Issue: Vojnosanit Pregl 2017; Vol. 74 (No. 3)
Affective temperament, social support and stressors at work as the predictors of life and job satisfaction among doctors and psychologists
Authors:
Biljana Jaredić, Darko Hinić, Dragana Stanojević, Snežana Zečević, Dragana Ignjatović-Ristić
Background/Aim. Affective temperament, social supportand work-related stresors belong to the group of life and
job satisfaction indicators. The aim of this research was to
examine predictive roles of the basic affective temperament
traits, social support and work-related stressors in the feeling
of job and life satisfaction among doctors and psychologists.
Methods. The sample consisted of 203 individuals
out of whom there were 28% male and 72% female doctors
(61%) and psychologists (39%), 25–65 years old (39.08 ±
9.29), from the two university towns in Serbia. The set of
questionnaires included Serbian version of the Temperament
Evaluation of Memphis, Pisa, Paris and San Diego –
autoquestionnaire version (TEMPS-A), Satisfaction with
Life scale, Job Satisfaction Survey, short Interpersonal Support
Evaluation List, and Source of Stress at Work Scale
(IRSa) for estimating the frequency of stressors at work.
Results. According to the existing norms our examinees are
satisfied with their life, but considerably less satisfied with
their work, specially with pay and benefits, while they are
most satisfied with nature of work itself and social relations
with co-workers and supervisors. Our results show that depressive
and hyperthymic, and to some extent cyclothymic
temperament traits of the affective temperament significantly
predict 21% of life satisfaction variance. Situational
factors, such as stressors at work and social support, are
important in predicting job satisfaction (58% of variance)
with no significant contribution of temperament traits. The
analysis did not point out any significant relation of sex, occupation,
and age with life and job satisfaction. Conclusions.
Affective temperaments can be regarded as predictors of life
satisfaction, but in order to better predict satisfaction the
aspects of wider social surrounding and sources of stressors
at work must be taken in consideration. Future studies
should consider other indicators of life satisfaction such as
family or health satisfaction, stressors outside of work situations,
and negative aspects of caregiving, for example hyperactivation.
