MUHAMMAD JAMAL AND VANCE F. MITCHELL"

Work, Nonwork, and Mental Health: A Model and a Test

DESPITE CONCEPTUAL AMBIGUITY, the construct of mental health has been used as a dependent variable in much empirical research.' For example, a large number of studies have concluded that people in lower classes tend to be mentally ill more frequently than people in higher classes (lhrner and Gartrell, 1978). Thus far, however, very little systematic research has been done on the impact of work environment factors on mental health. While the evidence available tends to support a positive relationship between job satisfaction and mental health (Gechman and Weiner, 1975; Kornhauser, 1965), a review by Kasl (1973) con- cluded that observed correlations are always likely to be low. We suggest here that the low correlations in past studies are due to the omission of crucial variable(s). Our theoretical model postulates that mental health is affected by factors from both work and nonwork environments. It is the nature of the interaction between these variables that determines the individual's psychological well-being. Our data- drawn from questionnaires administered to rank-and-file workers - generally confirm the importance of need fulfillment in both work and nonwork settings for preserving better mental health, but cast doubt on the common belief that the nonwork environment is the more important contributor.*

Theoretical Framework In this study, mental health refers to the overall state of excellence,

satisfaction, and effectiveness of an individual (Kornhauser, 1965). It is assumed that the sources of workers' psychological unhappiness and signs of poor mental health may be found both in work and nonwork environments, and that it is the nature of the interaction between factors from each realm that tends to determine a person's mental health. We chose the concepts of need fulfillment in work and nonwork activities as our independent variables, and the factors measured are those proposed by Maslow (1954). Four types of relationships are tested. In descend- ing order (from high to low) of expected levels of mental health, these are:

*The authors are, respectively, Assistant Professor of Management, Concordia University, Montreal, and Professor of Organizational Behavior, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.

'Mental health has been variously viewed as an individual's ability to maintain an even temper, an alert intelligence, socially considerate behavior, and a happy disposition (Sullivan, 1954); as the overall level of success, personal satisfaction, effectiveness, and excellence of an individual's functioning as a person (Kornhauser, 1965); and, from a Marxist perspective, as h disguised formulation of the classical concept of alienation (Seeman, 1975).

eThis research was supported by research grants from the Institute of Industrial Relations, University of British Columbia and Concordia University of Montreal.

INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS, Vol. 19, No. 1 (Winter 1980). O 1980 by the Regents of the University of California. 0019/8676/80/225/88/~ 1 .OQ

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Research Note / 89

(1) complementary relationship: high need fulfillment in both work and non- work activities;

(2) expressive relationship: high need fulfillment in work, but low need fulfill- ment in nonwork activities;

(3) compensatory relationship: low need fulfillment in work; high need fulfill- ment in nonwork activities;

(4) spillover relationship: low need fulfillment in both work and nonwork activities.

The rationale for our expectations regarding complementary and spillover relationships is straightforward. When an individual has high need fulfillment in both work and nonwork activities, it is expected that his overall effectiveness as an individual in both kinds of activities is enhanced, and he thus exhibits a high level of mental health. On the other hand, when the individual cannot fulfill his basic needs in either set of activities, he is likely to become highly frustrated and may thus exhibit poor mental health. The prediction that mental health will be moderately high under the expressive relationship stems from the importance of paid work in modem society. Since most adults spend most of their waking hours at work, success or failure in this realm is likely to be important to the individual. Thus, it may be that one who experiences high need fulfillment in work activities alone may still exhibit a relatively high level of mental health. The level of mental health hypothesized for the compensatory relationship must rest on logical grounds, since research has provided little support for such a relationship (Gardell, 1976; Meissner, 1971). However, some researchers (e.g., Dubin, 1956) have argued that for the majority of industrial workers nonwork activities are more important and satisfying than any other kind of activities. Thus, higher need fulfillment in nonwork activities may appear important enough to give an individual some feelings of overall effectiveness and satisfaction, resulting in a moderate degree of mental health.

Sample and Measures The research was carried out in six organizations in a western

Canadian municipality, ranging in size from 100 to 300 employees and representing the cement products, electrical equipment, woodworking, and advertising indus- tries. All rank-and-file employees in each company were given questionnaires; the response rate varied from 35 to 68 per cent across companies. Out of a total of 900,404 usable questionnaires were received (45 per cent). A majority of workers in the sample were married (68 per cent), male (76 per cent), over age 35 (68 per cent), had a high school education or less (79 per cent), belonged to a union (53 per cent), and had been raised in large cities (71 per cent).

Our three variables, need fulfillment at the workplace, need fulfillment outside of work, and mental health were operationalized as follows:

Need fulfillment-work. Need fulfillment in work was assessed by using a ten-item Likert-type.scale developed by Mitchell and Moudgill ( 1976), and previously shown to successfully test Maslow’s need classification scheme.3 Respondents were asked to rate the importance of such items as “the opportunity to give help to other

3Development of the scale, with a full discussion of its reliability and validity, is discussed in Mitchell and Moudgill(1976).

90 / MUHAMMAD JAMAL AND VANCE F. MITCHELL

people at my job” on a five-point scale. The reliability estimate (alpha) for this measure was .93.

Need fulfillment-nonwork. We used a modified version of the same Mitchell and Moudgill scale to assess need fulfillment in nonwork. This scale has been found to have a reasonable degree of reliability and validity (Jamal, Baba, and Mitchell, 1979). Respondents were advised that “nonwork activities” referred to any activity done at home, with friends, or anywhere outside of one’s regular job. They were then asked to use a five-point scale to rate the importance of items like “the feelings of self-esteem I get in my off-job activities.” The reliability estimate (alpha) was .90.

Mental health.‘ Measures of mental health were constructed from workers’ responses to a 54-item questionnaire developed to tap Kornhauser’s (1965) six dimensions of mental health: (1) manifest anxiety, (2) self-esteem, (3) hostility, (4) sociability, ( 5 ) overall life satisfaction, and (6) personal morale (Jamal, Barnowe, and Mitchell, 1977). Kornhauser’s interview measures were translated into ques- tionnaire items for the present study. However, the number of items in each questionnaire sub-index corresponds to the number in Kornhauser’s original interview study. Sample items from the mental health scale include, “I feel that I am accomplishing the sorts of things I would like to do in my life” (using a five-point rating ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree), and “How often do you see a medical doctor for slight illnesses such as headaches, upset stomach?” (using a five-point range from never to all the time).

Reliabilities of the questionnaire measures of mental health ranged from .60 to .93; the median was .89. The validity of these measures was examined with two procedures. Following Kornhauser, we submitted to a panel of seven psychiatrists and clinicians the questionnaire responses of 32 randomly selected members of our sample. The panelists were asked to review the questionnaires and make global judgments of the subjects’ mental health on a seven-point scale. A reason- ably high interjudge agreement was obtained. Mean interjudge correlation was .74; median, -78; and range, .64 to .91. The correlation between the combined judges’ ratings and the index of mental health (combined scores on 54 items) was .87. The second validation procedure involved testing our mental health measures with a short-form, nine-item index from the mental health scale developed by Quinn et al. (1971). Convergent validity of the index of mental health was again supported (r = .77, p < .001).

Results The median scores on need fulfillment in work and nonwork were

32.5 and 36.2, respectively; the means were 30.7 and 34.2, respectively. In each need area, respondents were divided at the median into high and low need fulfill- ment groups and classified into either complementary, expressive, compensatory, or spillover relationships. The correlation between need fulfillment in work and need fulfillment in nonwork was -32 (p < .001).

One-way analysis of variance was performed to analyze the data (see Table 1).

‘More information concerning these measures and their reliability and validity may be obtained from the first author, in care of the Faculty of Commerce and Administration, Concordia University, Loyola Campus, 7141 Sherbrooke St. West, Montreal, Canada.

Research Note / 91

TABLE 1

MENTAL HEALTH SCORES AS A FUNCTION OF NEED FULFILLMENT IN WORK AND NONWORK

%Ei&hip N SD t F

Complementary (108) 231.05 40.18 Expressive ( 87) 210.83 23.00 3.21' Compensatory ( 83) 180.01 43.00 5.04'' 74.55'9 Spillover (119) 108.44 20.40 3.37"

(Total) (397) (200.04) (43.05)

a A higher score indicates a higher degree of mental health. *p < .01;-p < ,001.

The hypothesized relationships between need fulfillment and mental health are clearly supported. Mean scores on mental health were highest for the complemen- tary relationship, second highest for the expressive relationship, third for the compensatory relationship, and lowest for the spillover relationship. Differences between means across the relationships are statistically significant.

We then used two-way analysis of variance to test these results for three possi- ble moderators: organizational status (blue-collar vs. white-collar), sex (male vs. female), and marital status (single vs. married). AS Table 2 demonstrates, no inter- action effects were found between any of the three moderators and need fulfillment

TABLE 2

TWO-WAY ANALYSIS OF VARIANCE RESULTS OF NEED FULFILLMENT AND MOD ERA TORS^ (MENTAL HEALTH = CRITERION VARIABLE)

Organizational status Type of relationship Blue-collar White-collar

Complementary 227.83 235.94 (53) (53)

Expressive 218.19 211.92 (47) (39)

Compensatory 179.02 198.03 (55) (27)

Spillover 103.00 172.15 (92) (26)

Total 191.23 211.10 (247) (145)

ANOVA F 59.08 P ,001

(A)

(B)

F 2.80 P .08

F 04.93 P .001

(AXB) F 1.77 P .15

Sex

Male Female

230.45 (86)

219.11 (57) 190.00 (04) 107.90 (84)

203.07 (291)

211.53 (19)

207.97

109.39 (18)

159.53 (34)

185.23 (100)

(29)

03.54 .001

11.80 ,001

78.33 .001

2.10 .09

Marital status

Single Married

210.55 234.87 (20) (70)

202.43 217.58 (14) (66)

188.00 185.94

100.92 103.90 (30) (71)

188.15 202.07 (90) (263)

(26) (50)

52.90 .001

1.84 .17

07.07 .001

1.02 .18

'Table figures are cell means, (n) .

92 / MUHAMMAD JAMAL AND VANCE F. MITCHELL

and mental health. However, respondents’ sex was independently related to mental health: male workers in this sample had higher mental health than female workers. Neither marital status nor organizational status had a statistically significant inde- pendent effect on mental health.

When controlling for need fulfillment in nonwork, the partial correlation between need fulfillment in work and mental health was .48 (p < . O O O l ) . Similarly control- ling for need fulfillment in work, the partial correlation between need fulfillment in nonwork and mental health was .20 (p < .001). These results become more meaningful in the face of Orpen’s (1978) finding that it was work satisfaction which led to nonwork satisfaction rather than vice versa.

Discussion The results of our interactional analysis contradict the popular

notion that what happens to individuals in the work environment is not as impor- tant to the achievement of satisfaction and happiness in life as what happens to them in the nonwork environment. The data are also in conflict with London, Crandall, and Seals’ (1977) finding that nonwork items are better than work items in predicting individuals’ overall quality of life. Nonetheless, our results suggest that individuals who cannot appreciably satisfy their psychological needs in their work environment have either a low or, at best, a moderate level of mental health. On the other hand, individuals whose needs are relatively much more satisfied in the work environment show either a high or moderately high level of mental health.

The effects of the three potential moderators on mental health are, in general, consistent with earlier empirical evidence. In Kornhauser’s study, blue-collar automobile workers showed the poorest mental health in comparison with white- collar and nonfactory workers. In the present study, blue-collar workers show a slightly lower level of mental health than white-collar workers. This difference might be due to differential opportunities and status associated with blue-collar and white-collar jobs. The fact that the female respondents’ mental health scores are lower than the males’ is also in agreement with previous studies (Gurin, Veroff, and Feld, 1960; Indik, Seashore, and Slesinger, 1964). A lower level of mental health among females may be due to the fact that women traditionally hold lower status jobs, which are, in turn, generally associated with poor mental health (French, 1963 ; Kornhauser, 1965). The absence of any significant relationship between marital status and mental health is also interesting, given the mixed results from previous work. (Compare Bradburn and Caplovitz, 1965, who found that married people were psychologically happier, with Gechman and Weiner, 1975, who failed to find a relationship.)

The differences between the findings of the present study and those of London et al. (1977) may be an indication that the “quality of life” measured in the latter study and “mental health’ as measured here are two different concepts. Hence, one fruitful area of research would be to delineate the relationship between these two (and similar) variables.

Finally, the fact that the three tested potential moderators failed to affect the original relationships between need fulfillment and mental health gives weight to our model. Along with Weiner, Akbas, and Sommer (19731, we suggest that in predicting mental health adequate attention should be given to work-related

Research Note / 93

variables. Future investigations of mental health should focus on the interaction of different types of variables in work and nonwork environments. In addition, our model should be tested in other settings and among different samples of workers.

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