Personality, Social Support and Workers' Stress

Social support is examined as a correlate of perceived job demands and psychological strain and as a moderator of the relationship between stimulus and response, according to personality traits. An occupational stress questionnaire was administered to 807 hospital employees. Data were obtained regarding 2 sources of job demands, 3 psychological symptoms, 4 categories of personality, and 3 areas of social support. The strongest evidence favors a non-specific direct correlation between all dimensions of social support and all the strain symptoms analyzed. The differences between personality types are relative exceptions to the general trend. There is also evidence supporting a direct relationship between job demands and social support, as well as strain symptoms. Extrinsic job demands appear to be a strong correlate of both. Here again, the emphasis is on interdependency and not necessarily on causality. The results offer some support for the role of social support as a moderator variable in the relationship between occupational demands and psychological strain.