Personal control, competition, and Type A behavior: An interactional approach to spillover effects.

The capacity of work to generate perceptions of personal control and intragroup competition is examined in relationship to people's personal and marital well-being beyond the work place. These relationships were examined directly, and in interaction with measures of social status, and certain components of Type A behavior. A sample of 903 males and females were interviewed in their homes twice: the first time by trained survey interviewers collecting data on a variety of social, psychological, and health issues including perceptions and feelings about their work, marriages, and their lives in general; and a second time by a trained Type A interviewer. A subset of this group's spouses were similarly interviewed. Factor analyses were conducted to verify the underlying structure of interview data relevant to hypothesized concepts, and scales were developed that reflected these analyses and conceptual considerations. Although perceptions of personal control at work were directly related to the general gratification people derive from their lives, these effects were conditioned by a number of factors: the level of perceived competition at work, social status, and two components of Type A behavior (behavioral assertion and hostility). The effects of personal control on the reactions of spouses was largely contingent on their social status and resource dependence. Analyses for perceived competition indicate that it is experienced as a form of threat since it predicts anxiety and depression among competitors. This occurs directly, and even more strongly in interaction with social status and personality variables. However, perceptions of competition at work were positively related to the well-being of lower status spouses. Findings not only point to the importance of perceptions of personal control and competition as predictors of general and marital well-being, but also to the ways that the social status and the personalities of workers condition the predictions. Thus, the results underscore the power of an interactional perspective in examining spillover effects on focal individuals and their spouses, and the importance of the contextual perspective in the study of personality.PhDPersonality psychologyUniversity of Michiganhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/161863/1/8812992.pd