Job insecurity at a university : its impact upon the marital and family relations of married faculty and staff members
Date
1987
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Publisher
Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Education, Health & Human Development
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between perceived stress resulting from job
insecurity and marital and family functioning. The relationship between work and family life has been the focus of many research projects, however, the impact of one aspect of the work domain, namely the threat of a job loss on the family, has not been examined. With recent budget cuts at Montana State University and the impending threat of job loss, this study was proposed to examine the impact of job insecurity on the family. Data gathered from 111 MSU employees and their spouses (N = 222) revealed a significant difference between the level of stress of the MSU employees and the norm stress level as measured by Cohen's Perceived Stress Scale. Further analyses comparing stressed MSU employees and nonstressed MSU employees revealed a significant difference between mean scores on measures of marital adjustment, number of marital problems, general family functioning, family communication, family problem solving, family roles, affective responsiveness, affective involvement, and the number of family services requested. No significant differences were found on measures of behavior control.