Perceived Support Profiles in the Workplace: A Longitudinal Perspective

This research examines how employee’s perceptions of three sources of support in the workplace (i.e., organization, supervisor, and colleagues) combine within specific profiles and the nature of the relations between these profiles and indicators of employees’ psychological health (i.e., stress, sleep problems, psychosomatic strains, and depression). Furthermore, this research examines the within-sample and within-person stability of the identified support profiles over the course of an 8-month time interval. Latent profile and latent transition analyses conducted on a sample of 729 workers indicated six identical profiles across the two measurement occasions: 1, moderately supported; 2, weakly supported; 3, isolated; 4, well-supported; 5, supervisor supported; and 6, highly supported. Profile membership was very stable over time for most profiles, with the exception of the isolated profile which was only moderately stable. Furthermore, the isolated and supervisor-supported profiles presented the lowest levels of psychological health, while the well-supported and moderately supported profiles presented the highest levels of psychological health. Of particular interest, results suggested that some risks might be associated with the highly supported profile, although this result could be a simple reflection of the women-dominant composition of this profile. This research has implications for theory and practice, which will be discussed in the article.

Changes in Turkish- and resettler-origin adolescents’ acculturation profiles of identification: A three-year longitudinal study from Germany

Little is known on how ethnic minority adolescents develop acculturation profiles of identification (e.g., integrated or separated). This 3-year longitudinal study first classified Turkish-origin (n = 344) and resettler-origin (n = 121) ethnic minority adolescents (M age = 14.2, SD = 1.54 , 51.6 % female) living in Germany according to their levels of ethnic and national identification. Latent profile analyses identified four profiles for the former and three profiles for the latter group. Latent transition analyses revealed considerable instability of class attributions. Integration declined among both groups while experiences of ethnic discrimination increased the likelihood to transition from the integrated to the separated profile only among Turkish-origin youth. While common, integration is also fragile.