Occupational Experience and Psychological Functioning: An Assessment of Reciprocal Effects

TLDR

The study investigates whether men's adult occupational experiences influence or merely reflect their psychological functioning. The authors aim to show that occupational conditions and psychological functioning are reciprocally linked, with job effects on men being significant. They analyze twelve key occupational conditions, focusing on substantive complexity, using longitudinal data to assess reciprocal effects on psychological functioning. Occupational conditions, particularly substantive complexity, are strongly associated with men's psychological functioning, with job complexity exerting a greater influence than psychological factors.

Abstract

The central issue of this paper is whether men's adult occupational experiences affect or only reflect their psychological functioning. Our analysis isolates a small set of occupational conditions, twelve in all, which defines the structural imperatives of the job. These occupational conditions are found to be substantially related to men's psychological functioning, off as well as on the job. We argue that the relationships between occupational conditions and psychological functioning result from a continuing interplay between job and man, in which the effects of job on man are far from trivial. This argument is borne out by an assessment of the reciprocal effects of the substantive complexity of the work (a critically important occupational condition, for which we have the requisite longitudinal data) and several facets of psychological functioning. Substantive complexity has a decidedly greater impact on psychological functioning than the reverse.