Coworker and Supervisor support as moderators of associations between task characteristics and mental strain

Abstract

Recently, much interest has been shown in the ability of social support to 'moderate' or 'buffer' the impact of job-related stress on physical and mental health. (For more comprehensive discussions see: Pinneau, 1975; Caplan et al., 1976; Beehr, 1976; House and Wells, 1978; LaRocco and Jones, 1978; LaRocco etal., 1980.) Previous researchers (LaRocco et al., 1980) have indicated the need to consider different types of social support in testing for the 'buffering' effects on stress/strain relationships. French et al. (1974) has made the distinction between supervisory and coworker support. Continuing in this direction, we identify several coworker and supervisory support measures and test their buffering effects by using a new model of social support buffering. Our theory builds upon an existing individual task-level model of psychological strain by adding a social level mechanism for stress coping. The task level model, not directly examined in this paper, is described in detail elsewhere (see Karasek, 1976, 1979) but can be summarized as a model of the joint effects of job stressors and job control. These two aspects of the job situation represent, respectively, the instigators of action (job demands or stressors) and the environmental constraints on alternative resulting actions (decision latitude or measures of control at work). Job demands or stressors place the individual in a motivated state of 'stress'. If no action can be taken (Zeigarnik, 1927) or if other desires of the individual must be foregone because of low decision latitude, then the unreleased stress (measured as a composite of environmental factors-task strain) may lead to adverse psychological consequences (Henry and Cassell, 1969). These consequences are measured as individual psychological strain symptoms. The implied logical structure is roughly analogous to an 'energy reservoir' model; either the energy summoned by the