Hanne Mørch's research while affiliated with New York University and other places

This article describes job stressors experienced by workers in residential child care programmes, and coping strategies undertaken by individual workers, their co-workers and their organizations. It also examines the associations of stressors and problem-focused and emotion-focused coping strategies at each level with four measures of job attitudes and distress. Stressful job circumstances and coping responses were coded from transcripts of in-depth, open-ended interviews with 82 male and female child care workers employed by 14 residential child care agencies. Job attitudes and distress, assessed with standard Likert-style scales, served as dependent measures in regression analyses. Stressors unique to human service work, although frequently mentioned, were generally less potent predictors of distress than were stressors that are common to other professions, such as lack of agency support. Coping efforts by co-workers and by agencies made substantial contributions to individual well-being, above and beyond the rather weak effects of individual coping efforts. It appears useful to extend theories of individual coping to group and organizational strategies, especially in job situations, where many stressors are beyond individual control.

Two theories have been advanced to explain gender differences in coping. Socialization theory states that women are socialized into using less effective coping strategies than men. Role constraint theory affirms that no gender differences in coping exist when men and women occupy the same roles. Three studies, where the roles occupied by women and men were the same, were conducted to test the theories. Two of them also compared role constraint and socialization theories for social support. The results for coping did not support the socialization theory and partially supported the role constraint theory. With one exception, men and women did not differ in the ways they coped with similar role stressors. The results for social support indicated that women reported using more support than men in similar role situations. These findings suggest that higher levels of psychological disturbance among women cannot be attributed to their coping styles independent of their social roles.

Two theories have been advanced to explain gender differences in coping. Socialization theory states that women are socialized into using less effective coping strategies than men. Role constraint theory affirms that no gender differences in coping exist when men and women occupy the same roles. Three studies, where the roles occupied by women and men were the same, were conducted to test the theories. Two of them also compared role constraint and socialization theories for social support. The results for coping did not support the socialization theory and partially supported the role constraint theory. With one exception, men and women did not differ in the ways they coped with similar role stressors. The results for social support indicated that women reported using more support than men in similar role situations. These findings suggest that higher levels of psychological disturbance among women cannot be attributed to their coping styles independent of their social roles.

A mail survey of 141 human service workers investigated the effects of coping on psychological strain and "burnout" produced by job stress. The survey assessed job stressors and coping strategies with open-ended questions and measured strain using closed-ended alienation, satisfaction, and symptom scales. Because previous research suggested that individual coping responses do not alleviate strain produced by job stress, the survey elicited information on group coping (social support) and on coping strategies initiated by agencies. Job stress was associated with high levels of strain, and group coping with low levels, but individual responses had little effect. Although workers identified many strategies that agencies could use to reduce stress and strain, actual use of such strategies was slight. Because men and women worked in the same jobs, no sex differences in individual coping were predicted and none were found; women, however, reported more social support than men. There was no evidence for moderating (interaction) effects of stress and coping on strain.