Abstract
Psychological detachment has been proposed to be a mediator of the relations between an individual's responses to stressful work-related experiences and mid- and long-term health. However, the number of studies that have specifically examined the role that personal characteristics play in these associations is considerably small. One personal characteristic that might specifically interfere with psychological detachment is perfectionism, which has been considered an important vulnerability factor for the development of psychological disorders. Hence, the goal of this registered report was to extend research on psychological detachment by introducing trait and state perfectionism as moderators of the aforementioned relations. We conducted an experience sampling study with three measurement occasions per day over the course of 3 working weeks (N = 158 employees; Mage = 41.6; 67% women). Multilevel path models showed that perfectionistic concerns consistently determined strain responses at between- and within-levels of analyses even after the effects of job demands (i.e., unfinished tasks and role ambiguity) and detachment were accounted for. However, we found no evidence for the proposed moderation effects. The theoretical implications for the understanding of the processes proposed in the stressor-detachment model are discussed.
Highlights
Because work-related stress has become even more prevalent over the last few years (OECD, 2012), research in occupational health psychology has aimed to identify protective individual and organizational factors that might buffer its impact
Perfectionism has been considered an important vulnerability factor for the development of psychological disorders in general. Perfectionism has been both theoretically and empirically shown to be an important predictor of variables that are central parts of the SD model and to act as a moderator of responses to stressors. Derived from this prior evidence, we propose that both trait perfectionism and state perfectionistic cognitions should affect how individuals respond to specific job demands, and as a consequence, how successful they will be at detaching from these demands and at reducing strain
The conceptualization of perfectionistic cognitions as representing the cognitive state of perfectionism in the form of current thoughts that might vary within persons represents a valuable way to supplement the investigation of between-person differences in trait perfectionism. We propose that both the differentiation between dispositional perfectionism and perfectionistic cognitions and the respective differentiation between perfectionistic strivings and perfectionistic concerns are relevant for a better understanding of how demands are related to psychological detachment and strain as proposed in the SD model
Summary
Because work-related stress has become even more prevalent over the last few years (OECD, 2012), research in occupational health psychology has aimed to identify protective individual and organizational factors that might buffer its impact. The recently proposed stressor-detachment model (SD model; Sonnentag, 2011; Sonnentag & Fritz, 2015) offers a coherent framework by which to systematize existing studies and to guide future research on recovery and its associations with job stressors and strain—at both micro (i.e., within days) and macro levels (i.e., longitudinally). In this model, psychological detachment is defined as the core concept of recovery, and it “means refraining from job-
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