RESEARCH ARTICLE
Coping with Workplace Interpersonal Stress among
Japanese Employees
Tsukasa Kato*†
Department of Social Psychology, Toyo University, Tokyo, Japan
Abstract
The current study examined the relationship between coping with workplace interpersonal stress (WIS) and psychological dysfunction (i.e. depressive symptoms, burnout, general distress and daytime sleepiness). Three hundred
twenty-four Japanese full-time workers completed measures assessing coping strategies with WIS and psychological
dysfunction. Three strategies of coping with WIS were measured: distancing coping, reassessing coping and constructive coping. Multiple regression analyses revealed that distancing coping, which reflects strategies to actively
damage, disrupt and dissolve a stressful relationship, was related to high levels of depressive symptoms, burnout,
general distress and daytime sleepiness. Reassessing coping, which incorporates efforts to patiently wait for an
appropriate opportunity to act, such as a change or improvement in the situation, was related to low levels of
depressive symptoms, burnout, general distress and daytime sleepiness. Constructive coping was not significantly
associated with psychological dysfunction. Implications for workplace stress are discussed. Copyright © 2014 John
Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Received 29 July 2013; Revised 2 February 2014; Accepted 3 February 2014
Keywords
interpersonal stress; coping behaviour; job stress; burnout; depressive symptoms; sleep problems
*Correspondence
Tsukasa Kato, Department of Social Psychology, Toyo University, 5-28-20 Hakusan, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 112-8606, Japan.
†
Email: [email protected]
Published online 18 March 2015 in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com) DOI: 10.1002/smi.2566
Introduction
Interpersonal stressors are the most frequently encountered stressors in the workplace (e.g. Long, Kahn, &
Schutz, 1992; Smith & Sulsky, 1995). For example, in
a study assessing insurance workers (Dewe, 1993),
46.7% of participants reported that problems in interpersonal relationships were the most stressful aspects
of life in the workplace during the previous month
(e.g. difficult colleague relationships, perceived inconsistencies in management style and demanding client
relationships).
The effects of workplace interpersonal stress (WIS)
can have a detrimental effect on psychological well-being
and have been associated with depressive symptoms
(e.g. Chung-Yan & Moeller, 2010; Frone, 2000), burnout
(e.g. Dijkstra, de Dreu, Evers, & van Dierendonck, 2009)
and general psychological dysfunction (e.g. Chung-Yan
& Moeller, 2010; Dijkstra et al., 2009), with some
theories on depression forming the hypothesis that
interpersonal stressors increase the risk of depression
(for reviews, see Hammen, 2009; Rudolph, 2009). Research has also shown that interpersonal stressors predict
future burnout (for a review, see Maslach, Schaufeli, &
Leiter, 2001), which was originally conceptualized as ‘a
Stress and Health 31: 411–418 (2015) © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
psychological syndrome in response to chronic interpersonal stressors on the job’ (Maslach et al., 2001, p. 399).
Thus, it seems that depressive symptoms and burnout
are strongly related to interpersonal stressors in the
workplace.
In addition to psychological dysfunction, workplace
stressors can also influence behaviour and lead to sleep
problems. Theoretical frameworks on the interactions
between stress and sleep have been established (e.g. van
Reeth et al., 2000), and several studies have demonstrated
that job-related stress is associated with sleep problems
including insomnia and daytime somnolence (e.g. Doi,
Minowa, & Tango, 2003; Utsugi et al., 2005). For example, in a study of 1161 Japanese employees (Nakata et al.,
2004), researchers reported that intragroup conflict, a
workplace stressor, was significantly associated with an
increased risk of insomnia. Therefore, research on WIS
may contribute to understanding psychological or
behavioural dysfunction in the workplace.
Coping with work stressors
Extensive research has been conducted, and several
theories exist with respect to the effects of coping behaviour on psychological or behavioural dysfunction
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Coping with Workplace Interpersonal Stress
in the workplace (see Briner, Harris, & Daniels, 2004;
Hepburn, Loughlin, & Barling, 1997, for reviews). For
example, according to transactional theory, proposed
by Lazarus and colleagues (Lazarus, 1999; Lazarus &
Folkman, 1984), coping is defined as ‘constantly changing cognitive and behavioral efforts to manage specific
external and/or internal demands that are appraised
as taxing or exceeding the resources of the person’
(p. 141). This theory hypothesizes that coping behaviour
affects psychological functioning, including depressive
symptoms, burnout, general distress and daytime sleepiness, and its validity and utility in the workplace have
been supported by numerous studies (Lazarus, 1999).
There are two approaches to measuring coping behaviour: trait and state. The trait approach characterizes coping behaviour as a style and suggests that it is
temporally stable; this approach is not inconsistent
with transactional theory (Ptacek, Smith, Raffety, &
Lindgren, 2008). Previous research has provided evidence that some coping styles are associated with psychological dysfunction in the workplace (see Hepburn
et al., 1997, for reviews). Moreover, research indicates
that coping behaviour is relatively fixed across time
and individuals use specific coping strategies repeatedly
over long periods (see Ptacek et al., 2008, for a review).
Therefore, in the present study, we examined relationship coping style as a trait rather than a state characteristic. Furthermore, according to Hepburn et al. (1997),
a trait approach to coping behaviour addresses chronic
work stressors more effectively than a state approach.
Coping with interpersonal stressors
Kato (2013) defined interpersonal stressors as ‘stressful
episodes between two or more people that involve
quarrels, arguments, negative attitudes or behavior, an
uncomfortable atmosphere during a conversation or
activity, and concern about hurting others’ feelings’
(p. 100); Kato (2013) proposed three types of coping
strategies, based on transactional theory, for dealing
with interpersonal stressors. According to research on
how college students and workers deal with interpersonal stressors, the following coping strategies were
identified: distancing coping, reassessing coping and
constructive coping.
Distancing coping reflects strategies that attempt to
actively damage, disrupt and dissolve a stressful
relationship (e.g. avoiding contact with the person
and ignoring the person), which may lead to poor
interpersonal relationships in the workplace. The
deterioration of interpersonal relationships at work
can produce psychological and physiological dysfunctions (for a review, see Viswesvaran, Sanchez, & Fisher,
1999), and indeed, distancing coping was found to be
positively and significantly correlated with depressive
symptoms, anxiety and general psychological distress
in a study involving Japanese students (Kato, 2013).
Reassessing coping incorporates efforts to wait
patiently for an appropriate opportunity to act or for
412
T. Kato
a change or improvement in the situation to arise
(e.g. taking a pragmatic view of the matter and deciding
not to take the matter seriously). This coping strategy is
associated with the concept of detached mindfulness
(Wells, 2006), or meta-cognitive awareness (Teasdale
et al., 2002), which is a necessary primary skill in clinical
interventions based on mindfulness, such as
mindfulness-based stress reduction (Kabat-Zinn, 1990),
Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (Linehan, 1993) and
mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (Segal, Williams,
& Teasdale, 2002). Detached mindfulness or metacognitive awareness involves decentering or distancing
oneself from negative emotions when they are evoked
(Segal et al., 2002). Clinical interventions based on
mindfulness have provided evidence that these skills
reduce psychological distress and promote well-being
(see Keng, Smoski, & Robins, 2011; Wells, 2006, for
reviews); thus, it seems likely that reassessing coping
may enable people to take time to deal with stressful
relationships in the workplace, attain a better grasp of
the situation, keep their emotions under control and
consider appropriate countermeasures. Moreover,
reassessing coping may also influence other individuals
involved within the stressful relationship(s), helping to
change the other party’s mental state and thus permitting
them to adopt a calmer, more accepting attitude towards
the stressful relationship. In short, reassessing coping enables people to deal with stressful relationships flexibly
and increases the likelihood that the situation will improve. In fact, in a study involving Japanese students
(Kato, 2013), reassessing coping was significantly negatively correlated with depressive symptoms, anxiety and
psychological distress.
Another strategy, constructive coping, involves efforts
that actively seek to improve, maintain or sustain a relationship without aggravating others (e.g. reflecting on
one’s own conduct and trying to understand the other
person’s feelings) and emphasizes respecting and
living in harmony with others. Research findings on
the effects of coping strategies similar to constructive
coping on psychological dysfunction are inconsistent
(Kato, 2013). Several studies have indicated that such
strategies are significantly associated with reduced psychological dysfunction (e.g. Kramer, 1993; Monnier,
Cameron, Hobfoll, & Gribble, 2000), whereas other
studies have found that they are significantly
associated with increased psychological dysfunction
(e.g. Londahl, Tverskoy, & D’Zurilla, 2005; SeiffgeKrenke, 2006). However, these studies did not focus
on coping with WIS; to our knowledge, no study has
examined the relations between coping with WIS and
psychological dysfunction.
Cross-cultural or indigenous perspectives
Coping with interpersonal stressors
To understand coping across cultures, an understanding of the cultural differences related to coping
Stress and Health 31: 411–418 (2015) © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
T. Kato
with WIS is necessary. Many Asian cultures have social
values based on collectivism and interdependence, as
opposed to the values based on individualism and
independence prevalent in many Western cultures
(Markus & Kitayama, 1991); this cultural orientation
has been found to influence individuals’ coping behaviour (Yeh, Arora, & Wu, 2006). Several researchers
have suggested that for people in collectivistic cultures,
coping is more likely to be directed at protecting interpersonal relationships. For instance, Chun, Moos, and
Cronkite (2006) reported that the goal of conflict
resolution in collectivistic cultures is not necessarily
to remove the conflict, but rather to manage it, because
interpersonal conflict indicates disruption or disharmony in relationships. Lam and Zane (2004) found
that, in response to interpersonal stressors, Asian
American university students engaged in more secondary control coping, which involves changing one’s
feelings and thoughts to adjust to the objective environment, than did their White counterparts.
Interpersonal stressors in the workplace
Several studies in Japan have suggested that WIS is
most often experienced in interpersonal relationships
with supervisors (e.g. Kato, 2013). For example,
41.2% workers reported that relationships with supervisors were a main source of work-related stress;
indeed, this was the most frequently cited workplace
stressor (Kato, 2008). Interpersonal stressors in
Japanese culture are generally attempts to avoid explicit
interpersonal conflict, rather than actual interpersonal
conflicts, such as disagreements. For example, Japanese
students reported having more frequent experiences of
interpersonal stressors—which in this case refer to
situations in which people must inhibit their own
assertiveness to avoid explicit interpersonal conflict
with others—than did students in the United States
(Hashimoto, Mojaverian, & Kim, 2012).
Overview and hypotheses
The present study examined the relationships between
coping with WIS and indicators of psychological and
behavioural dysfunction, such as depressive symptoms,
burnout, general distress and daytime sleepiness in
employees. According to previous research, we hypothesized that distancing coping would be positively correlated with psychological and behavioural dysfunction,
whereas reassessing coping would be significantly and
negatively correlated with psychological and behavioural dysfunction. We examined direct effects of
coping with WIS on psychological functioning using
several indicators on psychological functioning, rather
than moderator/mediator effects of coping. This is
because there are few studies that have examined
relationships between coping with WIS and psychological functioning.
Stress and Health 31: 411–418 (2015) © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Coping with Workplace Interpersonal Stress
Method
Participants and procedure
Three hundred twenty-four Japanese full-time workers
(147 men and 177 women), whose ages ranged from 20
to 68 years (M = 38.62, SD = 10.38), participated in the
study; eight participants did not provide their age. All
participants were non-shift workers; approximately
43% were clerical workers, 11% were engineers or
engineering managers and 27% were managers or
supervisors. In total, 57%, 36% and 6% of the workers
had completed graduate education, high school education and post-secondary undergraduate education or
vocational education, respectively.
Participants were recruited through five manufacturing industry labour unions under the condition that
they are full-time, non-shift workers. After signing an informed consent form, all participants completed a set of
questionnaires at their workplace within group sessions.
All participants received a pen valued at ¥100 (approximately $1.25) in exchange for completing each survey.
Measures
We measured coping with WIS, burnout, daytime
sleepiness, depressive symptoms and general distress.
We also assessed working hours because several researchers have reported an association between long
working hours and health problems (see Johnson &
Lipscomb, 2006, for reviews). In Japan, workers generally work longer hours than do workers in other countries (Otsuka, Sasaki, Iwasaki, & Mori, 2009); therefore,
we used working hours to control for the effects of
working hours on psychological dysfunction.
Three native Japanese psychologists independently
translated all measures, originally written in English, into
Japanese. The questionnaires were then back translated
into English by a native English psychologist. After the
back translation, the original and back-translated questionnaires were compared for discrepancies. Modifications were made to the translated questionnaires after a
discussion between the translators.
Coping with WIS
The Interpersonal Stress Coping Scale (ISCS; Kato,
2013) was used to measure coping with interpersonal
stress. The ISCS consists of three 5-item subscales:
distancing coping (e.g. avoiding contact with the
person and ignoring the person), reassessing coping
(e.g. taking a pragmatic view of the matter and deciding
not to take the matter seriously) and constructive coping (e.g. reflecting on one’s own conduct and trying to
understand the other person’s feelings). This scale has
demonstrated adequate reliability and validity with
Japanese samples. In a study of Japanese participants
(Kato, 2013), each coping strategy was associated with
theoretically related constructs. Participants were asked
to rate the extent to which they used each item to deal
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Coping with Workplace Interpersonal Stress
with interpersonal stressors in the workplace on a
4-point Likert scale ranging from 0 (did not use) to 3
(used a great deal). The detailed instructions were as
follows: ‘Please recall the specifics of your own
experiences of stress due to interpersonal relationships.
These may include quarreling with others, being talked
about behind your back, feeling awkward while
speaking, and worrying if you have hurt someone’s
feelings. Please read each item and indicate to what
extent you used that strategy in the situations you
encountered.’ That is, in the present study, we
measured coping behaviour as a trait. The fit indices
for the three-factor model in the present study were
as follows: χ 2(87, N = 324) = 298.1, p < 0.001; root
mean squared error of approximation = 0.08, standardized root mean squared residual = 0.08 and comparative fit index = 0.91.
Depressive symptoms
Depressive symptoms were measured by the Center
for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D;
Radloff, 1977). The CES-D is a 20-item self-report scale
designed to measure depressive symptoms. The
Japanese version of the CES-D has demonstrated
adequate reliability and validity with Japanese workers
(e.g. Iwata, Roberts, & Kawakami, 1995). The
Cronbach’s alpha for the Japanese version of the
CES-D was 0.90 for a sample of Japanese workers
(Kato, 2012). Each item was rated according to participants’ experiences within the past week. Participants
rated items on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from
0 (not at all) to 4 (very much so).
Burnout
The Maslach Burnout Inventory-General Survey
(MBI-GS; Schaufeli, Leiter, Maslach, & Jackson, 1996)
was used to measure burnout. The MBI-GS is a
16-item questionnaire designed to measure three components of burnout across different types of occupations. The first dimension is exhaustion (five items),
which is the basic individual stress dimension of
burnout, and refers to feelings of being overextended
and having depleted one’s emotional and physical resources. The second dimension is cynicism (five items),
which represents the interpersonal context dimension
of burnout; it refers to a negative, callous or excessively
detached response to various aspects of the job. The
third dimension, inefficacy (six items), refers to feelings
of incompetence and a lack of achievement and productivity at work (Maslach et al., 2001). The validity
of the MBI-GS scores has been well established for
Japanese workers (Kitaoka-Higashiguchi et al., 2004).
Cronbach’s alphas for the Japanese version of the
MBI-GS subscales were 0.85, 0.87 and 0.81 (KitaokaHigashiguchi et al., 2004). Each item was rated
according to participants’ experiences within the past
week using a 5-point Likert scale, which ranges from
0 (not at all) to 4 (very much so).
414
T. Kato
General distress
The General Health Questionnaire-12 (GHQ-12;
Goldberg & Williams, 1988) is a general measure of
health and psychopathology, which we used to assess
psychological stress. The GHQ-12 is a self-report scale
with good validity. Reliability and validity for Japanese
samples have been verified in several previous studies
(e.g. Doi & Minowa, 2003). The Cronbach’s alpha for
the Japanese version of the GHQ-12 was 0.88 for a
sample of Japanese workers (Kato, 2012). Each item
was rated according to participants’ experiences within
the past week, following a 5-point Likert scale ranging
from 0 (much less than usual) to 4 (better than usual).
Daytime sleepiness
Daytime sleepiness was measured with the Epworth
Sleepiness Scale (ESS; Johns, 1991), which was designed
to measure excessive daytime sleepiness. The ESS is an
8-item self-report scale. The validity of the ESS is well
established in Japanese samples (e.g. Takegami et al.,
2009). The Cronbach’s alpha for the Japanese version
of the ESS was 0.71 for a sample of Japanese workers
(Kato, ). Each item was rated on a 5-point Likert-type
scale ranging from 0 (would never doze) to 4 (high chance
of dozing).
Working hours
Participants were asked to report the number of
hours worked per week, which included work in the
home as well as work in the workplace. Participants
rated working time, during the past month, in units
of minutes. To minimize the impacts of extreme outliers, participants’ responses were recoded into nine
categories: 1 = 25 h or fewer, 2 = between 25 and 30 h
(not including 25 h), 3 = between 30 and 35 h (not including 30 h), 4 = between 35 and 40 h (not including
35 h), 5 = between 40 and 45 h (not including 40 h),
6 = between 45 and 50 h (not including 45 h), 7 =
between 50 and 55 h (not including 50 h), 8 = between
55 and 60 h (not including 55 h) and 9 = more than
60 h.
Results
Means, standard deviations and alpha coefficients for
all variables, as well as the correlation matrix of the
correlations among all variables, are shown in Table I.
Hierarchical multiple regression analyses were
conducted on depressive symptoms, burnout, general
distress and daytime sleepiness as the criterion variables. Gender (men = 1, women = 2) and working
hours were entered in Step 1, and three coping strategies were entered in Step 2 (Table II).
For all models, the changes in R2 at Step 2 were significant at the p < 0.01 level, indicating that significant
proportions of the variance in all criterion variables
were accounted for by coping strategies. The beta
weights for distancing coping were significant and
Stress and Health 31: 411–418 (2015) © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
T. Kato
Coping with Workplace Interpersonal Stress
Table I. Means, standard deviations, Cronbach’s alphas and zero-order correlations for this study
Correlation
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Variable
M
SD
α
Distancing coping
Reassessing coping
Constructive coping
Depressive symptoms
Exhaustion
Cynicism
Inefficacy
General distress
Daytime sleepiness
3.92
7.95
7.60
29.61
8.13
5.96
8.74
9.28
11.96
3.12
2.93
2.71
12.38
4.61
3.76
4.37
5.75
3.42
0.84
0.82
0.71
0.91
0.82
0.81
0.89
0.90
0.74
1
0.08
0.17**
0.23***
0.22***
0.25***
0.22***
0.14*
0.12*
2
0.22***
0.18***
0.10
0.12*
0.06
0.16**
0.12*
3
0.00
0.05
0.14**
0.04
0.01
0.01
4
5
6
7
8
0.48***
0.51***
0.62***
0.69***
0.13*
0.56***
0.51
0.46***
0.12*
0.71***
0.40***
0.08
0.43***
0.05
0.08
*p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001.
positive in the multiple regression analyses with
depressive symptoms (β = 0.27, p < 0.001), burnout
(βs = 0.23, 0.24 and 0.23, ps < 0.001), general distress
(β = 0.16, p < 0.01) and daytime sleepiness (β = 0.15,
p < 0.01). All beta weights, except for inefficacy, for
reassessing coping were significant and negative in the
multiple regression analyses with depressive symptoms
(β = 0.22, p < 0.001), burnout (βs = 0.13 and 0.12,
ps < 0.05), general distress (β = 0.18, p < 0.001) and
daytime sleepiness (β = 0.15, p < 0.01). No beta
weights for constructive coping were significant. Overall,
these results were consistent with our hypotheses,
although we did not predict for constructive coping.
Discussion
The current study examined the relationship between
coping strategies for WIS and depressive symptoms,
burnout, general distress and daytime sleepiness.
Coping with WIS was associated with psychological
dysfunction, even after controlling for the effects of
working hours. In particular, the strategy for coping
with WIS predicted the level of depressive symptoms
and burnout, both strong indicators of WIS. Thus,
the results suggest that the measurement of coping with
WIS is valid.
It was hypothesized that distancing coping would be
positively associated with psychological dysfunction
and that reassessing coping would be negatively associated with psychological dysfunction. Multiple regression analyses revealed that distancing coping was
related to high levels of depressive symptoms, burnout,
general distress and daytime sleepiness. Conversely,
reassessing coping was related to low levels of depressive symptoms, burnout, general distress and daytime
sleepiness. Overall, our hypotheses were supported.
Our data suggest that distancing coping, which is a
strategy that includes damaging, disrupting and dissolving stressful relationships, was related to poor
psychological functioning in Japanese employees. This
finding is consistent with previous studies on coping
with interpersonal stressors. Thus, distancing coping
Stress and Health 31: 411–418 (2015) © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
may not be an adaptive strategy, regardless of culture
and context. Distancing coping was associated with depressive symptoms and burnout, which are strongly related to interpersonal stressors. Among burnout, the
association between distancing coping and cynicism,
which represents the interpersonal context dimension
of burnout, was particularly strong. These results
suggest that distancing coping is associated with poor
psychological health due to interpersonal stressors.
Conversely, our results suggest that reassessing coping was associated with low levels of psychological dysfunction in Japanese employees. As mentioned earlier,
reassessing coping involves detaching from the stressful
relationship and waiting for the appropriate opportunity to act, or for a situation to change or improve.
Our results are consistent with the outcomes dictated
by theories of mindfulness and with previous evidence
on the results of mindfulness interventions such as
mindfulness-based stress reduction, Dialectical Behavioral Therapy and mindfulness-based cognitive therapy
(see Keng et al., 2011; Wells, 2006, for reviews).
Mindfulness theories highlight the importance of
detached mindfulness (Wells, 2006) or meta-cognitive
awareness (Teasdale et al., 2002), skills similar to the
concept of reassessing coping. Thus, the findings
related to reassessing coping may contribute to our
understanding of detached mindfulness and metacognitive awareness. As described earlier, reassessing
coping is characterized by keeping one’s emotions
under control and reassessing stressful relationship,
thus increasing the likelihood that the situation will
improve. It may be meaningful for future studies to
examine the precise reassessing coping strategies that
are effective in reducing psychological dysfunction.
Regarding constructive coping, no significant
relationships between this strategy and psychological
dysfunction were observed, which is consistent with
results from other studies involving Japanese students
(Kato, 2013). Japanese culture emphasizes respecting
and living in harmony with others, and one’s behaviour
is based on one’s perceptions of the thoughts, feelings
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Coping with Workplace Interpersonal Stress
T. Kato
Table II. Regression results for gender, working hours and coping with workplace interpersonal stress as predictors of psychological dysfunction
Criterion variable
Predictor
Depressive symptoms
Step 1
Gender
Working hours
Step 2
Distancing coping
Reassessing coping
Constructive coping
Exhaustion
Step 1
Gender
Working hours
Step 2
Distancing coping
Reassessing coping
Constructive coping
Cynicism
Step 1
Gender
Working hours
Step 2
Distancing coping
Reassessing coping
Constructive coping
Inefficacy
Step 1
Gender
Working hours
Step 2
Distancing coping
Reassessing coping
Constructive coping
General distress
Step 1
Gender
Working hours
Step 2
Distancing coping
Reassessing coping
Constructive coping
Daytime sleepiness
Step 1
Gender
Working hours
Step 2
Distancing coping
Reassessing coping
Constructive coping
95% CI
ΔR
2
B
2.51
0.53
SE
1.32
0.30
0.10***
1.03
0.91
0.41
2
R = 0.12***
0.46
0.66
0.21
0.23
0.26
0.48
0.11
0.06***
0.34
0.19
0.08
2
R = 0.16***
0.76
0.12
0.08
0.08
0.09
0.41
0.09
0.08***
0.30
0.16
0.07
2
R = 0.10***
0.07
0.07
0.08
0.65
0.12
0.48
0.11
0.31
0.12
0.01
2
R = 0.06 ***
0.08
0.08
0.09
0.67
0.40
0.63
0.14
0.05***
0.05***
0.29
0.35
0.13
2
R = 0.08***
0.16
0.05
0.10
0.11
0.12
0.38
0.09
0.04**
0.16
0.17
0.10
2
R = 0.04*
0.06
0.07
0.07
β
t value
LL
UL
0.10
0.09
2
Cohen’s f = 0.11
0.26
0.22
0.09
1.89
1.76
0.10
0.06
5.11
1.13
4.81***
3.98***
1.62
0.61
1.37
0.09
1.45
0.46
0.91
0.05
0.31
2
Cohen’s f = 0.06
0.23
0.12
0.05
0.95
6.00***
0.49
0.45
1.41
0.88
4.35***
2.26*
0.88
0.19
0.35
0.10
0.49
0.02
0.26
0.10
0.07
2
Cohen’s f = 0.09
0.25
0.13
0.05
1.86
1.34
1.56
0.06
0.04
0.31
4.61***
2.28*
0.86
0.17
0.30
0.22
0.43
0.02
0.09
0.07
0.06
2
Cohen’s f = 0.06
0.22
0.08
0.01
1.35
1.08
0.30
0.10
1.60
0.34
4.03***
1.38
0.14
0.16
0.28
0.17
0.47
0.05
0.20
0.06
0.15
2
Cohen’s f = 0.05
0.16
0.18
0.06
1.07
2.73**
0.57
0.11
1.91
0.68
2.88**
3.17**
1.07
0.09
0.56
0.11
0.49
0.13
0.37
0.02
0.03
2
Cohen’s f = 0.09
0.15
0.15
0.08
0.41
0.54
0.91
0.13
0.60
0.22
2.66**
2.60**
1.31
0.04
0.30
0.05
0.29
0.04
0.24
*p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001.
416
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T. Kato
Coping with Workplace Interpersonal Stress
and actions of others (Markus & Kitayama, 1991);
however, strategies that emphasize these values may
not influence psychological dysfunction. In addition
to Japanese samples, studies with Western samples
have also provided inconsistent findings on the relationships between constructive coping and psychological dysfunction. Future studies should further examine
constructive coping and psychological dysfunction to
better understand their relationship. For example, to
address this inconsistency, it may be helpful to explore
moderating effects of interpersonal stressors on the relationship between constructive coping and psychological dysfunction.
Limitations and future research
Despite the strengths, several limitations of the present
study warrant caution in the interpretation of the findings. Firstly, the data were gathered from self-report
measures via a cross-sectional design; therefore, some
of our findings may be influenced by reporter biases
due to common method variance (CMV). However,
many of the procedures suggested by Podsakoff,
MacKenzie, and Podsakoff (2012) to control for
common method biases were used herein, including
protecting respondent anonymity, reducing evaluation
apprehension and the use of reliable and valid measures for each construct. Nevertheless, future research
should use other methods to reduce potential CMV
biases; moreover, the use of a longitudinal design could
also reduce potential biases (Podsakoff et al., 2012).
Secondly, because of the cross-sectional design of
our study, the causal relationship between coping with
WIS and psychological dysfunction cannot be inferred.
Although it is difficult to demonstrate that coping with
WIS affects psychological functioning, further experimental studies could provide information about potential causal inferences.
Thirdly, the interpretation of effect sizes with respect
to the relationship between coping strategies and
psychological dysfunction should be considered.
According to Cohen (1988), small, medium and large
effect sizes correspond to f2 values of 0.02, 0.15 and
0.35, respectively. The multiple regression analyses
revealed that the proportions of the variance in all
criterion variables were significantly accounted for by
coping strategies for dealing with WIS. However, the
Cohen’s f2 for the impact of three coping strategies in
the present study ranged from 0.04 to 0.11 (Table II),
indicating that our effect sizes were small, particularly,
with respect to daytime sleepiness. However, the direction of the relationship between each coping strategy
and psychological dysfunction was consistent. We
might reproduce our findings on the relationships of
coping strategies with WIS and psychological dysfunction by replicating further studies.
Fourthly, our study lacked a measure of WIS. It is
possible that coping behaviour acts as a mediator and
moderator on the relationship between interpersonal
stressors and stress responses. Therefore, valid measurements of WIS will help researchers better understand the relationships between coping behaviour and
stress responses. Furthermore, more information about
WIS in Japanese culture may be used to create a framework that could explain the findings presented herein.
Nevertheless, future research should further delineate
the associations between interpersonal stressors, coping
behaviour and psychological dysfunction in the
workplace.
Finally, in the present study, gender was not significantly associated with psychological dysfunction after
controlling for the effects of working hours and three
coping strategies on psychological dysfunction. However, we did not examine further gender differences
in the variables of interest because gender differences
were not a focus of this study.
Conclusions
Coping with WIS was associated with psychological
dysfunction, particularly depressive symptoms and
burnout, which are strongly related to interpersonal
stressors in the workplace. Although there were several
limitations of the present study, our data indicated that
distancing coping was related to high levels of psychological dysfunction and reassessing coping was related
to low levels to psychological dysfunction.
Conflict of interest
The authors have declared that they have no conflict of
interest.
Acknowledgment
I would like to thank Hirokazu Taniguchi for their
helpful comments in rewriting an earlier draft of
this article.
This research was supported by a grant from the
Amour-Science Research to Tsukasa Kato.
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