Barbara Laymon, Ralph L. Piedmont, Ph.D., Teresa A. Wilkins, Ph.D.

Your Mother Was Right: Family Closeness Matters

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Recovery from work has been defined as the underlying psychological processes that restore mood and allow release from stress (Sonnentag & Fritz, 2007). This study explored recovery from work as it is related to religious/spiritual (R/S) variables and a family systems measure of family closeness, hypothesizing that recovery from work, R/S, and family closeness would predict burnout from work and overall life satisfaction.

Data were collected through a survey fielded to a Qualtrics panel of 160 respondents. Respondents were 87% Caucasian and 7% African American. Ages ranged from 18 to 65 with an average age of 41. Respondents were 71% female. The questionnaire included scales from Sonnentag and Fritz’s (2007) Recovery Experience Questionnaire (REQ), Piedmont’s (2010) Assessment of Spirituality and Religious Sentiments (ASPIRES), the (2013) European Social Network Index (ESNI, [Zawisza et al.]), Halbesleben and Demerouti’s (2005) Oldenburg Burnout Inventory (OLBI), and Pavot and Diener’s (1993) Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS).

A hierarchical regression was performed with three levels to test the hypothesis that work recovery would be partially mediated by R/S variables which would in turn be partially mediated by family closeness. With burnout as the dependent variable, the overall model was significant with Model F(10, 149) = 4.45, p < .001. Significant predictors in the final model were the work recovery subscale control, ASPIRES universality and religious crisis, and the family closeness ratio. With life satisfaction as the dependent variable, the overall model was significant with Model F(6, 153) = 6.18, p < .001. The single significant predictor of life satisfaction in the final model was the family closeness ratio, fully mediating the effect of R/S and adding incremental validity to the model.
Keywords: work recovery, religion, spirituality, family closeness

References
Halbesleben, J. R., & Demerouti, E. (2005). The construct validity of an alternative measure of burnout: Investigating the English translation of the Oldenburg Burnout Inventory. Work & Stress, 19, 208-220. doi:10.1080/02678370500340728
Pavot, W., & Diener, E. (1993). Review of the Satisfaction with Life Scale. Psychological Assessment, 5, 164-172. doi:10.1037//1040-3590.5.2.164
Piedmont, R. L. (2010). Assessment of Spirituality and Religious Sentiments, technical manual (2nd Ed). Timonium, MD: Author.
Sonnentag, S., & Fritz, C. (2007). The Recovery Experience Questionnaire: Development and validation of a measure for assessing recuperation and unwinding from work. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 12(3), 204-221. doi:10.1037/1076-8998.12.3.204
Zawisza, K., Galas, A., Tobiasz-Adamczyk, B., Chatterji, S., Haro, J. M., Miret, M., . . Leonardi, M. (2013). The validity of the instrument to evaluate social network in the ageing population: The collaborative research on ageing in Europe Social Network Index. Clinical Psychology & Psychotherapy, 21, 227-241. doi:10.1002/cpp.1860