ESTUDO SOBRE A RELAÇÃO ENTRE O SIGNIFICADO DO TRABALHO E COPING PARA JOVENS ADULTOS

Abstract

This research aimed at analyzing the relationship among the meaning attributed to work, the strategies used to cope with stressful situations, some demographic variables, types of problem, and origin of adverse conditions. The sample was composed by 249 young adults from a college located in the Midwestern Region of Brazil, with mean age of 27 years (SD = 4.92) and 58.2% females. The instruments used in the assessment were: Inventário da Motivação e Significado do Trabalho (IMST, Inventory of Motivation and Meaning of Work), Coping Response Inventory (CRI Adult), and a questionnaire for the demographic variables. Through the descriptive analysis of the stressors registered in the coping scale, we detected predominance (51%) of relational problems. The most used strategies were: problem solving, positive appraisal, and logical analysis. Regarding the meaning attributed to work, we detected prevalence of valorative attributes. To analyze the meaning of work and coping strategies, we applied the correlation coefficient of Pearson r , which pointed to a low negative correlation between the valorative attribute and the active-cognitive coping. As to the assessment of the relationships among coping and the variables types of problem and origin of adverse conditions, we detected that the strategy seeking support and guidance presented more association with individual problems and attribution of the problem to the own individual in comparison with relational problems and problems attributed to the boss. Using multiple regression (stepwise) to analyze the influence of the demographic variables and the meaning attributed to work upon coping strategies, we observed that the sex of the participants and the valorative attributes presented predictive power for avoidance coping, although in a negative relationship. To evaluate the demographic variables in their relationship with coping strategies we applied the t-test for independent data samples and detected that women used more the strategy emotional discharge and avoidance coping than men. Based on these results, we conclude that when young adults think about how their work should be, they do not imagine keeping this issue at a distance until another factor modifies the situation and use more approach coping strategies to deal with problems at work, which favors their wellbeing.