Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Objectives. This study hypothesized that chronic stressors associated with an everyday social role (work) would interact with a traumatic macrostressor (9/11/01) in predicting mental health. Methods. Mail surveys were returned at wave 3 of a workplace cohort study, in some cases before and in others after 9/ll/01. Questionnaires assessed decision latitude, sexual harassment, generalized workplace abuse, distress and drinking. Regression analyses addressed the main effect of 9/11 and interactions between 9/11 and work stressors, controlling for baseline mental health.

Results. The main effect of 9/11 on elevated drinking was significant for women but not men. For women, work stressors significantly interacted with experiencing 9/ll for drinking and anxiety outcomes.

Conclusions. Women experiencing chronic work stressors were most vulnerable to elevated distress and drinking after 9/11.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: This paper reports findings from an empirical study designed to test the hypotheses that project-induced migration is a stressor that would negatively affect the mental well-being of involuntary migrants and that the harmful effects of the stressor can be ameliorated by the protective resources migrants possess. The study is guided by the stress process model (Ensel and Lin 1991; Pearlin 1989; Thoits 1995), a paradigm which has been used extensively by American researchers to explain associations between exposure to different types of stressors and symptoms of psychological stress but with unknown generalizability to a different culture. Data used in the analysis were collected from a sample of Chinese who would be displaced by China’s Three Gorges project; non-migrants from the same region are also included as the control group. Our findings indicated that involuntary migration is a significant predictor of depression. Controlling for social, political, and psychological resources, as well as preexisting chronic strains and other stressors reduces, but not completely eliminates, the statistically significant difference in the level depression between involuntary migrants and their non-migratory counterparts.

Supporting Publications:
Supporting Document

Publication Type: Poster
Abstract: Abstract

Surveys were sent to 308 police chiefs and sheriffs in Indiana. Two-hundred twenty nine were returned for a response rate of 74%. The device measured six areas of policing: 1) demographics of police executives; 2) departmental characteristics; 3) stressors (external); 4) stressors (internal/work-related); 5) police executive attitudes toward the current use of police resources; and 6) police executive perceptions of the efficacy of current police strategies and tactics. Results showed that Indiana police departments and sheriff’s offices are mostly small departments with little turnover and are rarely accredited by CALEA. Civilian Review Boards and Early Warning Systems are rarely used to address police misconduct. Indiana departments are overwhelmingly white and male and attempts to increase diversity have failed. Police executive stressors were highest in the area of perceiving courts as too lenient, the Criminal Justice system as ineffective and media reports about police as overly hostile. Similarly, they indicate significant sources of stress in the areas of financial resources for the department, poor equipment, and dealing with complaints about their officers. Chiefs and sheriffs indicate strong support for the use of police resources for tracking sex offenders and enforcing drug laws. Problem areas were identified in that police executives are not familiar with research on policing. These misunderstandings result in stress on the part of police managers. Areas of misunderstanding include the effectiveness of random patrol and enforcing anti-marijuana laws. Policy implications are discussed.

Publication Type: Roundtable Paper
Abstract: Employees in the human-service professions are particularly vulnerable to stress. The belief that policing is a stressful occupation is intuitively appealing, especially when reinforced by stereotypical images. However, the evidence is mixed regarding the nature of police work as inherently stressful. Some researchers argue there is little or no empirical evidence to support the conventional belief that the nature of police work is especially stressful. Although it may seem counterintuitive, several studies suggest it is the organization and not the nature of police work that is the source of most police officers’ stress. If police officers are laboring under stress, then performance—essential for organizational effectiveness—may be degraded.
This cross-sectional research pools survey data from two urban U.S. police departments—Detroit (MI) and Paterson (NJ) (n=461)—and is in the direction of causal theory. Preliminary analysis is consistent with prior findings, which suggests police officers consider the organization their greatest source of stress. Factor analysis produced twelve factors accounting for 74.8% of the variance (F(11,423) = 22.043; p<.000; R2=.364).
Policy implications include reorganizing agency structure, policies and practices to reduce the perception the agency does not care about its employees and increase employee participation in decisions that affect them.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Adolescents with homosexual and bisexual orientations have a higher level of psychological distress than other adolescents. This study focuses on determinants of psychological distress in social environment and investigates how they help us understand the relationship between adolescent sexual orientation and psychological distress. Specifically, the study has the following three objectives: (1) to examine the extent to which interpersonal stressors explain the higher distress level among sexual minority adolescents; (2) to estimate the degree to which these adolescents are friends with each other at school; and (3) to test whether their mutual friendships reduce psychological distress. Analysis of longitudinal data based on a nationally representative sample showed that interpersonal problems with parents and peers and lack of emotional attachment were associated with a higher level of psychological distress and that these interpersonal factors explained a moderate portion of the gap in distress level between sexual minorities and other adolescents. Sexual minorities were not necessarily isolated from their peers at school, but they were not well connected with each other. When they knew each other, however, their mutual friendships reduced psychological distress and protected them from the psychological harm associated with interpersonal problems. The results are used to describe adolescents’ attempts to cope with sexual minority status and manage social relationships. In addition, this paper addresses the ways in which sociological research may contribute to the literature on the adolescent mental health by conceptualizing sexual orientation as a dimension of social inequality.