Stress and Well-Being at Work: A Century of Empirical Trends Reflecting Theoretical and Societal Influences

This review examines the history of stress research in the Journal of Applied Psychology (JAP) by tracking word frequencies from 606 abstracts of published articles in the journal. The article defines key terms, examines significant historic events and macro societal trends that frame stress research, identifies important developments in theory related to stress and well-being, and examines articles published in the journal during the past 100 years and consider how these publications relate to events in society and advances in theory.

Stress and Well-Being at Work: A Century of Empirical Trends Reflecting
Theoretical and Societal Influences
Paul D. Bliese
University of South Carolina
Jeffrey R. Edwards
University of North Carolina
Sabine Sonnentag
University of Mannheim
In various forms, research on stress and well-being has been a part of the Journal of Applied Psychology
(JAP) since its inception. In this review, we examine the history of stress research in JAP by tracking
word frequencies from 606 abstracts of published articles in the journal. From these abstracts, we define
3 eras: a 50 year-era from 1917 to 1966, a 30-year era from 1967 to 1996, and a 20-year era from 1997
to the present. Each era is distinct in terms of the number of articles published and the general themes
of the topic areas examined. We show that advances in theory are a major impetus underlying research
topics and the number of publications. Our review also suggests that articles have increasingly tended to
reflect broader events occurring in society such as recessions and workforce changes. We conclude by
offering ideas about the future of stress and well-being research.
Keywords: stress, stressors, strain, health, well-being
Supplemental materials: http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/apl0000109.supp
April 6, 1917: the U.S. enters the Great War—a war that
required another global war before earning the name “World War
I.” Roughly 1 year later, an influenza epidemic kills over 500,000
U.S. citizens. In the following year, the nation’s concerns about
alcohol abuse lead to a 14-year period of prohibition. Twelve years
after 1917, the stock market crash of 1929 triggers the great
depression, and tens of thousands remain unemployed for years.
By most objective standards, the decades following the incep-
tion of the Journal of Applied Psychology (JAP) were a remark-
ably stressful period for workers (and citizens) in the U.S. and
much of the world. With these events as backdrop, one would
expect to find that the topic of stress dominated the early pages of
JAP. Perhaps not surprisingly, the story is more complicated: The
journal does indeed reflect the influence of stressors occurring
within society, but research on stress and well-being in work
contexts was relatively rare for approximately the first 50 years,
though traces of what we now view as stress research can be seen
as early as 1917.
For instance, Fish (1917) discussed the challenges of maintain-
ing a skilled workforce “as the country is drawn into war” (p. 161)
and noted concerns about alcohol consumption by stating that
[i]t goes without saying in these days that no employer wishes to have
any of his men under the influence of liquor . . . because we all realize
now that a man is stupefied to some extent even by what is known as
moderate drinking. (p. 165)
Fish went on to write that the “first essential” for meeting labor
demands is that the “shop shall be comfortable in both a physical
and a mental way” (p. 162). Fish’s interests in stress and well-
being were consistent with the broader “mental hygiene” move-
ment of the time (e.g., Martin, 1917). Martin advocated an expan-
sive agenda, arguing that
[b]y mental hygiene I mean the psychological work to be done in
creating, maintaining, and restoring normal mental activity in a given
individual. There are many reasons why our association should im-
mediately take the lead, set the pace as it were, in this matter of mental
hygiene. (p. 67)
A final example of the traces of what we recognize as stress
research is reflected in Hall’s (1917) description of soldiers’ stress
reactions to the demands of war. Hall wrote
We shall surely have a new and larger psychology of war. The older
literature on it is already more or less obsolete from almost every
point of view, and James’ theory of a moral, and Cannon’s of a
physiological, equivalent of war seem now pallid and academic. (p.
12)
Although there was clearly an early impetus to focus on factors
related to stress and well-being, the research evidence suggests the
This article was published Online First January 26, 2017.
Paul D. Bliese, Department of Management, Darla Moore School of
Business, University of South Carolina; Jeffrey R. Edwards, Kenan-Flagler
Business School, University of North Carolina; Sabine Sonnentag, Depart-
ment of Psychology, University of Mannheim.
We thank Patrick Flynn and Charlotte H. Larson for their help with this
article.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Paul D.
Bliese, Department of Management, Darla Moore School of Business,
University of South Carolina, 1014 Greene Street, Columbia, SC 29208.
E-mail: [e-mail]
This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.
This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.
Journal of Applied Psychology © 2017 American Psychological Association
2017, Vol. 102, No. 3, 389 – 402 0021-9010/17/$12.00 http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/apl0000109
389

agenda was not widely adopted in the early years of JAP. Further-
more, published articles during the early decades failed to reflect
the broad visions proposed by individuals such as Hall, Martin,
and Fish. Instead, articles we recognize as stress research tended to
examine demographic variables such as age, race, profession, and
physical activity as predictors of outcomes such as mental fatigue
and psychoneurotic symptoms (e.g., Garth, 1920; Elwood, 1927).
While these types of articles laid the foundations for future work,
they did not really capture the calls to “immediately take the lead”
with respect to “maintaining and restoring” mental hygiene by
Martin, meeting the “first essential” for “comfortable” shops ad-
vocated by Fish, or advancing a “new and larger psychology of
war” anticipated by Hall.
Based on our review, it took 16 years for the journal to publish
a study that can be clearly identified as having both a work-
relevant stressor and strain. Laird (1933) experimentally examined
the effects of loud noise (an organizational stressor) and noted that
loud noise appeared to cause somatic complaints (a strain). Laird
wrote that “[w]ith the more intense noises muscular stiffness was
noted, especially in the neck and legs” (p. 328) and speculated that
the stiffness was due to an accumulation of lactates, given that
“[n]either of these groups of muscles was used during the work
period . . .” (p. 328). Laird’s examination of work stressors and
strains associated with the industrial age was followed by others,
but the number of publications was relatively small for another 30
or so years at which point (the mid to late 1960s) the rate of
publications increased substantially. 1
In this review, we follow the development of stress and well-
being research published in JAP over the past 100 years. We
examine how publication trends were influenced by larger societal
events and developments in stress theory. The foundation of our
review is based upon 606 stress-related articles published in JAP
from 1917 to present.
The structure is as follows: First, we define key terms that fall
within the domain of our review. Second, we examine significant
historic events and macro societal trends that frame stress research.
Third, we identify important developments in theory related to
stress and well-being. Fourth, we examine articles published in the
journal during the past 100 years and consider how these publica-
tions relate to events in society and advances in theory. As part of
our review, we identify articles that we consider exemplary and
influential. Finally, we summarize the first century, take stock of
theoretical and empirical research, and discuss future directions.
Defining Key Terms
When summarizing theory and empirical research on stress
and well-being, one of the key challenges involves the varied
interpretations of key terms. The term “stress,” in particular,
has multiple meanings, referring to a condition or event in the
situation, the person’s reaction to the situation, or the relation-
ship between the person and situation (Hobfoll, 1989; Jex,
Beehr, & Roberts, 1992; McGrath, 1970). For this reason, stress
research often differentiates stressors (conditions and events
causing subsequent reactions), perceived stress (perception and
appraisal of the stressors), and strains (psychological, physio-
logical, and behavioral outcomes). Research in the domain of
stress and well-being has also focused extensively on modera-
tors—attributes of the individual or work environment that alter
the strength of links between stressors, perceived stress, and
strains. Therefore, in this review, we differentiate among stres-
sors, perceived stress, strain, and moderators and reserve the
term “stress” to designate the domain of stress research (cf.
Beehr & Newman, 1978; Kahn & Byosiere, 1992).
Historic Events and Macro Societal Trends
Scientific journals vary in the degree to which published articles
are expected to mirror broad societal events. However, it is rea-
sonable to assume that, as an applied journal, JAP would publish
articles that reflect societal events. Based on this assumption, we
assembled a chronology of major events that would ostensibly
have signified stressors and engendered strain in the working
population. Online Appendix A lists these events, and we supple-
ment these events by identifying systemic changes in society that
span the time frame of our review.
Macro Societal Trends
As a whole, the century between 1917 and 2017 represented a
period of major political, economic, technological, and societal
change. Major historic events include two world wars and other
significant conflicts (e.g., Korean War, Vietnam War). The century
also witnessed the emergence of new nations, mainly in Africa and
Asia, along with the rise and fall of the Soviet Union. Concurrent
with these events, people faced economic turbulence. The Great
Depression (1929 –1939) had major impacts on many countries,
and in the U.S., the gross national product dropped substantially
while the unemployment rate exceeded 20%.
Technology transformed how people lived and worked. In the
early 20th century, industrial work was dominated by mass pro-
duction, enabled by the assembly line popularized by the Ford
Motor Company in 1913. During the subsequent decades, ratio-
nalization of tasks and jobs continued (Davis & Taylor, 1972).
These developments triggered employee reactions such as alien-
ation invoking feelings of powerlessness, meaninglessness, social
isolation, and self-estrangement (Shepard, 1977). Signs of these
effects include large-scale strikes in 1946 and the seizure of U.S.
steel mills to avoid strikes in 1952 (online Appendix A).
Throughout the century, information and communication tech-
nology influenced all areas of the economy. The introduction of
mainframe computers in the 1960s had relatively limited effects,
but the subsequent development of microprocessors led to perva-
sive changes. For instance, the manufacturing industry witnessed
the introduction of computer-aided design, computerized numeri-
cally controlled machine tools, and industrial robots. Administra-
tive jobs substantially changed with the advent of personal com-
puters following the release of the IBM PC in 1981. The use of
computerized communication technologies accelerated after com-
mercial Internet providers increasingly entered the market in the
late 1980s documented by the increase in Internet users worldwide
from 394 million in 2000 to 2.94 billion in 2014 (Statista, 2015).
With these technological changes, many jobs were no longer
restricted to one location (e.g., onsite offices) and could instead be
1 As a point of interest, we note that Laird is one of the top 25
stress-related articles for citation rates in the first 50 years of the journal
(see online Appendix B).
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390 BLIESE, EDWARDS, AND SONNENTAG

conducted in other places, such as the home. On the one hand, this
trend contributed to telecommuting arrangements that had the
potential to increase individual autonomy and reduce work–family
conflict and role stress (Gajendran & Harrison, 2007). On the other
hand, mobile devices enabled employees in many jobs to work
“anywhere, anytime” and stay electronically tethered to work
outside formal working hours. These changes in work patterns
created situations in which the boundaries between work and life
became permeable, a development with both positive and negative
implications for stress experiences.
Several other major changes occurred during the 20th century.
First, jobs in the primary and secondary economic sectors (extract-
ing raw materials and producing goods) steadily declined, while
jobs in the tertiary (or service sector) increased, particularly in the
Western world. Notably, in the U.S. the percentage of employees
working in the service sector increased from around 65% in 1961
to over 85% in 2010. This shift accompanied changes in job
requirements and job stressors, such as reduced physical and
environmental stressors (e.g., Laird, 1933) and increased stressors
related to emotional labor (Pugliesi, 1999).
Second, the participation of women in the labor market grew
dramatically. In 1920, about 20% of the female U.S. population
was employed. This figure rose to 60% in 2000, with the largest
increase occurring between 1960 and 1980. As a result, men and
women living in dual-earner families had to deal with changes in
work and nonwork roles and responsibilities, leading to increases
in conflict between work and family (e.g., Higgins, Duxbury, &
Irving, 1992).
Third, during the second half of the 20th century, the economy
became increasingly global. This development was accompanied
by global competition that arguably contributed to an increase in
stressors such as workload, job insecurity, and downsizing. Glo-
balization was also associated with increased international mobil-
ity of individuals, often leading to stressful experiences for those
adjusting to new cultures and work environments (Silbiger &
Pines, 2014).
Taken together, these political, economic, technological, and
societal developments had broad and significant effects on peo-
ple’s lives in and outside of work. These events provide a backdrop
against which theoretical and empirical research on work-related
stress grew and developed over the century.
Key Theoretical Models
General Theories of Psychological Stress
The founding of JAP in 1917 roughly coincided with the be-
ginnings of theory development in contemporary stress research.
Most of these early developments originated outside of the orga-
nizational literature but were eventually integrated into research on
stress in work settings. We first summarize key theoretical models
in the literature on psychological stress in general and then turn to
models devoted to stress in work settings.
Historical accounts of the stress field (e.g., Cooper & Dewe,
2004; Lazarus, 1993; Mason, 1975a, 1975b) often trace the origins
of stress research to Cannon (1915), who coined the phrase “fight
or flight” to describe an organism’s response to an external threat.
Cannon (1932) later indicated that the response to threat represents
deviation from homeostasis, which he viewed as the self-regulation of
physiological processes. A subsequent landmark is the work of
Selye (1936), who described reactions to stress in terms of the
general adaptation syndrome (GAS), which referred to the non-
specific response of the body to any demand. According to Selye,
the GAS comprised three stages that included alarm, resistance,
and exhaustion—the first two of which involved attempts to adapt
to the demand, and the third indicating depletion of adaptive
energy. Like Cannon, Selye focused on physiological responses to
stress, such as changes in adrenaline, cortisol, and other hormones.
In the 1960s, the field of stress research experienced a notice-
able shift as it began to focus on major life events that required
adjustment and led to psychological and physical illness (Dohren-
wend & Dohrenwend, 1981; Thoits, 1983). This research was
stimulated by the development of the Social Readjustment Rating
Scale (SRRS; Holmes & Rahe, 1967), a checklist that comprised
43 stressful life events. Scores on the SRRS were weighted by the
amount of readjustment each event was deemed to require and
summed to derive an overall measure of life stress. The SRRS has
been used in numerous studies (Dohrenwend, 2006), although its
relationships with mental and physical symptoms were generally
modest, with correlations rarely exceeding .30.
The modest relationships between life events and illness prompted
investigations into factors that might moderate these relationships,
such as personality, self-esteem, social support, Type-A behavior, and
the meaning of the event to the individual (Cohen & Edwards,
1989; Cohen & Wills, 1985; Kessler, Price, & Wortman, 1985).
Research showed that the relationship between life events and
outcomes depended on event timing and magnitude as well as the
undesirability and perceived control over the events (Mullen &
Suls, 1982; Thoits, 1983; Vinokur & Selzer, 1975). As such, this
research began to underscore the essential role of individual dif-
ferences in the stress process, a theme that permeated subsequent
theoretical work.
Arguably, one of the most influential theoretical models of
psychological stress was the transactional theory presented by
Lazarus in 1966 and later expanded by Lazarus and Folkman in
1984 (Lazarus, 1966; Lazarus & Folkman, 1984). Lazarus’ theory
reinforced the importance of subjective factors in the stress process
and asserted that the effects of potential stressors on well-being
were largely determined by how they were cognitively appraised
by the individual. Lazarus distinguished two forms of cognitive
appraisal: (a) primary appraisal, which determined whether a po-
tential stressor was viewed as harmful, threatening, or challenging;
and (b) secondary appraisal, which considered what individuals
might do to manage the stressful transaction. Lazarus’ work also
placed particular emphasis on the ways in which individuals cope
with stress (e.g., Lazarus, 1993; Lazarus, Averill, & Opton, 1974).
Lazarus contrasted coping styles, which are individual differences
that characterize how people cope, with coping processes, which
focus on the particular approaches people use to manage stressful
transactions between the person and situation. This work stimu-
lated the development of measures designed to assess the variety
of processes by which people cope with stress, of which the Ways
of Coping Questionnaire (Folkman & Lazarus, 1988) became the
most widely used.
The central importance of cognitive appraisal underscored by
Lazarus was maintained in subsequent theoretical work. A prime
example is the conservation of resources (COR) theory proposed
by Hobfoll (1989). This theory posits that stress occurs when
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391STRESS AND WELL-BEING

resources the individual considers valuable are threatened, lost, or
foregone. Resources in COR theory refer to objects, conditions,
and personal characteristics that are valued in their own right or
because they can help the individual achieve or protect other
valued resources. COR theory was initially framed as an alterna-
tive to appraisal-based theories, such as Lazarus’ transactional
theory, by placing greater emphasis on the objective environment
as a determinant of stress. Nonetheless, cognitive appraisal plays a
key role in the evaluation of resources, the perception that re-
sources are at risk, and other basic processes involved in COR
theory. Although some researchers have argued that certain symp-
toms of strain, such as affective arousal, might not require cogni-
tive appraisal as a precursor (Zajonc, 1984), most contemporary
theories of stress indicate that appraisal plays a key role in trans-
lating experienced stressors into strains and coping processes
(Lazarus, 1984).
Theories of Stress in Work Contexts
Many of the theoretical developments in research on psycho-
logical stress have parallels in theories that focus on stress in the
workplace. For example, Bhagat (1983) proposed a model of the
effects of stressful life events on individual performance, satisfac-
tion, and adjustment in organizational settings and developed a
checklist that distinguished potentially stressful events associated
with job and personal domains (Bhagat, McQuaid, Lindholm, &
Segovis, 1985). Other frameworks have focused on work stressors
that represent ongoing conditions rather than acute life events. For
instance, the reviews of job stress research by Cooper and Marshall
(1976) and Beehr and Newman (1978) were seminal publications
presenting frameworks that identified various job characteristics
considered sources of stress. These frameworks also include indi-
vidual differences that can modify the effects of job stressors,
many of which overlap with those examined in psychological
stress research. In a similar vein, Karasek (1979; Karasek &
Theorell, 1990) developed a model that focused on two key job
characteristics, job demands and job decision latitude, predicting
that mental strain is the product of high demands coupled with low
decision latitude. Along similar lines, Frankenhaeuser and col-
leagues (Frankenhaeuser & Gardell, 1976; Frankenhaeuser & Jo-
hansson, 1986) established a program of research that examined
stress in terms of job demands relative to worker control in
industrial settings, with particular emphasis on psychobiological
outcomes. Analogously, the challenge-hindrance approach to job
stress (Cavanaugh, Boswell, Roehling, & Boudreau, 2000; LePine,
LePine, & Jackson, 2004) classifies work-related demands and
circumstances as challenges or hindrances based on whether they
bring about gains or losses for the employee.
Other theories of stress at work emphasize the role of cognitive
appraisal, echoing the theories of psychological stress set forth by
Lazarus, Hobfoll, and others. A notable example is the theory of
role stress by Kahn and colleagues (Kahn & Quinn, 1970; Kahn,
Wolfe, Quinn, Snoek, & Rosenthal, 1964), which examines how
characteristics of organizational roles (e.g., conflict, ambiguity,
overload) are perceived and experienced as stressors by role in-
cumbents, leading to affective and physiological symptoms as well
as coping responses. Likewise, the person– environment (P–E) fit
theory of job stress (French, Caplan, & Van Harrison, 1982)
distinguishes objective person and environment factors from their
subjective counterparts and emphasizes the fit between the sub-
jective person and environment as the key determinant of psycho-
logical, physiological, and behavioral strains along with coping
and defense mechanisms. Similarly, the cybernetic theories of
work-related stress proposed by Cummings and Cooper (1979) and
Edwards (1992) frame stress as a discrepancy between perceptions
and important desires which lead to psychological and physical
symptoms and efforts to resolve perceived discrepancies. Along
similar lines, the conceptualization of stress in organizations pre-
sented by Schuler (1980) posits that stress exists when a person is
confronted with demand, constraint, or opportunity for being,
having, or doing what he or she desires, which leads to psycho-
logical, physical, and behavioral symptoms as well as efforts to
reduce stress and its deleterious effects.
As noted above, theories of work stress that emphasize cognitive
appraisal often posit that stress not only influences strains and
illness but also triggers coping efforts directed at the sources of
stress. Strategies for coping with work-related stress have been
discussed (e.g., Dewe, O’Driscoll, & Cooper, 2010; Latack &
Havlovic, 1992), and various frameworks have been presented that
distinguish basic forms of coping, such as control, escape, and
symptom management (Latack, 1986) and rational task-oriented
behavior, emotional release, distraction, passive rationalization,
social support (Dewe & Guest, 1990). Some discussions take a
more focused approach by addressing how people cope with
specific sources of work-related stress, such as job loss (Latack,
Kinicki, & Prussia, 1995) and work–family conflict (Wiersma,
1994). Although coping with work stress has been addressed from
a theoretical standpoint, relatively few studies of work stress have
provided a detailed analysis of how people cope with stress.
As with research on stressful life events, many studies of job
stress have examined moderator variables that can influence rela-
tionships between stressors, perceived stress, and outcomes. These
variables include individual differences such as personality (Parkes,
1994), locus of control (Marino & White, 1985), self-esteem (Ganster
& Schaubroeck, 1991), and Type A behavior pattern (e.g., Edwards,
Baglioni, & Cooper, 1990, and the JAP monograph Ganster, Schau-
broeck, Sime, & Mayes, 1991) as well as contextual variables, par-
ticularly social support (House, 1981; Viswesvaran, Sanchez, &
Fisher, 1999).
In summary, the development of stress theories, both in general
and within the domain of work, has followed a progression that can
be traced using the broad classes of variables we used to define the
stress process. This progression begins with identifying stressors
and associated strains, delves into the cognitive appraisal processes
by which stress is perceived, and introduces variables that mod-
erate the linkages between stressors, perceived stress, and strains.
We use this summary of theories as a backdrop against which to
review stress research that has appeared in JAP. Our review also
takes into account the chronology of historical events that have
implications for work stress, as presented in the preceding section.
Empirical Word Counts
We examined macro trends over time using 606 JAP articles
identified using an “OR” operator on the search terms “stressor,”
“stress,” “strain,” “well-being,” “mental health,” “physical health,”
“illness,” “fatigue,” “mental hygiene,” “anxiety,” and “depres-
sion.” The abstracts from the 606 articles were subjected to word
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392 BLIESE, EDWARDS, AND SONNENTAG

frequency counts using the tm package for R (Feinerer, Hornik, &
Meyer, 2008, R Core Team, 2014). While the search terms identify
the broader class of relevant literature, the word count frequencies
from abstracts provide insight into specific research topics and
contexts. That is, the key words in the search terms identified the
relevant sample of published research, and the word count fre-
quency gives specific insights into how researchers applied the
concepts. In this way, the work– count frequencies help capture
societal, theoretical, and empirical trends in stress research across
the 100 years of our review.
Our goal was to cast a broad net capturing commentaries, book
reviews, and empirical studies related to stress and well-being. The
specific search terms were selected based on: (a) an article-by-
article examination of the first 10 years of published articles; (b) an
examination of articles every fifth year through the 1960s; and (c)
our knowledge of terms used in influential books and articles. It
was important to directly examine early articles because some
relevant studies used terms such as “mental hygiene” and “mental
fatigue” that would not be identified using terms from the con-
temporary stress literature.
The original query returned 642 matches. We eliminated 36
articles that triggered false positives, as when the word “stress”
was used as a synonym for “emphasize” as in “the authors stress.”
In the early decades, we also excluded several articles that met our
search terms in ways we did not intend (e.g., “eyestrain,” “judg-
mental fatigue”). The remaining 606 articles provide a rich source
for textual analyses that we found to be consistent with other
sources of information, such as citation rates, historic reviews, and
our knowledge of the field.
Number of Publications by Year
Figure 1 provides a visual representation of the annual percent
of articles meeting our search criteria relative to the total number of
publications during the year. Until the 1970s, approximately 5% of
the articles met our criteria, with fluctuations between 0% and
10%. Beginning in the late 1960s and early 1970s, between 5%
and 10% of the articles were focused on stress and well-being, and
during the past 15 years over 10% of the articles in any given year
have addressed stress and well-being. The pattern suggests three
broad eras: the 50-year period between 1917 and 1966 (n ⫽ 173);
a 30-year period between 1967 and 1996 (n ⫽ 213); and the
20-year period for 1997 to present (n ⫽ 220).
Setting boundaries for these three eras requires categorizing a
continuous process and is therefore somewhat arbitrary. That said,
the eras appear to correspond with several noteworthy landmarks
in stress research. For instance, the boundary between the first and
second eras roughly coincides with the publication of Kahn,
Wolfe, Quinn, Snoek, and Rosenthal’s (1964) seminal book on
role stress, Kornhauser’s (1965) book on mental health of the
industrial worker, and Lazarus’ (1966) book on psychological
stress and the coping process. The boundary between the second
and third eras marks a widespread increase in research related to
job stress and health. For instance, in 1986 the WHO Ottawa
Charter for Health Promotion was adopted and set the starting
point for a greater emphasis on stress and health issues. The
Charter emphasized the importance of health and was followed by
a partnership between the American Psychological Association
(APA) and the National Institute for Occupational Health and
Safety (NIOSH) aimed at promoting the new field of occupational
health psychology. In addition, in 1996 the first volume of the
Journal of Occupational Health Psychology was published, sug-
gesting that the increased interest in job stress research was suf-
ficient to support a new journal.
Figure 2 presents a visual representation of wordclouds for each
era. In the wordclouds, a word is presented only if it occurred with
at least a frequency of 25% relative to the total number of articles.
With this approach, wordclouds for eras are roughly normalized
for differences in the total number of articles. In the wordclouds,
the most frequently used words are in the center of the cloud, and
words further out have lower frequency. Due to the 25% selection
criteria, low frequency words do not appear at all.
Figure 2 conveys the degree to which terminology in JAP
articles has consolidated over the years. The relative absence of
words in the first era captures the lack of a unifying theoretical
framework and the diversity of research topics. As such, only 10
words appeared 43 times (25% of 173). In contrast, the wordcloud
for the second era reveals 24 words that occurred at least 53 times
(25% of 213), and for the third era, the wordcloud reflects 49
words occurring in at least 55 times (25% of 220). In the following
section, we examine word count frequency of the top 25 words by
era (see Table 1) and relate these counts to key historic events and
major theoretical developments (online Appendixes B, C, and D
provide citations and abstracts for the top 25 most cited articles by
era as defined by Google Scholar). We emphasize that we used the
words from the abstracts as a foundation of our review, but we
augmented the word frequency data with other information, such
as citation rates and our knowledge of the field.
The 1917 to 1966 Era
The first era is difficult to characterize from either a theoretical
or applied perspective. The word frequency for this era (see Table
1) reveals that the most frequently used term was the word “book,”
followed by the words “review(s)” and “author(s).” A large num-
ber of articles that met our search criteria during the period were
reviews of books on “mental hygiene” and similar topics related to
stress.
While book reviews dominated the first era, traces of what we
currently recognize as research on stress and well-being are also
0
5
10
15
20
25
1917
1922
1927
1932
1937
1942
1947
1952
1957
1962
1967
1972
1977
1982
1987
1992
1997
2002
2007
2012
Percent
Year
Figure 1. Percent of total articles meeting search criteria.
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393STRESS AND WELL-BEING

evident in the word counts. For instance, a sizable number of
articles focused on the development and/or use of scales to assess
attributes related to stress and well-being. This trend is evident in
words such as “scale(s),” “test(s),” “study,” and “personality” as in
“personality tests” along with the words “group(s),” “results,” and
“difference(s)” reflecting analyses of experimental and descriptive
studies often focused on scales and tests (e.g., the “Colgate mental
hygiene test” or the “Thorndike addition sheets”). In addition, a
large number of the studies focused on students and children (i.e.,
“child[ren],” “students,” “college”). Concerns about “mental hy-
giene” and “mental health” for children and students were com-
mon in the early decades of the journal, but later these topics
shifted to other specialized journals. In contrast, words related to
“problems,” “performance,” and “work” would remain central to
JAP and the study of stress.
The Great Depression. As noted, the period between 1929
and 1939 represented the Great Depression. A frequency count
during this era and extending 5 years for publication lag (43
publications) is largely indistinguishable from the count for the
broader era in that key terms remained centered on book reviews
and mental hygiene of children. Interestingly, a detailed search for
terms specifically related to the economic conditions such as
“unemployment” reveals little to suggest that articles in JAP
considered these issues relevant, at least from the perspective of
stress research.
The wars. An examination of the 64 publications during the
war years (and 5-years postwar) reveals that the word “war”
appears eight times and words such as “soldier,” “officer,” and
“veteran” do not occur or occur less than two times. The majority
of publications related to the war were book reviews (“Shell Shock
book
mental
psychology
group
reviews
worktest
fatigue
study
hygiene
job
stress
work
satisfaction
performance
role
results
related group
effects
support study
social
organizational
control
groupsdata
high
model
employees
health
measures
task
time
work
job
study
results
employeeseffects
related
performance
relationship
support
emotional
time
psychological
rolehealth
stress
family
control
organizational
stressors
research
outcomes
relationships
satisfaction
conflict
demands
negative
authors
exhaustion
resources
model
burnout
implications
examined
found
individuals
behavior
high
strain data
theory
levels
discussed
positive
social
findings
level
effect
sample
studies
Figure 2. Wordclouds for three eras.
Table 1
Top 25 Words in Abstracts by Era
1917–1966 Era
(n ⫽ 173)
1967–1996 Era
(n ⫽ 213)
1997–Present
(n ⫽ 220)
Word Count Word Count Word Count
book 169 job 253 work 341
mental 131 stress 205 job 313
group(s) 104 work 165 study(ies) 243
tests(s) 90 group(s) 152 effect(s) 217
psychology 78 effect(s) 126 employee(s) 213
reviews 64 satisfaction 117 relationship(s) 209
group 64 performance 109 results 161
scale(s) 61 role 108 related 141
work 60 results 103 performance 135
problem(s) 58 significant(ly) 96 negative(ly) 130
author(s) 56 related 94 individual(s) 127
fatigue 54 relationship(s) 91 level(s) 126
study 52 analys(es) 85 support 120
child(ren) 51 measure(s) 84 emotional 118
hygiene 48 support 77 behavior(s) 115
personality 41 study 71 theor(etical) 111
part 39 social 67 time 110
social 38 organizational 66 examine(d) 108
performance 38 control 65 positive(ly) 108
students 37 factor(s) 59 psychological 106
psychological 35 data 59 role 104
college 34 model 58 health 102
difference(s) 32 high 58 stress 101
results 31 employees 56 family 100
individual 31 health 53 control 98
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394 BLIESE, EDWARDS, AND SONNENTAG

and Its Aftermath” following WWI, and “The War and Mental
Health in England” following WWII). The first research-based
publication appears following WWII in a study of attrition from
Officer Candidate School (OCS). In this study, Taubman (1947)
described a leadership training system designed to work in part by
“provid[ing] an atmosphere freed from the tensions and anxieties
of OCS.” A second article by Anderson (1949) examined a voca-
tional training program for the placement of veterans and focused
on whether those going through the program displayed greater
“emotional adjustment.” It is interesting that, despite the recogni-
tion that the wars presented unique opportunities to study stress
(e.g., Hall, 1917), there were relatively few empirical studies that
focused on stress associated with the wars.
Mass production. Links between the wide-scale adoption of
mass production and work stress are reflected in early writings by
Fish (1917) and Martin (1917), and words used during this era
reflect the industrial age. For instance, the word “noise” occurred
11 times, and as was the first article we identified as studying a
stressor and a strain (Laird, 1933). Moreover, the second most
highly cited article (see online Appendix B) during this time period
was also focused on the impact of noise (Jerison, 1959).
Other aspects of industrialized work are reflected in the word
counts. The word “accident” occurred five times, first in a book
review of readings in industrial psychology in 1931 and later in an
article by Davids and Mahoney (1957), one of the top 10 most
cited stress articles during this era (online Appendix B). Interest-
ingly, the word “shift” occurred only once in our database, sug-
gesting that shift work was not a key concern, and the word
“alienation” did not occur at all, suggesting that research in the
first era does not foreshadow later issues and concerns with in-
dustrialization, such as the large-scale strikes in 1946 (see Appen-
dix A).
Theory. In terms of theory, this era is characterized by the
concepts of homeostasis and physiological processes described by
Cannon (1932) and Selye (1936). Evidence of the focus on phys-
iological processes is present in Laird (1933) who in studying the
effects of loud noise concluded that:
Most unexpected and of greatest significance, however, was the great
increase in the volume of urine excreted at the level of 80 and 90
decibels. This is in harmony, however, with the work of Corbeille on
changes in the volume of the kidney and spleen of dogs under
different noise influences. This observation is being made the subject
of special study and is in line with the hypothesis that the effects of
noise are due largely to the appropriate noise causing a biological fear
reaction. (p. 329)
In many ways, however, Laird (1933) was the exception rather
than the rule in terms of showing links to theory. Words such as
“homeostasis” are not mentioned once during this era, and the
word “physiological” and its variants occur six times, only in book
reviews.
The 1967–1996 Era
The middle columns in Table 1 present the 25 most frequent
words in abstracts between 1967 and 1996, a period during which
stress research emerged as a central topic in JAP. The frequency
pattern of words during this period differs dramatically from the
previous era, in that “job,” “stress,” and “work” emerged as the
three most common words. The word frequency pattern also re-
flects a pronounced shift from book reviews and toward empirical
studies reflected by words such as “result(s),” “analys(es),” “data,”
and “model.” In addition, the word frequencies reveal clear pat-
terns with respect to outcome variables. For instance, the words
“performance,” “satisfaction,” and “health” were common. Based
on the usage patterns, the 30-year period from 1967 to 1996
represents a critical milestone, introducing new theoretical and
empirical paradigms for stress research.
Societal trends: Women in workplace. Perhaps no societal
trend is more important than the large increase of women in the
workforce between 1960 and 1980. Articles from 1967 to 1996
suggest that this trend is viewed fundamentally differently than
when women joined the workforce during the world wars. A clear
example of an article examining stress among women is Chacko
(1982), who focused on Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and the
preferential recruitment and hiring of women, exploring “the re-
lationships between perceived preferential selection and several
organizational outcome variables such as organizational commit-
ment, role stress, and satisfaction.” Another theme during this era
was to examine gender differences in work characteristics, such as
job control (Adelmann, 1987) and coping (Parkes, 1990). These
articles stand in contrast with studies of women in the previous era.
One such study from the previous era examined fatigue among
women involved in house care (Gross & Bartley, 1951) and
selected participants who were “the mother of at least one child”
(p. 205) and “in the habit of doing their own cleaning” (pp.
205–206) in contrast to selecting women who were members of the
workforce.
Societal trends: Economic uncertainty. The era from 1967
to 1996 did not have any economic impact that earned the title
“great” as in “Great Depression” or “Great Recession.” Nonethe-
less, this period had a number of significant economic shocks,
including the Arab Oil Embargo, the Chrysler Bailout, the highest
unemployment rate (10.4%) since 1940, and the Savings and Loan
Bailout (see Appendix A). Unlike the previous era, there are clear
signs that these economic events were reflected in published
research. For instance, in our sample of articles, the word “unem-
ployed” occurred 15 times in eight studies. The highly cited study
by Caplan, Vinokur, Price, and Van Ryn (1989) is a noteworthy
randomized field experiment promoting motivation to seek reem-
ployment (online Appendix C).
Societal trends: Stress and safety. While history has wit-
nessed numerous occupational disasters, the period between 1967
and 1996 was characterized by several particularly noteworthy
events. In 1984, the Bhopal gas tragedy is estimated to have killed
up to 16,000. In 1979 the U.S. experienced the nuclear accident at
Three Mile Island, and in 1986 the Chernobyl disaster released
radiation that continues to have negative effects on the surrounding
areas. Finally, in 1987 the USS Stark was struck by two missiles
fired by an Iraqi jet, and the ensuing damage and loss of life
garnered considerable media attention. The tragedies obviously
had multiple causes; however, there was broad recognition that
high levels of stress were often a factor in a variety of safety
accidents. Indeed, even at a national level, links between stress and
safety had been drawn earlier in the era in 1970 when the U.S.
established the National Institute for Occupational Safety and
Health (for a brief history of stress research at NIOSH see Murphy,
2002). Several JAP publications during this era reflect the interest
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395STRESS AND WELL-BEING

in the role of stress and safety. For instance, one of the top 10 most
cited articles from this era is Wright (1974) who focused on time
pressure (a stressor) and decision making. Another noteworthy line
of research was funded by the Navy partially in response to the
USS Stark incident and specifically focused on stress and decision
making within teams (e.g., Driskell & Salas, 1991).
Theoretical advances: Role stress. As noted, the 1967 to
1996 era presented significant developments in stress theory. Table
1 shows that terms related to role stress theory (Kahn & Quinn,
1970) were common, with the word “role” occurring 108 times in
the abstracts (ranked 8th overall). The first article in our sample
that used the word “role” with respect to role stress theory was
House and Rizzo (1972). This study used measures of role conflict
and role ambiguity as criteria when evaluating a measure of
organizational climate. As such, this study deviates from the
typical design, in which role stress is cast as a predictor of
outcomes such as well-being. The distinction of being the first role
stress study to include stressors and strains belongs to Hamner and
Tosi (1974), who examined the link between role stress and indices
of well-being among 61 high-level managers.
As suggested by Table 1, numerous other studies focused on
aspects of role stress theory during this era. Two articles were
particularly influential, as indexed by citation rates. The first was
Beehr, Walsh, and Taber (1976)’s examination of the moderating
effects of higher-order need strength in the relationships among
role stressors, individual strains, and organizationally valued
states, such as involvement. The second was Caplan and Jones’
(1975) study of the moderating effect of Type A personality
(online Appendix C).
Theoretical advances: Social support. The era from 1967 to
1996 also focused on identifying moderators of links between
stressors, perceived stress, and strains. While a number of individ-
ual factors such as personality and coping styles were examined,
the word frequency analysis suggests that social support was
particularly prevalent (while treated as separate, the words “social”
and “support” frequency occurred together). The first study to
examine social support as a direct effect and moderator in our
database was Caplan, Cobb, and French (1975), which focused on
smoking cessation in the workplace (thereby capturing another
societal trend).
Three highly cited studies of social support were Ganster, Fu-
silier, and Mayes (1986), Russell, Altmaier, and Van Velzen
(1987), and Etzion (1984). Ganster et al. (1986) is noteworthy
because the main finding was the absence of a moderating effect
for social support. This null finding reflects a tendency for mod-
erating effects to be more elusive than main effects in social
support research (and stress research in general). Both Russell et
al. (1987) and Etzion (1984) focused on social support as a
predictor and moderator of burnout. While the term “burnout” was
not identified as one of the top 25 words in the second era, the
word frequency analyses from the next era shows that the origins
of burnout research can be traced to the middle era. A final article
that deserves mention was the seminal piece by Eisenberger,
Huntington, Hutchison, and Sowa (1986) introducing the construct
of “positive organizational support” (POS), which has been highly
influential and widely examined during this era and the next (see
online Appendixes C and D).
Theoretical advances: Moderation. While social support
was arguably the key moderator of the second era, studies that
addressed other moderators were prevalent. Variants of the word
“moderate” occurred in 36 articles, and though this frequency is
not sufficient to make the top 25 words in Table 1, it nonetheless
demonstrates interest in factors that buffered the relationship be-
tween stressors and strains. Moreover, some authors discussed
moderating effects without using the term “moderator:” Caplan
and Jones (1975), for instance, referred to Type-A behavior as a
“conditioner” rather than a moderator of the effects of role stress
on strains.
The Era From 1997 to the Present
The word frequencies from 1997 to the present are, in many
ways, similar to those of the previous era. Many themes carried
over (e.g., role stress, support), and at the same time, new themes
emerged, leading to a general increase in the total percent of
articles focused on stress and well-being. Given the complexity of
the wordcloud for this era (see Figure 2) our coverage of the era
would be deficient if we examined only the 25 most frequently
occurring words listed in Table 1; therefore, we rely more on
words listed in the wordcloud (words that occur with a frequency
of 25% of total articles). Functionally, this means we focus beyond
the 25 words in Table 1 to the 49 words captured in the wordcloud
and in some cases even below the 49 words.
Despite the similarities between the second and third eras,
several noteworthy distinctions are evident. First, the word “stress”
drops from second most frequent in the second era to the 23rd most
frequent word in the current era. The drop may reflect increased
specificity in the terminology. That is, instead of generically using
the word “stress” to refer to both the causal event and the outcome,
researchers appear to have been more careful in delineating be-
tween the words “stressor” (n ⫽ 96) and “strain” (n ⫽ 69).
Second, “satisfaction” dropped out of the top 25, and the word
“emotional” emerged. The expanded list of 49 words includes the
terms “exhaustion” (n ⫽ 84), and “burnout” (n ⫽ 78). These
patterns suggest an overall change and expansion in the nature of
strains.2 Third, for the first time, the word “family” ranked in the
top 25, and the word “conflict” occurred in the expanded set (86
times). We discuss the emergence of “family” in terms of broader
societal trends, but the terms clearly indicate increased interest in
conflict between work and family.
Societal trends: Work boundaries. Although current trends
can be difficult to decipher, we anticipate that technological
changes blurring the lines between work and nonwork will be seen
as a defining characteristic of the early 2000s. This theme is
manifested in numerous ways. For instance, while the first two
articles examining work–family conflict were published in 1994
and 1995, the topic greatly expanded in the last era. In a similar
vein, the concept of “recovery” occasionally appeared in the jour-
nal, with the first instance in an examination of acute recovery
related to sleep deprivation among pilots (Dowd, 1974) and then
three times more in the 1990s. However, in the 2000s, interest in
this topic increased, with 10 studies examining detaching from
work during nonwork periods (vacations, weekends, free evenings,
etc.). Stress associated with the blurring of work and nonwork
boundaries is also captured by the emergence of the word “detach-
2 Note that the word “emotional” reflects strain as in “emotional exhaus-
tion” and stressor as in “emotional labor.”
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396 BLIESE, EDWARDS, AND SONNENTAG

ment,” which occurred 30 times during this era (e.g., Etzion, Eden,
& Lapidot, 1998). Finally with respect to work boundaries, four of
the top 25 most cited articles in this era (online Appendix D)
centered on work-family conflict (e.g., Ford, Heinen, & Langka-
mer, 2007; Frone, 2000; Judge & Colquitt, 2004; Major, Klein, &
Ehrhart, 2002). Clearly the study of work stress in the current era
has expanded beyond the workplace into broader aspects of life.
Societal trends: Work tensions. Although the words “harass-
ment,” “aggression,” and “incivility” did not appear in Table 1 nor
in the expanded list, these topics are important when indexed by
article citations (online Appendix D). For instance, the 10th most
cited article is an examination of the antecedents and consequences
of sexual harassment by Fitzgerald, Drasgow, Hulin, Gelfand, and
Magley (1997), and the attention garnered by this study likely
reflects broad societal issues surrounding workforce diversity
along with the recognition that conflict in work settings has im-
portant implications for employee well-being.
Societal trends: Burnout. One can debate whether use of the
words “burnout” and “emotional exhaustion” reflect something
about the broader societal milieu or about advances in theory
surrounding work stress. Nevertheless, one cannot deny the im-
portance of the burnout construct within the last era. In addition to
the increased prevalence of the words “burnout” and “exhaustion”
mentioned earlier, six of the top 25 most cited articles in this era
and four of the most cited articles in the previous era focus on
some aspect of burnout (see online Appendixes C and D). From the
current vantage point, it appears that burnout and its variants have
become prominent strains in the study of stress and well-being.
Theoretical advances: Resources. As noted, many of the
theoretical ideas proposed and tested in the previous era continue
to be refined during the last era. Role stress theory, in particular,
continued to be influential as indicated by the word “role” in Table
1. The last era also appears to be one in which COR theory
(Hobfoll, 1989) was frequently used as a theoretical framework.
COR theory was first referenced by Lee and Ashforth (1996)
during the previous era in a widely cited meta-analysis of predic-
tors of burnout (online Appendix C), but the word “resources”
occurs 82 times in the current era. The importance of resources in
stress and well-being research is also reflected by the most highly
cited article in this era (Demerouti, Bakker, Nachreiner, &
Schaufeli, 2001).
Theoretical advances: Multilevel models. While advances
in statistical methods do not formally constitute theory develop-
ment, methods do play a key role in researchers’ ability to test
theory. The 1990s brought important methodological advances for
analyzing hierarchically nested and longitudinal data (e.g., Bryk &
Raudenbush, 1992), and methods referred to as “multilevel” or
“mixed-effects” models were widely adopted. Consistent with
these developments, the words “level(s),” and “time” emerged in
Table 1, reflecting the increased reliance on multilevel and longi-
tudinal approaches. Several of the highly cited articles during the
last era (e.g., Jex & Bliese, 1999) relied on these approaches for
modeling shared group-level constructs such as collective efficacy
(online Appendix D). In addition, the within-person variant of
these analytic approaches became standard for examining phenom-
ena such as recovery processes in experience sampling designs
(Sonnentag, Binnewies, & Mojza, 2008).
Summary and Status of Theory
Research on stress and well-being has been present since the
inception of JAP. Over time, however, this line of research has
increased and currently approaches 20% of journal space (see
Figure 1). We see several reasons for this increase. First, JAP
research has become increasingly reflective of broader societal
events. Second, researchers have operationalized many stress-
related theoretical concepts and applied them to work contexts.
Third, new measures and statistical approaches have proven useful
in the study of stress and well-being.
Reflecting Societal Trends
Overall, publications in JAP reflect larger societal trends, and it
appears the journal has become increasingly synchronized with
current events (see online Appendix E for a summary and addi-
tional references linking research to key events). Interestingly,
however, we found it difficult to predict which events would be
reflected in the journal. For instance, we expected that links
between “war” and “stress” would have been quite pronounced
given Hall’s, 1917 editorial and a series of major conflicts over
100 years including two world wars, the Korean War, the Vietnam
War, and wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Unexpectedly, though, the
term “war” occurred infrequently throughout the time frame of our
review. In recent years, the distinctions between clinical and
applied psychology are more strongly defined than in the early
years of the journal; therefore, one might expect a lack of war-
related research in more recent years as outcomes of war stress are
seen as clinical problems. In the early years, though, where clinical
and applied boundaries were less clearly delineated, it seems
surprising that the topic was rarely addressed.
While the topic of war stress did not gain much attention in JAP,
other societal events certainly attracted interest and links to these
events strengthened over time. For example, we found little evi-
dence during the Great Depression (1929 –1939) that concurrent
societal trends such as unemployment were of interest to JAP
authors. In contrast, during 30-year era from 1967 to 1996, there
were clear links to trends such as high unemployment and women
entering the workforce. During the past 50 years, it is also apparent
that technological changes in the workplace are reflected in JAP.
One reason why JAP might reflect some societal trends more
than others is that stress researchers have increasingly focused on
white-collar and service-related employees rather than blue-collar
employees. The early writings of Fish (1917) and Martin (1917)
addressed blue-collar workers, and research on topics such as the
effects of noise (Jerison, 1959; Laird, 1933) took place in indus-
trial settings. Stress research during the past 50 years, however, has
tended to emphasize issues relevant to white-collar, professional
workers and to employees in service-related jobs. One way to
characterize the shift is to examine words that reflect outcomes
over the three eras: The only clear outcome to register at a rate of
25% of the total publications in the first era was “fatigue”—a term
that often applied to manual labor. In contrast, in the second era
two clear outcomes occurred with high frequency: “performance”
and “satisfaction.” These words could apply to manual, industrial
type jobs but they are also applicable in white-collar and profes-
sional jobs. In the third era, however, six clear outcomes are
identifiable (“burnout,” “exhaustion,” “health,” “performance,”
“satisfaction,” and “strain”). By the third era, the list of outcomes
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397STRESS AND WELL-BEING

has broadened and increasingly appears to reflect increases in
terms related to professional and service-related occupations.
There are likely two explanations for the field’s emphasis on
professional and service-related occupations. First, in many West-
ern societies the number of white-collar and service jobs has
increased relative to blue-collar jobs. Second, many key theoretical
constructs of interest such as role stress and emotional burnout are
seen as particularly relevant to white-collar and service-related
populations. One consequence is that when events such as job
layoffs from economic shocks occur in professional and service-
related populations, researchers are likely to capture these events
and thus JAP ends up reflecting larger societal trends.
A final observation concerns the degree to which publications
in JAP reflect global issues. For the most part, JAP articles have
centered on phenomena observed in North American and, to a
lesser extent, certain European and Asian societies. Although
the prevalence of stress research using samples from outside
North America has increased, it remains relatively rare in JAP.
From a more global perspective, studies focusing on job stress
in Latin America, Africa, and Arab countries as well as on
processes related to global migration still need to find their way
into JAP.
Theory
A second reason why work stress research may have become
increasingly prevalent in JAP is that many of the key theoretical
constructs and models proposed in the broader domain of stress
research can be readily applied to the work context. From our
review of JAP trends, it is clear that influential theories from
outside of the work domain influenced the study of work stress.
These influences are apparent in seminal theories of work stress
developed in the 1960s and 1970s, most notably role stress
theory (Kahn et al., 1964), and had a dramatic impact on
subsequent research published in JAP. It appears that the most
influential theories are those whose key elements: (a) are work
specific, such as role ambiguity and role conflict; (b) can be
readily measured, as exemplified by the widely used measures
of role stress developed by Rizzo, House, and Lirtzman (1970);
and (c) are relevant to white-collar and service-related popula-
tions.
Perhaps one reason why research on stress and well-being
appears fractured during the first 50 years of the journal is that,
during that time, stress theories focused largely on physiological
processes. Such theories were difficult to operationalize in the
work context and so, to a certain extent, they had little influence on
stress research at work. Interestingly, many of the methodological
tools used by researchers in the second era, such as surveys and
correlational analyses, were available during the first era, so theory
rather than method appears to be the most parsimonious explana-
tion of the relative dearth of early stress research.
Advances in Research Methods
A third factor that might explain the increase in stress research
involves methodological advances. Early research in JAP was
foundational by focusing on issues such as the measurement of key
constructs such as fatigue. Therefore, when new theoretical models
were proposed, researchers had already developed a measurement
foundation upon which to operationalize constructs to test theo-
retical propositions.
In a similar way, techniques such as mixed-effects models (Bryk
& Raudenbush, 1992) used in educational settings to study stu-
dents in classrooms, were easily generalized to research on stress
and well-being in occupational settings to model shared group
properties. Similarly, variants of mixed-effects models that apply
to individual processes over time and allow for longitudinal anal-
yses have also been valuable in examining stress processes (Zapf,
Dormann, & Frese, 1996). Other noteworthy statistical develop-
ments include the use of polynomial regression in research on the
person-environment fit approach to stress (e.g., Edwards & Har-
rison, 1993) and advances in tests of mediation to examine basic
processes underlying models of stress (Edwards & Lambert, 2007;
MacKinnon, 2008).
Conclusion and Future Trends
The fundamental idea expressed by Fish (1917) that the “shop
shall be comfortable in both a physical and a mental way” (p. 162)
is probably more germane to the core of JAP in 2017 than it was
in 1917. Over the last 100 years, concepts of what constitutes the
“shop” have changed in ways that few people could have foreseen.
Likewise, concepts of what it means to be “comfortable in both a
physical and mental way” have changed reflecting increasing
interest in the psychological impact of nonphysical work stres-
sors linked to strains such as burnout and emotional exhaustion.
It is important to note, however, that while the traces of stress
research were present in 1917, it took advances in theory to
serve as the spark that ignited the research topic area. By
themselves, societal events (even momentous events like world
wars) failed to drive research; rather, the catalyst was provided
by theorists who presented interesting, relevant, and testable
propositions. Looking ahead, we anticipate three trends that are
particularly likely to stimulate the development, testing, and
refinement of stress theory: (a) integration of physiological
data; (b) ability to test work-life cycle models; and (c) stress
management trials.
Integration of Physical and Physiological Data
Interestingly, in a potential return to elements of the past,
technological advances in sensors continue to make the collection
of physical and physiological data streams increasingly feasible in
applied settings. We believe that streams of data from sensors are
likely to capture even broader ranges of stressors (e.g., physical
exertion, noise, ambient temperature) and strains (e.g., sleep quan-
tity and quality, body temperature, endocrine markers) that will
further allow the field to refine knowledge of the stress process
(e.g., Dettenborn, Tietze, Bruckner, & Kirschbaum, 2010). At the
same time, as sensor-related data progresses, the field is almost
certain to require significant theoretical advances to integrate the
information into testable, relevant hypotheses.
Work–Life Cycle Models
Second, we foresee the development and maintenance of work-
life cycle longitudinal databases focusing on work stressors, mod-
erators, mediators, and strains. Work–life cycle data will allow
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398 BLIESE, EDWARDS, AND SONNENTAG

researchers to test and refine process-related theories about stress,
coping, and well-being over extended periods of time (see also,
Cummings & Cooper, 1979; Edwards, 1992) and potentially link
these processes to medically recognized diseases. That is, despite
the expansion of strain-related variables over the last 100 years,
few studies link work stressors to hard medical outcomes over
time. 3 Many stress theories posit a cyclical relationship between
stressors, coping, and well-being, so we see opportunities to test
and refine theory by examining long-term, dynamic relationships
that contain a variety of predictors and moderators along with an
expanded set of medically diagnosed outcomes.
Stress-Management Trials
Finally, when we examine word usage during the past 50 years,
words such as “relationship(s),” “related,” and “effect(s)” fre-
quently emerged in the abstracts (see Table 1). The frequent use of
these words reflects a general avoidance of causal language, as in
“the relationship between the stressor and the strain was signifi-
cant.” Fundamentally, however, theories of stress are causal and,
as such, should be tested with research designs that allow stronger
causal inferences.
To some degree, one can argue that the roots of stress research
lie in studies that allow for stronger causal inference. Recall that
the first JAP article we identified that included both a stressor and
strain was Laird (1933) in an experiment study of loud noise.
During the past 50 years, however, designs have been primarily
quasi-experimental or correlational. That is, studies have measured
constructs and described relationships among stressors, modera-
tors, and strains either at single points or, in limited instances, in
longitudinal designs.
Obviously, ethical issues can preclude randomly assigning in-
dividuals to different conditions involving stressors. In contrast,
few if any unsurmountable ethical issues preclude conducting
randomized trials focused on interventions designed to help em-
ployees cope with work stressors (i.e., stress management strate-
gies). Unfortunately, however, well-designed randomized trials
that would allow one to make causal inferences about stress
management strategies remain rare. For instance, in 2008, Rich-
ardson and Rothstein (2008) published a meta-analysis on stress
management intervention programs in which they identified only
38 articles between 1977 and early 2006 (approximately 1.3 a
year). Of the 38, three were published in JAP (Bruning & Frew,
1987; Ganster, Mayes, Sime, & Tharp, 1982; Jackson, 1983).
One consequence of having few studies focused on stress man-
agement interventions is that we, as a field, are then limited in our
ability to develop and refine theory surrounding implementation
science—an area of research becoming increasingly important in
public health (e.g., Bammer, 2005). Thus, in concluding our 100-
year review of research on stress and well-being, we anticipate that
theory and research will continue to evolve in ways that support
stronger causal inference, and more specifically that the field will
continue to develop theory and research that support actionable
knowledge to help organizations manage the diverse and unpre-
dictable stressors that will emerge over the next 100 years.
3 An anonymous reviewer made this astute observation and we com-
pletely agree.
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Received May 31, 2015
Revision received January 1, 2016
Accepted March 7, 2016 䡲
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