scispace - formally typeset
Search or ask a question

Showing papers in "Human Relations in 1988"


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the relative importance of various influences on organizational commitment was assessed using an exchange perspective based on work rewards and work values, and the results indicated that intrinsic rewards are significantly more powerful determinants of commitment than extrinsic rewards.
Abstract: Using an exchange perspective based on work rewards and work values, this study is concerned with assessing the relative importance of various influences on organizational commitment. Data from 1385 workers representing a variety of occupations suggests that the model employed explains a large proportion of the variations in this work attribute. Moreover, it appears that work rewards have a strong positive effect on commitment while work values have a weaker negative effect. The results further indicate that intrinsic rewards are significantly more powerful determinants of commitment than extrinsic rewards. Additionally, the study examines the role of demographic variables. Generally, the data suggests that the effect of demographic factors on commitment is indirect through work rewards and values. The implications of these findings are discussed.

434 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A quantitative review of employee absence correlates was conducted to address inconsistencies among findings and include the results of studies conducted since the last major review as mentioned in this paper, which indicated that work environment and organization-wide correlates are better predictors of worker absence than psychological or demographic correlates.
Abstract: A quantitative review of employee absence correlates was conducted to address inconsistencies among findings and include the results of studies conducted since the last major review. Correlates were categorized as psychological, demographic work environment, or organization-wide factors and analyzed separately using two operationalizations (total time absent and absence frequency). Occupational status was used as a moderator for correlates with unstable effects. The results of the study indicate that work environment and organization-wide correlates are better predictors of employee absence than psychological or demographic correlates. Both the implications for volitional theories of absence and practical applications of the findings are discussed.

359 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: For example, this paper argued that while scripts conserve cognitive capacity, provide a basis for organizing and evaluating behavior, legitimate organizational activities, moderate role conflict, and facilitate sense making, prediction, and control, they also induce a lack of vigilance and authenticity in operating routines, and bunkered perceptions, premature closure, and superstitious learning in decision making.
Abstract: Much organizational behavior is argued to be performed mindlessly, on the basis of scripts learned through organizational socialization, work experience, and symbolic management. While scripts conserve cognitive capacity, provide a basis for organizing and evaluating behavior, legitimate organizational activities, moderate role conflict, andfacilitate sense making, prediction, and control, they also induce a lack of vigilance and authenticity in operating routines, and bunkered perceptions, premature closure, and superstitious learning in decision making. Directions for future research include documenting the existence and effects of mindlessness, and exploring the predisposing conditions of script processing and means of maximizing the functional and minimizing the dysfunctional aspects of scripts on organizational effectiveness.

305 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors used cognitive variables to assess career success and examined past career choices to show that post-decisional justification may be apparent, and found that demographics and success criteria are the best predictor sets when trying to explain a person's objective career success, mobility, and career satisfaction.
Abstract: Research into career success has usually dealt with objective aspects of career paths such as income and job title. This paper suggests also using cognitive variables to assess career success and examines past career choices to show that postdecisional justification may be apparent. The data reveal that demographics and success criteria are the best predictor sets when trying to explain a person's objective career success, mobility, and career satisfaction. Implications for future research and management are discussed.

296 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that the introduction of qualitative research methods into the study of leadership may improve this area of research by facilitating the introduction a wider range of contextual variables into the investigation of leadership styles.
Abstract: This article argues that the introduction of qualitative research methods into the study of leadership may improve this area of research by facilitating the introduction of a wider range of contextual variables into the investigation of leadership styles. It is also contended that such variables have the advantage of being grounded in people's experiences and are therefore more accesible to practitioners. These points are developed from the authors' research into the construction industry, in which the factors taken into account by leaders informing their leadership styles were investigated through intensive interviewing during three construction projects.

174 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the implicit assumptions underlying current research into occupational stress and burnout are examined and the authors suggest that both fields could be strengthened by incorporating more sociological concepts and developing analyses of the effects which discrepancies between the manifest and latent functions and surface and deep structures of organizations have on the individual's subjective experiences of work.
Abstract: This article examines the implicit assumptions underlying current research into occupational stress and burnout. It argues that the two fields utilize similar theoretical models and research techniques and therefore have a number of problems in common. These problems arise from their common tendency to adopt a psychological perspective which pays insufficient attention to the complexity of the interrelationship between social conditions and subjective experience. The article suggests that both fields could be strengthened by incorporating more sociological concepts and developing analyses of the effects which discrepancies between the manifest and latent functions and surface and deep structures of organizations have on the individual's subjective experiences of work. The value of such analyses is illustrated with three examples of empirical research utilizing this perspective.

143 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, it is proposed that members' creation of metaphors facilitates further expression and development of the group and suggests that metaphor facilitates learning and overcomes resistance to otherwise difficult subjects.
Abstract: It is proposed in this paper that members' creation of metaphors facilitates further expression and development of the group. Few methodologies for group inquiry help us in understanding the tacit awareness (Polanyi, 1959) of members as the group is in the process of interacting. One way of discovering members' awareness is by paying attention to their language, specifically their creation of metaphors. We would like to put forth propositions concerning metaphor and group process that suggest how: (1) paying attention to metaphors are indicators of a group's phase of development and can lead to a discovery of the tacit awareness of group members; (2) metaphor facilitates learning and overcomes resistance to otherwise difficult subjects; (3) metaphor is generative and facilitates contact between group members and in this way supports the growth and development of the group; and (4) as individuals articulate metaphors to express their feelings and perceptions while attempting to understand their experience ...

141 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This paper found that independent goals interfere more with interaction between work units than within them, and that employees who concluded that their goals were cooperative had trusting expectations, exchanged information and resources, worked efficiently and productively, and developed confidence for future collaboration.
Abstract: Goal interdependence has been theorized to affect collaboration both within and between groups. Thirty-nine employees of a public health agency were interviewed on specific interactions they had with those either in their own or another work unit. Consistent with previous experiments, employees who concluded that their goals were cooperative had trusting expectations, exchanged information and resources, worked efficiently and productively, and developed confidence for future collaboration. Interactions with competitive goals were characterized by suspicion, little exchange, and low productivity and morale. Results were interpreted as suggesting that independent goals interfere more with interaction between work units than within them.

111 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The progression of withdrawal hypothesis predicts a hierarchy among withdrawal behaviors, with lateness being followed by absence, which in turn results in quitting, and tentative evidence of a lateness-quitting progression as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: The progression of withdrawal hypothesis predicts a hierarchy among withdrawal behaviors, with lateness being followed by absence, which in turn results in quitting. This paper presents longitudinal attendance data from a sample of 63 hospital employees. Analyses of conditional probabilities revealed progressions from lateness to absence, from multiple (but not single) absences to quitting, and tentative evidence of a lateness-quitting progression. Initial lateness was also found to result in increased subsequent lateness, and likewise for absence.

107 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors proposed that the psychological experience of unemployed persons is determined by the stressfulness of the environment, but the relationships between the two is affected by certain conditioning variables, e.g., general health and social class, and by personal attributes such as their commitment to being employed and the tactics they use to cope with being unemployed.
Abstract: This paper proposes that the psychological experience of unemployed persons is determined by the stressfulness of the environment, but the relationships between the two is affected by certain conditioning variables, e.g., general health and social class, and by personal attributes such as their commitment to being employed and the tactics they use to cope with being unemployed. This model is tested empirically in a longitudinal study of 75 men who were studied on three occasions over a period of 2 years. Stepwise multiple regression was used to test the model on three occasions, and it was shown to be reasonably successful in predicting variations in psychological well-being. At time 3 of the study, trait neuroticism was measured to test the hypothesis that the large correlations among all negatively-toned scales found in the first two phases of the study were the result of a personality trait such as neuroticism. The results strongly supported this hypothesis. The implications of this for other self-repo...

96 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, a case study is presented describing one organization's comprehensive set of internal structures that allow them to successfully fulfill leadership functions without creating leader roles, and some preliminary suggestions regarding necessary conditions for the success of leaderless organizational structures are made.
Abstract: Findings reported in the research literature concerned with labeling, status and communication in groups, power, expertise, responsibility, and resistance support the position that leader-follower distinctions in organizations are likely to undermine the very goals they are established to achieve. Rather than being inspired by leaders to do their best, it is likely that followers will either limit themselves to status-appropriate behaviors or resist their low power roles. A case study is presented describing one organization's comprehensive set of internal structures that allows them to successfully fulfill leadership functions without creating leader roles. By drawing comparisons between this organization and another enterprise that has a flat structure, some preliminary suggestions regarding necessary conditions for the success of leaderless organizational structures are made. The implications for behavioral scientists are discussed.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the Emery-Trist levels of organizational environments were extended to the afifth level consistent with premises laid in their milestone paper (Emery & Trist, 1965) and the mounting contemporary evidence that can be observed in the salience of maladaptive responses to turbulent environments is the second reason for undertaking this challenge.
Abstract: The paper develops a conceptual scheme that has not been developed to extend the Emery-Trist levels of organizational environments to afifth level consistent with premises laid in their milestone paper (Emery & Trist, 1965). The mounting contemporary evidence that can be observed in the salience of maladaptive responses to turbulent environments is the second reason for undertaking this challenge. More specifically, it is argued that the prevalence of stalemate, polarization, and monothematic dogmatism, the second-order maladaptive responses to the turbulent environment, leads to a frozen or a clinched order of connectedness as well as that of unevenly dynamic turbulent conditions. This approach facilitates the articulation of a different causal texture of an organizational environment than the previous four levels (placid random, placid clustered, disturbed reactive, and turbulent).

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors return to the origins of the debate in Kuhn's philosophy of science and draw upon the "later" Wittgenstein for facilitating Giddens' "relativity without relativism".
Abstract: The paper discusses a major logical problem in recent organizational analysis the assumption that while paradigms are incommensurable, movement between them is nonproblematic, i.e., writers suggest paradigms are exclusive yet advocate interparadigm research (Ritzer, 1975; Burrell and Morgan, 1979; Pondy and Boje, 1981; Morgan, 1986). To make sense of this, and to establish an argument for paradigm mediation, we return to the origins of the debate in Kuhn's philosophy of science. In finding much equivocation in Kuhn, and especially in his debate with Popper, we draw upon the "later" Wittgenstein for facilitating Giddens' "relativity without relativism. " The analysis rejects both Kuhn's (1962) "strong" thesis of incommensurability and Popper's (1970) notion of liberal transions, in favor of a middle ground through Wittgenstein's (1953) "language-game of everyday life. "For organizational analysis, the paper argues for being "trained into" new paradigms, given the premise that "unorganized experience cannot...

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, 165 subjects were asked to evaluate the appropriateness of three types of jokes in work settings and found that white and females found racist and sexist jokes more inappropriate than black and males.
Abstract: Humor is seen as a virtuous personality trait that can be used to release tension, convey organizational roles, and alleviate boredom. What may be perceived as a humorous joke to one person, however, could be considered inappropriate or offensive to another. Thus, joking may impact on civil and human rights litigation and on the quality of work life. To further understand perceptions of humor and joking, 165 subjects were asked to evaluate the appropriateness of three types of jokes in work settings. Whites and females considered racist and sexist jokes more inappropriate than blacks and males. Inexperienced employees considered all joking behavior at work to be less appropriate than experienced employees.

Journal ArticleDOI
Joseph S. Fiorelli1
TL;DR: The study describes team member responses to a questionnaire regarding bases of social power used within 19 interdisciplinary clinical team meetings and their relationship with team decision-making style, participation in team decisions, and team meeting productivity.
Abstract: Power and restrictive participation are often identified as primary issues which can retard the productivity of work groups. The study describes team member responses to a questionnaire regarding bases of social power used within 19 interdisciplinary clinical team meetings and their relationship with team decision-making style, participation in team decisions, and team meeting productivity. Physicians were found to effect almost all treatment decisions, and autocratic decision making was found to be more prevalent than consensual decision making. It is suggested that the generally held belief that the interdisciplinary team approach is equivalent with shared decision making and broad-based participation needs careful re-examination. Implications of the findings for shared decision making in health care teams and work groups in general are discussed. The importance for managers and team leaders to understand and appropriately facilitate the dynamics of power in work groups is emphasized.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the utility of the coordinated management of meaning (CMM) theory of rules for identifying different cultures within an organization and for conceptualizing the complex interaction between them is discussed.
Abstract: This essay articulates the utility of the coordinated management of meaning(CMM) theory of rules for identifying different cultures within an organization and for conceptualizing the complex interaction between them. In CMM, rules are conceptualized as cognitions that individuals employ to create action in interpersonal episodes. The utility of CMMas a theoretical and an analytical frame is specifically demonstrated through applying the perspective to one view of multiple cultures in organizations: the interplay between a dominant culture, one whose central values are espoused by top management and are widely shared, and three specific types of subcultures: enhancing, orthogonal, and a counterculture. The roles of structural vs. content factors in organizational cultures as well as the dynamic meshing of intrapersonal meanings to create interpersonal action are also addressed in terms of CMM.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, information is understood as a socially constructed phenomenon and the role of distortion and manipulation of information plays in communicating and decision-making processes, and it is defined in terms of the ability to predict future states of the world.
Abstract: The literature on organizational politics has described organizational decision making as a fluid, informal process characterized by conflict and compromise. One of the most important reasons decision making tends to become politicized is because decision situations are uncertain and open to multiple interpretations. The political process develops as coalitions attempt to define the decision context to gain control over the decision-making process. But the concept of information typically used to investigate organizational politics is defined in terms of the ability to predict future states of the world. This definition completely overlooks the socially constructed nature of information and the fundamentally socially constructed nature of the decision-making process. The result has been an ignoring or underestimating of the role the distortion and manipulation of information plays in communicating and decision-making processes. In this essay, information is understood as a socially constructed phenomenon ...

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, four models of organizational stress are comparatively reviewed using seven metatheoretical criteria, and three major recommendations are made in order to improve conceptual developments and methodological robustness in this important area of organizational behavior.
Abstract: Four models of organizational stress are comparatively reviewed using seven metatheoretical criteria. It is found that while they have been rather successful in explaining large bodies of existing empirical literature in a post hoc fashion, there is a consistent lack of conceptual tightness in some of the models. The crucial role of temporal factors has not been adequately dealt with, and a variance, as opposed to a process theory framework (Mohr, 1982) has dominated much conceptual developments. It is suggested that metatheoretical assessments along the lines proposed in this review would aid in future theory-building efforts. Three major recommendations are made in order to improve conceptual developments and methodological robustness in this important area of organizational behavior.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the relationships among time spent communicating and effort, satisfaction with work, and autonomy from a superior were assessed with an explicit consideration of multiple levels of analysisindividuals, work groups, and collectivities.
Abstract: Although prior studies have explored the association between time spent communicating and various antecedents and outcomes, differentiating among multiple levels of analysis in these investigations has been largely ignored. In this study, the relationships among time spent communicating and effort, satisfaction with work, and autonomy from a superior were assessed with an explicit consideration of multiple levels of analysisindividuals, work groups, and collectivities. Results from within and between analysis (WABA) procedures suggest that some effects were cross-level, aggregating to higher levels of analysis and varying across job-based collectivities and work groups. Other effects were level-specific, varying across work groups, but not aggregating to a higher level.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A method for developing alternatives to the core systems metaphor is presented, and its practical use in real-world problem solving is illustrated, and this is a promising enrichment of SSM.
Abstract: Virtually all systems-based work is dominated by the notion of "system" as a concept of an adaptive whole which may survive in a changing environment. Such unexamined givens should be challenged; it might be fruitful in practical interventions in real-world problems to widen the concept "system." The nature of the concept of the adaptive whole is examined, both in general and more specifically in "soft systems methodology" (SSM), the systemsbased approach to tackling ill-structured problems which has been developed in the 1970's and 1980's. A method for developing alternatives to the core systems metaphor is presented, and its practical use in real-world problem solving is illustrated. This is a promising enrichment of SSM.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, themes of organizational basic assumptions are explored to understand how they operate, and diagnostic and research methods are discussed, which can assist in interpreting strategic behavior in organizational organizations.
Abstract: Uncovering themes of organizational basic assumptions can assist in interpreting strategic behavior. These themes are derived from the dynamics at individual, group, and organizational levels of analysis, which reflect views of self, world, and others. Several such themes are presented in this paper. Structural properties of basic assumptions are then explored to understand how they operate. Diagnostic and research methods are discussed.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The relationship of perceived organizational structure, leader behaviors, and communication processes with perceptions of the work environment and ward atmosphere by staff in three psychiatric units were assessed by as mentioned in this paper, who highlighted the salience of organizational climate variables and illustrate the utility of ward atmosphere and work environment perceptions as components of a multi-dimensional climate construct.
Abstract: The relationships of perceived organizational structure, leader behaviors, and communication processes with perceptions of the work environment and ward atmosphere by staff in three psychiatric units were assessed. Satisfaction with communication and participation in decision making emerged as the most consistent correlates of staff views about their work environment, while dimensions of ward atmosphere were most frequently related to satisfaction with communication. Patient scores on the ward atmosphere scales were most closely associated with staff receptiveness and interest, along with patient involvement in decisions and satisfaction with the degree of patient-staff communication. These findings highlight the salience of organizational climate variables and illustrate the utility of ward atmosphere and work environment perceptions as components of a multi-dimensional climate construct.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors examined attitudes about injustice and reactions to discriminatory acts within a Black community in the U.S. South and found that attitudes and attitudes were found to cluster in three dimensions, including responses to personal discrimination, perceptions of political structures, and perceptions of major social institutions.
Abstract: Few studies have examined beliefs and attitudes about injustice and discrimination within minority communities. Most research has emphasized the institutional consequences of discrimination, or the racial beliefs of the majority groups. In this study we examine attitudes about injustice and reactions to discriminatory acts within a Black community in the U.S. South. Beliefs and attitudes were found to cluster in three dimensions, including responses to personal discrimination, perceptions of political structures, and perceptions of major social institutions. Economic, social, and psychological variables accounted for 10-30% of the variance in these dimensions in regression analyses. Implications of these results for theory and policy are discussed.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the effects of an expert report and a devil's advocate treatment on the tendency to escalate commitment were examined and it was shown that an expert's report increases dollar allocations to a failing project and subjects' estimates of the project's probability of success.
Abstract: Devil's advocacy is designed to assist decision makers in questioning assumptions. Escalating commitment in organizations occurs in decisions involving ambiguous information which requires decision makers to make assumptions. In such decisions, experts often provide analysis and recommendations for action which may increase the tendency toward escalating commitment if decision makers uncritically accept the assumptions underlying the experts' recommendations. Devil's advocacy may be effective in this process. In this paper, Staw's (1976) escalating commitment task is used to examine the effects of an expert report and a devil's advocate treatment on the tendency to escalate commitment. Results show that an expert report increases dollar allocations to a failing project and subjects' estimates of the project's probability of success. A devil's advocate critique appeared to reduce the effects of the expert report though the results were only marginally significant. The results also suggest that, in their as...

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, an intervening variable, activity-related-attention (ARA), representing the arousal level, is proposed as an intervening Variable linking job characteristics to job outcomes. But, it was found that ARA was found to contribute little to job-related attentional states.
Abstract: Activity-related-attention (ARA), representing the arousal level, is proposed as an intervening variable linking job characteristics to job outcomes. Two initial studies evaluated a new ARA state questionnaire assessing job-related attentional states. Worker responses displayed high internal consistency and were related to job satisfaction as well as to differences between mundane and enjoyable activities. Student responses displayed high test-retest correlations over a 2-week period. The third study compared the relative role of attention/arousal vs. the critical psychological states (CPS) appearing in Hackman and Oldham's (1976) job characteristics model. Questionnaires completed by 119 employees dealt with (1) job characteristics, (2) job outcomes of work satisfaction, effort, and performance, and (3) ARA state, and CPS. Regression analyses indicated that CPS tended to have a stronger mediating role than ARA in the relation between job characteristics and outcomes. However, ARA was found to contribute ...

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined the impact of workgroup membership on individuals' perceptions of equity and choice of referent, and found that work group membership does not influence either equity evaluations or referent choice for job complexity or supervisory behavior.
Abstract: This study examines the impact of workgroup membership on individuals' perceptions of equity and choice of referent. Subjects indicated who they compared themselves to on four job facets (compensation, job complexity, supervisory behavior, and security) and whether or not they felt equitably treated relative to their referent. For security comparisons, results show that workgroup membership is related to perceptions of equity and referent choice. For compensation comparisons, workgroup membership is related to referent choice. Workgroup membership does not influence either equity evaluations or referent choice for job complexity or supervisory behavior. Implications of these results for future research on comparative referents are discussed.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigated four factors predicted to influence executive decision making concerning geographic transfers when married employees are involved and found that their ratings of geographic transfers were significantly affected by the couple's attitude toward the move and the presence of commuter marriage.
Abstract: This study investigated four factors predicted to influence executive decision making concerning geographic transfers when married employees are involved. One hundred and fifty-one executives completed a series of "inbasket" decision-making tasks which described geographic transfer situations. Their ratings of geographic transfers were found to be significantly affected by the couple's attitude toward the move and the presence of commuter marriage (a marital arrangement in which spouses maintain separate households to maximize career possibilities, and reunite when schedules permit). In contrast to prior research, significant differences were not obtained for sex of employee. A number of significant interactions were observed; however, both of the above main effects held up in post hoc analyses of simple main effects. The results were discussed in terms of their implications for companies and for employees considering a commuter marriage. It was recommended that companies should show a greater awareness o...

Journal ArticleDOI
Ivan Lansberg1
TL;DR: In this article, the authors propose a new framework for understanding the issues of entitlement and justice in the context of work organizations, focusing on how individuals in organizations develop perceptions of what they are entitled to receive in exchange for their membership and contributions, and propose two fundamental conditions that must be simultaneously satisfied for an individual to perceive his or her overall relationship to an organization as just.
Abstract: This paper builds on previous behavioral science research and theorizing as well as on classicalphilosophical examinations of entitlement andjustice, andproposes a newframeworkfor understanding these issues in the context of work organizations. This paperfocuses on how individuals in organizations develop perceptions of what they are entitled to receive in exchange for their membership and contributions. It proposes that there are two fundamental conditions that must be simultaneously satisfied for an individual to perceive his or her overall relationship to an organization as just: (1) that the individualperceive that he or she is being treated equally vis-a-vis others in the group category (e.g., seniorfaculty, juniorfaculty, student, or clerical) to which the individual belongs in the organization (referent similar) and (2) that the person perceive that he or she is being treated in accordance with legitimate criteria (such as seniority, education, and performance record) vis-a-vis those in groups to w...

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, it is argued that there are alternative explanations of the results which led McClelland to these conclusions and that it is not possible to develop respondent measures of needs.
Abstract: McClelland has argued that it is essential to distinguish sharply both between operant and respondent measures and between needs and values. Further, that it is not possible to develop respondent measures of needs. In this paper, it is argued that there are alternative explanations of the results which led McClelland to these conclusions. Thereafter, it is shown that McClelland's measures of needs are best understood as indices of the number of important competencies which people bring to bear to reach goals they value. The measurement paradigm embedded in these measures conflicts with the dominant psychometric paradigm. McClelland's indices are neither valuefree nor internally-consistent; they are value-based, and the scores, like multiple regression coefficients, involve summing across independent predictors of performance. This new understanding of the psychometric principles on which McClelland's measures are based points to ways in which respondent measures of needs can be developed. However, more im...

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the relationship quality of early attachment relationships is linked to later marital quality, taking account of socio-emotional health, social support, and experienced stress, using data from a socio-economically diverse set of Australian couples.
Abstract: Recent research on the relation between quality of attachments and socio-emotional functioning in both childhood and marriage is briefly reviewed Attention is specifically drawn to processes linking quality of early attachment relationships to later marital quality, taking account of socio-emotional health, social support, and experienced stress. The empirical and theoretical literature is integrated into a comprehensive "continuity" model which is represented as a path diagram. Using data from a socio-economically diverse set of Australian couples, estimates were obtained for all paths specified in this predictive model. Examination of the model estimates revealed moderate support for the continuity model insofar as close social bonds were found to be formative for both men and women. Following initial similarities between partners in psychological status, the quality of the early marital relationship contributes to changes in the psychological health of both partners which, in turn, influences changes i...