Transferred employees' psychological stress due to “tanshinfunin” family separation A study of stress responese

• Published in: Shinrigaku kenkyū Vol. 65; no. 6; pp. 428 - 436
• Main Author: Tanaka, Yuhko
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Japanese
• Published: The Japanese Psychological Association 20.02.1995
• Subjects: family separation; job-related transfer; mental stress; stress response; tanshin-funin
• ISSN: 0021-5236; 1884-1082
• DOI: 10.4992/jjpsy.65.428

A transferred employee may take his family along (taido-funin), or have to temporarily move and live alone (tanshin-funin), leaving the family behind. Two hundred and thirty-nine (239) taido-funin transferees, 247 tanshin-funin transferees, and 225 non-transferred employees completed a 31-item questionnaire designed to measure stress responses on the present level. Factor analysis found five factors for the stress: feeling of instability, poor health, loneliness, loss of self-confidence, and feeling of elation. Results indicated that (1) in general, tanshin-funin transferees felt more stressful than the oher groups. However, family separation might not be as bad as expected, because while it did cause loneliness and poor health and decrease feeling of elation, the transferee self-confidence was actually increased. (2) The transferee rank did not affect the effects of family separation. (3) Besides, stress responses were measured on 31-items on the difference between present and past levels. According to the results, tanshin-funin transferees believed that psychological stress due to family separation was especially harmful. The effects of family separation depended also on the conceptual levels of measurement.