Testing the direct and moderator effects of the stressor–detachment model over one year: A latent change perspective

ABSTRACT

To test the direct and moderator effects of the stressor–detachment model from a long-term perspective, we investigated whether workload and detachment are related to changes in exhaustion and sleep difficulties over one year. We also examined whether detachment attenuates the relationship between high workload and these outcomes both cross-sectionally and over time. Questionnaire data with 1722 respondents at Time 1 and 1182 respondents at Time 2 were collected. We used a latent change score approach to analyse the data in order to identify intra-individual change among the studied constructs. Our results showed that high workload and low detachment at baseline were related to an increase in exhaustion over one year. Additionally, an increase in workload and a decrease in detachment were related to a simultaneous increase in exhaustion over time. Low detachment, but not high workload, was related to an increase in sleep difficulties over time, and a decrease in detachment across one year was related to a simultaneous increase in sleep difficulties. A high level of detachment only attenuated the relationship between workload and exhaustion at baseline. Our results underline the significance of poor psychological detachment as a risk factor for the development of strain outcomes over time.

KEYWORDS:

• Detachment
• exhaustion
• longitudinal
• recovery
• sleep difficulties
• workload

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by the Academy of Finland [grant number 257682].