustration were no longer significant. Unlike social support, supervisor support was positive and significantly related to all of the psychosocial stress variables except psychosomatic stress. The main effect for supervisor support was consistent with previous studies (Papper, 1983; Pinneau, 1976). The control variables did not alter the direction and significance of the relationships, but they added significantly to the variance explained. Discussion In this study, we examined the effects of subjective underemployment on psychosocial stress for American workers employed in a public utility government agency (N = 212). As hypothesized, the data indicated a significant positive relationship between perceived underemployment and psychosomatic stress, depression, frustration, hostility, and insecurity: The more underemployed a person felt, the greater his or her feeling of psychosocial
.292 -.056 -.046
.038
8.35**
.157 .059 .040
.uv"'"'
!/fI"!
Psychosomatic symptoms Coefficient SE
*Significant at p < .05. **Significant at p < .01.
R2
Constant Underemployment Social Support Underemployment x Social Support
Independent variable andR2
.040
.277 .127 - .028
