work as a context for adult development
Work is central in the lives of adults. The “Work as a Context for Adult Development” project utilized data from the first wave of Midlife in the United States: A National Study of Health & Well-being (MIDUS) to investigate the relationships among personality, job characteristics, and well-being for employees of different ages. Specifically, this study tested whether personality moderates the relationship between job characteristics and well-being and how that may vary based on employees’ ages. Age was measured as young (25-39), midlife (40-49) and, older (50-74). Personality was found to moderate the relationship between job characteristics and well-being only minimally and that differed by age group.
key research question(s)
This study addresses three questions:
- Do personality and job characteristics predict well-being?
- Does personality moderate the relationship between job characteristics and well-being?
- Does this relationship vary by age?
selected findings
- Both personality and job characteristics predict well-being for all age groups.
- The specific job characteristics that predicted the different factors of well-being varied by age. For example, skill discretion predicted self-acceptance for the young and older age groups but not for the midlife age group.
- Personality moderated the relationship between job characteristics and well-being only minimally and that varied by age group. For example, agreeableness moderated the relationship between job demands and positive relationship with others for the young age group but not for the midlife and older age groups.
publications
Besen, E., Smyer, M., & Matz-Costa, C. (2008, August). Work as a Context for Adult Development: Insights from the MIDUS. Poster session presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association, Boston, MA.
contact
For questions of information regarding MIDUS please contact:
Chad Minnich, MAVA., Assistant Director, Marketing & Communicaitons
minnicch@bc.edu | +1 . 617 . 552 . 3122
midus team
To schedule a conversation with any of our staff, please contact Chad Minnich, Assistant Director, Marketing & Communications, at 617-552-3122, or minnicch@bc.edu.
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Elyssa Besen
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Research Assistant Elyssa Besen is a Research Assistant at the Sloan Center on Aging & Work at Boston College and a doctoral student in the Applied Development and Educational Psychology Program in the Lynch School of Education at BC. Elyssa earned for BA in Psychology from Brandeis University. She is interested in studying the impact of work on adult development. |
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Christina Matz-Costa, MSW
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Research Associate Christina Matz-Costa is a Research Associate at the Sloan Center on Aging & Work and a doctoral candidate in Social Work at Boston College. She was the Senior Project Manager for the Age & Generations Study. She has been a lead researcher for several of the center’s studies, including the National Study of Business Strategy and Workforce Development. She has co-authored publications in the areas of work-family and employer response to the aging of the workforce, quantitative data analysis and multi-level modeling. |
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Michael Smyer, PhD
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Research Fellow Michael Smyer is the provost and a professor of psychology at Bucknell University. Prior to joining Bucknell, Smyer was a professor of psychology and co-director of the Sloan Center on Aging & Work at Boston College. At the center, he focused on developing evidence-based practices to enhance the individual and organizational effectiveness of 21st-century workplaces. Smyer's research and teaching focus on adult development and aging, with special attention to the impact of the contexts of aging. In addition, he has written extensively on aging and mental health, particularly the policy aspects of this area. |
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