Workaholism, health, and self-acceptance

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Authors
Chamberlin, Christine M.
Advisor
Nicholas, Donald R.
Issue Date
2001
Keyword
Degree
Thesis (Ph. D.)
Department
Department of Counseling Psychology and Guidance Services
Other Identifiers
Abstract

The present study was designed to address the issue of the potential harm of workaholism. It specifically examined the relationships between workaholism, self-acceptance, psychological well-being, and physical symptoms. Furthermore, participants completed a form to rate their perceptions of their parents work behaviors, and thus relationships between perceived parental workaholism, physical symptoms, psychological well-being, and self-acceptance, were also explored.Three hundred forty seven students from a Midwestern university completed a survey measuring the above constructs. Of these 347 surveys, 279 were utilized for analysis. It was hypothesized that students' workaholism would correlate negatively with the students' psychological well-being and self-acceptance, and positively with physical health complaints. It was expected that student workaholics would report less psychological well-being, more physical complaints, and less self-acceptance than nonworkaholic students. Furthermore it was hypothesized that there would be no relationship between perceived parental workaholism and students' workaholism. While it was hypothesized that students who perceive their parents as workaholic would report less psychological well-being and self-acceptance than students with perceived nonworkaholic parents, it was not expected that they would report more physical health complaints.Results supported the majority of the hypotheses. A negative relationship was found between students' workaholism and the students' psychological well-being and self-acceptance, while a positive relationship was found between students' workaholism and physical health complaints. Students in the medium to high risk workaholic group were found to have significantly more physical health complaints, and lower self-acceptance and psychological well-being than students scoring in the low risk workaholic group. Furthermore, students with perceptions of parental workaholism falling within the medium to high risk range, had significantly lower levels of psychological well-being and self-acceptance than parents falling within the low risk range. No differences were expected in these two groups in terms of physical health complaints, however students' with perceptions of parental workaholism in the medium to high risk range had significantly more physical symptoms than students' with lower perceptions of parental workaholism. Furthermore, while no correlation was expected between perceived parental workaholism and student workaholism, a significant positive correlation was found.