title: Shrugging it off: Does psychological detachment from work mediate the relationship between workplace aggression and work-family conflict?
abstract: The current study investigates workplace aggression and psychological detachment from work as possible antecedents of work-family conflict. We draw upon Conservation of Resources theory and the Effort-Recovery Model to argue that employees who fail to psychologically detach from stressful events in the workplace experience a relative lack of resources that is negatively associated with functioning in the nonwork domain. Further, we extend prior research on antecedents of work-family conflict by examining workplace aggression, a prevalent workplace stressor. Utilizing multisource data (i.e., employee, significant other, and coworker reports), our findings indicate that self-reported psychological detachment mediates the relationship between coworker-reported workplace aggression and both self- and significant other-reported work-family conflict. Findings from the current study speak to the value of combining perspectives from research on recovery from work stress and the work-family interface, and point toward implications for research and practice.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Portland State University.
authors.forename: Caitlin A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Demsky
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Portland State University.
authors.forename: Allison M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Ellis
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Portland State University.
authors.forename: Charlotte
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Fritz
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D000374:Aggression; D003220:Conflict, Psychological; D005195:Family Relations; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012044:Regression Analysis; D057566:Self Report; D017132:Workplace / Q000523:psychology*