Work, recovery activities, and individual well-being: a diary study.

By Sabine Sonnentag. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 2001

738 citations recorded by the source corpus.

This study extends previous research on respite from work and addresses the question of how individuals use their leisure time to recover from work. It is hypothesized that time spent on work-related and household activities has a negative effect on well-being, whereas low-effort, social, and physical activities are assumed to have a positive effect. One hundred Dutch teachers completed a diary on leisure time activities and situational well-being for 5 days, and work situation variables were assessed with a questionnaire. Multilevel analyses in which preleisure well-being and work situation variables were entered as control variables supported 4 of the 5 hypotheses. Moreover, a lagged effect of high time pressure on poor situational well-being was found. The study showed that leisure time activities and a low-stress work situation contribute independently to an individual's well-being.

Subfields: Social Psychology, Sociology and Political Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/6254da7d9fdfb0f934121957ff53a25f0a078f51

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Citations in the corpus

Influence of Social Support Received in Online and Offline Contexts on Satisfaction With Social Support and Satisfaction With Life: A Longitudinal Study (2015, background): “Previous research has demonstrated that social support is associated with variations in life satisfaction across shorter periods of time such as day or weeks (Reis, Sheldon, Gable, Roscoe, & Ryan, 2000; Sonnentag, 2001).”
How Is Leisure Time Interacting with Nature Related to the Need for Recovery from Work Demands? Testing Multiple Mediators (2010, methodology): “This procedure with a similar classification of off-job experiences has been used by Sonnentag (2001).”
Workaholism and daily recovery : a day reconstruction study of leisure activities (2013, background): “During such activities, people meet and spend time with others they like such as family members, friends, or other individuals or groups (Fritz & Sonnentag, 2005; Sonnentag, 2001).”
Entertaining Media Use and the Satisfaction of Recovery Needs: Recovery Outcomes Associated With the Use of Interactive and Noninteractive Entertaining Media (2011, background): “Simple resting is a very common and traditional recreational strategy, and this and other forms of ‘‘low effort activities’’ have been shown to significantly contribute to the recovery process (Sonnentag, 2001).”
On the Relation between Performance and Life Satisfaction: The Moderating Role of Passion (2012, background): “Indeed, past research has shown that proactive and instrumental activities that individuals have control over (Maton, 1990; Schultz, 1976; Sheldon & Lyubomirsky, 2007; Sonnentag, 2001) contribute to a much greater extent to people’s well-being.”
Work-related flow and energy at work and at home: A study on the role of daily recovery (2012, background): “Most research on breaks has focused on the long‐term consequences of extensive breaks such as sabbaticals (Davidson et al., 2010), vacations (Fritz & Sonnentag, 2006; Westman & Eden, 1997), weekends (Fritz & Sonnentag, 2005), and evenings (Sonnentag, 2001, 2003).”
Work-Related Smartphone Use and Well-Being in the Evening (2014, methodology): “Psychological detachment was assessed using four items of the recovery questionnaire by Sonnentag and Fritz (2007). A sample item is ‘‘In the evenings, I forget about work.”
Positive Social Interactions and the Human Body at Work: Linking Organizations and Physiology (2008, background): “Work recovery focuses specifically on employees’ recovery from the workday during evening hours, and it is an important window into understanding how to prevent depletion from work (Rothbard, 2001; Sonnentag, 2001).”
After work is done: Psychological perspectives on recovery from work (2006, background): “Optimal recovery from work is dependent on the opportunity and time for recovery and the type and quality of activities people pursue (Sonnentag, 2001; Sonnentag & Zijlstra, 2006).”
Staying vigorous until work is over: The role of trait vigour, day-specific work experiences and recovery (2008, methodology): “Engaging in sport and other physical activities and psychologically detaching oneself from work during leisure time are two important factors relevant for experiencing recovery (Sonnentag, 2001; Sonnentag & Kruel, 2006).”
Work-home interaction from a work psychological perspective: Development and validation of a new questionnaire, the SWING (2005, background): “Longitudinal studies employing short time lags (e.g. diary studies, Sonnentag, 2001) may disclose what type of work and home activities individuals are engaged in (i.e. activity patterns) and to what extent certain activity patterns (e.g. frequently working overtime) are associated with certain…”
Stress in organizations (2003, background): “For example, a diary study revealed that specific activities such as low-effort activities, physical activities, and social activities had a positive impact on a person’s well-being, whereas workrelated activities performed during leisure time had a negative impact (Sonnentag, 2001).”
From job demands and resources to work engagement, burnout, life satisfaction, depressive symptoms, and occupational health (2016, positive): “Recovery that occurs in the evening after work and during the weekends is important in maintaining general well-being and performance (Sonnentag, 2003), and our results suggest that both work engagement and life satisfaction contribute to employees’ recovery from work (see also Sonnentag, 2001).”
The contribution of various types of activities to recovery (2006, background): “Contrary to prediction and recent findings (e.g., Sonnentag, 2001), low-effort and social activities were not conducive to recovery after work.”