Work, stress, and relationships: The crossover process model

Objective Psychological crossover is the interpersonal transfer of stress. Details of how this transfer actually occurs are scarce, causing difficulties for advancement of crossover research. Crossover research has also suffered from a sampling bias, traditionally assessing the extent to which a hus...

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Main Authors: Paula Brough, Wendy Muller, Mina Westman
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2018-12-01
Series:Australian Journal of Psychology
Subjects:
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/ajpy.12208
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author Paula Brough
Wendy Muller
Mina Westman
author_facet Paula Brough
Wendy Muller
Mina Westman
author_sort Paula Brough
collection DOAJ
description Objective Psychological crossover is the interpersonal transfer of stress. Details of how this transfer actually occurs are scarce, causing difficulties for advancement of crossover research. Crossover research has also suffered from a sampling bias, traditionally assessing the extent to which a husband's work stressors are transferred to his wife. Clearly, with the advent of both dual‐income and dual‐career partners, this research sampling method requires updating. The research reported here directly addresses these two issues and reports on an original model mapping the crossover process. Method The research adopted a qualitative method of enquiry in order to explore the crossover process afresh. Dyadic interviews were conducted with 16 dual‐earner couples who were both employed full time. Results Template analysis of the transcribed data revealed the existence of both negative (e.g., strain) and positive (e.g., well‐being) crossover experiences between the couples. These crossover experiences followed a five‐step process: (1) work event experienced; (2) impact of work event; (3) transfer of impact to partner; (4) impact on partner's well‐being and work performance; and (5) dyadic outcomes. Conclusions This research advances recent discussions of the crossover process by supporting the five‐step Crossover Process Model. The findings support the occurrence of both negative and positive crossover of emotions, although negative work stressors were found to be the most commonly experienced initiator of crossover. Importantly, this research demonstrated that neither the gender of the initiating partner nor the gender of the recipient partner significantly influenced the crossover process.
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spelling doaj.art-58c6a34a733945f4b0f066e99c4eee742023-09-19T08:54:46ZengTaylor & Francis GroupAustralian Journal of Psychology0004-95301742-95362018-12-0170434134910.1111/ajpy.1220812098905Work, stress, and relationships: The crossover process modelPaula Brough0Wendy Muller1Mina Westman2School of Applied Psychology and Menzies Health Institute Queensland, Griffith UniversitySchool of Applied Psychology and Menzies Health Institute Queensland, Griffith UniversityDepartment of Organizational Behavior, Tel Aviv UniversityObjective Psychological crossover is the interpersonal transfer of stress. Details of how this transfer actually occurs are scarce, causing difficulties for advancement of crossover research. Crossover research has also suffered from a sampling bias, traditionally assessing the extent to which a husband's work stressors are transferred to his wife. Clearly, with the advent of both dual‐income and dual‐career partners, this research sampling method requires updating. The research reported here directly addresses these two issues and reports on an original model mapping the crossover process. Method The research adopted a qualitative method of enquiry in order to explore the crossover process afresh. Dyadic interviews were conducted with 16 dual‐earner couples who were both employed full time. Results Template analysis of the transcribed data revealed the existence of both negative (e.g., strain) and positive (e.g., well‐being) crossover experiences between the couples. These crossover experiences followed a five‐step process: (1) work event experienced; (2) impact of work event; (3) transfer of impact to partner; (4) impact on partner's well‐being and work performance; and (5) dyadic outcomes. Conclusions This research advances recent discussions of the crossover process by supporting the five‐step Crossover Process Model. The findings support the occurrence of both negative and positive crossover of emotions, although negative work stressors were found to be the most commonly experienced initiator of crossover. Importantly, this research demonstrated that neither the gender of the initiating partner nor the gender of the recipient partner significantly influenced the crossover process.http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/ajpy.12208crossoverdual careerdyadsqualitativestress
spellingShingle Paula Brough
Wendy Muller
Mina Westman
Work, stress, and relationships: The crossover process model
Australian Journal of Psychology
crossover
dual career
dyads
qualitative
stress
title Work, stress, and relationships: The crossover process model
title_full Work, stress, and relationships: The crossover process model
title_fullStr Work, stress, and relationships: The crossover process model
title_full_unstemmed Work, stress, and relationships: The crossover process model
title_short Work, stress, and relationships: The crossover process model
title_sort work stress and relationships the crossover process model
topic crossover
dual career
dyads
qualitative
stress
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/ajpy.12208
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AT wendymuller workstressandrelationshipsthecrossoverprocessmodel
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