Faculty of Sport, University of Ljubljana, ISSN 1318-2269 39 Kinesiologia Slovenica, 14, 1, 39–55 (2008) Povzetek Namen raziskave je bil proučiti povezanost stresa v Slovenski vojski s spremenljivkami športa, zdravjem, namero za zapustitev delovnega mesta, splošnim zadovoljstvom z življenjem in nekaterimi drugimi demografskimi spremenljivkami. Analizirali smo tudi medsebojno povezanost dejavnikov, ki vplivajo na stresno obremenitev. V ta namen smo uporabili Lestvico zadovoljstva z življenjem, Vprašalnik osebnostne čvrstosti, Vprašalnik spoprijemanja s stresom, Lestvico splošne samoučinkovitosti, Splošni vprašalnik o zdravju, Vprašalnik o izgorelosti, Lestvico za ocenjevanje stresa, Vprašalnik o nameri za zapustitev delovnega mesta in Stališčno lestvico odnos do športa. Sodelovalo je 127 uslužbencev Slovenske vojske; 35 vojakov, 48 podčastnikov, 44 častnikov. Od tega je bilo 107 moških in 20 žensk. Rezultati so pokazali precej statistično pomembnih korelacij med obravnavanimi spremenljivkami. Najvišje pozitivne korelacije so se pojavile med slabim zdravjem in izgorelostjo na delovnem mestu. Splošno zadovoljstvo z življenjem se je visoko negativno povezovalo z nemočjo in odtujenostjo, namera za zapustitev delovnega mesta pa z zadovoljstvom z zaposlitvijo in z željo po tem, da bi ostali v Slovenski vojski. Visoka pozitivna korelacija se je pojavila tudi med splošno samoučinkovitostjo in nadzorom. Ključne besede: stres, zdravje, Slovenska vojska, izgore- lost, samoučinkovitost, zadovoljstvo Abstract The purpose of this study was to investigate the correlations between stress in the Slovenian army and sport, health, the intention to leave one’s job, satisfaction with life and some other demographic variables. The reciprocal connections of factors that influence large amounts of stress were also analysed. SWLS, DRS, CRI, SSE, GHQ, MBI, Stress Evaluation Scale and a questionnaire on attitudes toward sport were used. In the research 127 employees of Slovenian Army participated; 35 soldiers, 48 non-commissioned officers, 44 officers. There were 107 males and 20 females participating. The results showed many statistically significant correlations between the variables used. The highest positive correlations emerged between bad health and burnout at the workplace. The correlation between satisfaction with life, weakness and estrangement was high and negative. The same correlation also appeared between the intention to leave one’s job, satisfaction with employment and the wish to stay in the Slovenian army. A significant and highly positive correlation also emerged between self-efficiency and control. Key words: stress, health, Slovenian army, burnout, self-efficiency, satisfaction ¹ Faculty of Sport, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia ² Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia *Corresponding autor: Matej Tušak Faculty of Sport, University of Ljubljana Gortanova 22 SI-1000 Ljubljana Slovenia Tel.: +386 1 5207784 Fax: +386 1 5207730 E-mail: matej.tusak@fsp.uni-lj.si STRESS AND HEALTH IN SLOVENIAN ARMY STRES IN ZDRAVJE V SLOVENSKI VOJSKI Matej Tušak¹* Tjaša Dimec¹ Robert Masten² Maks Tušak² 40 Stress and health in Slovenian army Kinesiologia Slovenica, 14, 1, 39–55 (2008) INTRODUCTION Stress is an inevitable consequence of a person’s relationship with the changing environment, to which one has to accommodate. Ihan (2005) says that stress is only one of many functions of the organism that serve its better accommodation to changes. Stress can be understood as an accommodating response of the body that is caused by changes in the environment. It is discord- ance between understanding demands on one side and abilities to command them on the other. The relation between understanding demands and estimation of abilities to fight the pressures substantially affects the experience of stress (Looker and Gregson, 1993). The first person who introduced the conception of stress was a doctor, Hans Selye (1956, in Vizek-Vidovič, 1990). He defined stress as a state of the organism which is shown through a complex of body changes and is known as the general adaptation syndrome or the syndrome of non-specific illness (1983, in Vizek-Vidovič, 1990). Selye’s model explained numerous important physiological processes and, therefore, had an important role in understanding illnesses related to stress, although his model does not say much about the psychological components of stress. We believe that stress is a complex of responses of the organism to the activity of stressors which takes place in three stages. When a certain factor that could hurt the body appears, similar body reactions appear. Selye named the phases of alarm reaction, resistance and exhaustion “the general accommodating syndrome.” The first phase is called the alarm phase and it consists of a shock and antishock. The shock presents an unusual decrease and disorganization of organism’s activity, while in antishock signs of mobilization and willingness to solve stress appear. In case of extensive damage, the organism can be defeated in short time period in the alarm stage. If the damage is not fatal, the body passes over to a second phase, the phase of resistance in which the symptoms from alarm phase disappear. The functioning of the organism recovers in order to successfully manage the effects of stress. With this reaction of resistance, the organism protects itself better against repeated injury. Most stresses are solved in this phase and the functioning of the organism returns to its usual level. If the harmful influences continue and the efforts to solve problems are not successful, the working of the organism begins to decrease and the phase of exhaustion begins; in extreme cases, stress ends with death. At every stress, the body necessarily goes through all those three phases. Very few stimuli lead to exhaustion as the body adapts to them and it accustoms to burdens (Lamovec, 1984; Lindemann, 1977; Musek, 1997; Tušak and Tušak, 2001). Reactions to stress can be shown on more levels of human activity. Beside physiological changes, reactions can be reflected affective disturbance, changes in cognitive activity, as well as disturbances on motor and behaviour area (Lamovec, 1984). Consideration of influences of stress on body and mental illnesses began in the 19th century. In the first years of the 20th century, Sir William Osler (Spielberger, 1985), a renowned British doc- tor, equated “stress and tension” with hard unskilled manual work and restlessness, and expressed an assumption that these circumstances cause the development of heart illnesses. Other research (Sarafino, 1990) showed that people who experience hard stressful burdens behave in ways that increase the probability of illness or injuries and consume more alcohol, cigarettes and coffee that those who were not exposed to hard stress. Frequent abuse of alcohol and recklessness also co-form a high level of accidents at work, in sport, at home and in traffic typical for people who are strongly aggravated with stress. Lindemann (1977) mentions that a person becomes ill from stress when the general accommodation syndrome refuses to work, because it is exhausted. The Stress and health in Slovenian army 41 Kinesiologia Slovenica, 14, 1, 39–55 (2008) theories of Engel, Schmall and Green (1956-1972, in Rakovec-Felser, 1998), which emphasize the meaning of individual’s feelings of weakness and hopelessness, also enable the understanding of stress effects on the psychophysical health of an individual. An individual will fall ill earlier if despair overflows him, if he loses faith in himself and if he does not feel accepted and useful in his environment. Newhouse (2000) talks about stress as a strong catalyst, an accelerator of illness, since most people who live in the condition of repeated stress fall ill with different ill- nesses. Connections between stress and falling ill are shown to be low, which supposedly reflects individual changes in sensitiveness for stress. The moderation model of stress (Hogan, Johnson and Briggs, 1995) foresees that stress causes falling ill, while the dispositional factors make somebody more or less vulnerable. In general, the research foresees that stress influences health over physiological changes which begin in the organism and cause an increase of agitation. Frequent and long lasting agitation causes overload- ing of organs and organic systems which can lead to certain illnesses (Hogan et al., 1995). Most people experience relations with people either at home, at work or with friends as the most stressful (Tušak and Tušak, 2001). The working position can be a real focus of stress which is caused by an interaction of numerous factors. Looker (1989) mentions being overloaded at work, a continuous lack of time because of setting terms too short, dissatisfaction because of a lack of opportunities for the individual to prove himself, unclear definitions of one’s role and the meaning of the working position, changing working habits and bad information as well as the loss of review over what is happening and the feeling of belonging to an organization. Sabadin (2002) mentions that there are often two kinds of psychological burdens at work: monotony and mental stress. Monotony is usually experienced by workers who perform simple and continuous work or work in less distinctive and interesting working environments. Mental stress is usually a consequence of excessive burdens at work, although dissatisfaction with work, increased responsibility, partiality, competition, the feeling of unsuitability and bad interactions in relations at work also contribute. The most usual causes of stress at work are: conflict of the role, indistinctness of the role and shift work. Stress has negative effects on organizations and on the whole of society as well. Because of stress, the effectiveness of employees decreases, absence from work increased and high medical expenses for people who fall ill because of stress are incurred. Expenses are also caused by premature superannuation’s and an inability to work because of accidents that happen because of stress. The research shows that workers who are satisfied at work and are motivated are not overloaded and maintain good relations with their employers, bosses and co-workers, they are less absent from work, they decide to change occupations less frequently and achieve better results at work (Polajnar et al., 2003). The concepts of being burnt out and stress are tightly connected but should not be equated. Stress relates to a condition in which an individual is exposed to psychological or physical burdens while being burnt out is a consequence of long lasting exposure stress and too high demands of the environment (Bratina, 2003). The pioneer of research on burnout is Herbert Freudenberger (1974, in Penko, 1994), who studied stress and reactions to stress in alternative institutions. Practi- cally all workers have seen cases of burn out but authors first studied it in different professional groups that were more orientated to people (in human activities, health service and education). Currently, these occupations with a high level of sensitivity are increasing as a major move from production to service occupations is underway. In the technologically developed working world, 42 Stress and health in Slovenian army Kinesiologia Slovenica, 14, 1, 39–55 (2008) the high level of sensitivity is becoming even more critical. Dunham (1992, in Penko, 1994) thinks that being burnt out is a condition that is hard to correct. Many other authors think that being burnt out is the last level of progressive stressful reactions to increased pressures when the ways of handling are no longer effective and personal resources are being exhausted (Dunham, 1992; Gold, 1984, in Potočnik, 2004). The expression “being burnt out” is not a very clearly defined construction (Maslach, Schaufeli and Leiter, 2001). Some authors speak of exhaustion, while others refer to a decrease of creativity, decreasing enthusiasm for work, estrangement from customers, co-workers and work itself, the reaction to stress and so on (Perlman and Hartman, 1982, in Hellesoy, Gronhaug and Kvitastein, 2000). Maslach in Leiter (2002) mention disharmony between work and the person who does it as the main source of being burnt out. Some authors support the definition that says that being burnt out is a one-dimensional concept in which emotional and physical exhaustion is significant. Depersonalisation is supposed to be a dimension that is significant only for people-orientated occupations, while it is not so for other occupations (Evans and Fischer, 1993). Most research supported the three-dimensional concept of being burnt out, so the authors generally agree that being burnt out is a syndrome in which emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation and a decreased feeling of personal fulfilment are significant (Maslach et al., 2001). Emotional exhaustion and cynicism are the main consequences of being burnt out; however, often more general deteriora- tion of the physical and psychological well-being of an individual occurs (Maslach, 2003). Employees who are burnt out and can no longer handle different types of overloading at work often leave their jobs. Some completely give up the activity and change the field of work. Others change their jobs but stay in the field where they already worked before (Maslach, 2003). There exist different phase models that attempt to explain the process of being burnt out. Maslach (1982, in Hellesoy et al., 2000) discovered that first emotional exhaustions occur as an answer to excessive, chronic demands that exhaust an individual’s emotional reserves. Emotional signs of being burnt out are feelings of frustration, anger, hostility, fear and anxiety. Golembiewski in Munzenrider (1984, 1988, in Penko, 1994) presumed that high emotional exhaustion contributes more to being burnt out than low self fulfilment, yet both are more expressive than depersonalisation. Golembiewski, Boudreau, Sun in Luo (1998) discovered that the development of being burnt out in organizations is shown through a series of changes in characteristic and quality of life. The results of their research showed that work enthusiasm lowers, working satisfaction decreases, wanted and actual early departures from work become greater, physical and emotional symptoms are more frequent, connection in the group becomes smaller and the measures of working effectiveness become lower. According to Maslachov in Leiter (2002), being burnt out is shown as a decomposition of connection with work, emotions and the trouble of adjustment between a person and a task. Burning out is not only an individual’s problem, but also a problem of the social environment in which people work. Karasek (1990) thinks that with the professional syndrome of exhaustion, the problem cannot be solved only with individual’s use of coping strategies, but should also include organization changes at work. The researchers are quite focused on searching for qualities which help resistance to effects of stress. Among optimal personal characteristics, the most known is the “personality strength” construction. Persons with personality strength have conscious control over their lives, attach- Stress and health in Slovenian army 43 Kinesiologia Slovenica, 14, 1, 39–55 (2008) ments, a sense of duty and a willingness to accept challenges. A special characteristic of people with personality strength is their toughness, which refers to a low basic level of adrenalin and sympathetic activities, and also their high flexibility, which means adaptability of physiological systems making for successful control of stressful burdens and the rapid of these systems to a normal condition. All of this strengthens the immune system (Dienstbier, 1989, in Selič, 1999). Kobasa (1981, in Lamovec, 1994) confirmed with research that the effect of personality strength on an individual’s health condition can be predicted. Kobasova (1979, in Payne, 2002) discovered that among businessman in responsible positions who often feel challenged, committed and in control, there was a low level of falling ill for different illnesses. Among personality characteristics, an individual’s self-evaluation should be especially exam- ined. People who have a good picture of themselves trust themselves and experience situations as challenges and confirmations, not as potential dangers in which they will not be able to express themselves. Bandura (in Ihan, 2005) calls this quality self-effectiveness and experiencing self-competence that works as a mental medial mechanism, enabling an individual to experience a situation as a potential challenge. He defines self-effectiveness as a belief in one’s personal capability of organizing and achievements of actions necessary for reaching the wanted level of activity. This is formed from self achievements, substitutional experiences, the verbal influ- ence of the environment and physiological and emotional agitation. It has been proved that self-effective individuals are more successful at their work (Gist, Schwoerer and Rosen, 1989). The experienced feeling of self-effectiveness is an individual’s belief that he/she can successfully execute the behaviour needed to achieve the wanted result. Estimations about self-effectiveness also have influence on how much effort they are prepared to put in and how long they will persevere if they meet obstacles or diverting experiences (Payne, 2002). In our research, we wanted to study the connection of stress with the distance of living from work, the quantity of occupation time in the Slovenian army, satisfaction with one’s occupation in the Slovenian army, the wish to stay in this job, varieties of sport, health, and the intention to leave the job as well as general satisfaction in life. We also analysed interacting connection of factors which have an influence on the burden of stress. METHOD Participants One hundred and twenty-seven employees of the Slovenian army, consisting of 35 soldiers, 48 non-commissioned officers and 44 officers, collaborated in the research; of those, 107 were men and 20 were women. Regarding age distribution, 23.6 % of participants were between 36 and 40, 22% were between 41 and 45, 15% were between 31 and 35 years old, and only 0.8% were older than 55 years. An amazing 83.5% of the participants responded that their occupation in the army is not their first one; for 48.8%, this occupation is second and for 23.5%, the third one. The participants in the research have, on average, been in the Slovenian army for 12 and half years. The participants drive 54.1 kilometres to work, on average. They take up sport three to four times a week. 44 Stress and health in Slovenian army Kinesiologia Slovenica, 14, 1, 39–55 (2008) Instruments In the research, we used the following 9 questionnaires: Satisfaction With Life Scale – – SWLS (Diener, Emmons, Larsen in Griffin, 1985). Among differ - ent components of subjective feeling of well-being, this scale is narrowly focused on measuring general satisfaction with life and refers to similar constructions as positive affection and loneli- ness. It presents a cognitive aspect of satisfaction with life. Results on the scale can be labelled as an individual’s global estimation of quality of their life according to personal criteria. The scale consists of five items to which an individual has to an on the scale from 1 (not true at all) to 7 (completely true). For the end result, we summarise the answers on all five items. The possible range of results is from 5 to 35. Disposition Resilient Scale – – DRS II (Sinclair, Celina in Oliver, 2003). The questionnaire has 18 items. The participants answer on a five-level scale where 1 means totally wrong and 5 com- pletely true. It is a self-reporting scale. The DRS II dimensions of strength are obligation, control and challenge. Every dimension has two poles. Positive dimensions (supervision, enthusiasm, challenge) show a higher level of resistance to fighting stress. They are directly connected to the higher level of personality stress. Negative dimensions (weakness, estrangement, rigidness) show a higher vulnerability in relation to stress. With these dimensions, the lower values are connected to personally strength. Coping Response Inventory – – CRI-Adult. The questionnaire consists of two parts. We used only the second part of the questionnaire (48 items) which is focussed on evaluating the way of handling stress via eight under items: Logical Analysis, Positive Estimation, Searching Support, Solving the Problem, Cognitive Avoiding, Accepting, Alternative Satisfactions and Emotional Relaxation. Each scale consists of six items and the whole questionnaire consists of 48 items. The participants on the four level scale (from ‘’never’’ to ‘’very often’’) rate items about how often they use particular strategies. For each dimension, the minimal number of points is 0, the maximum is 18. The logical analysis measures the cognitive effort to understand the stressor as well the attempt to mentally prepare to the stressor and its consequences. The positive estima- tion includes the effort of the explanation and remodelling the problem in a positive way with acceptance of the reality of the situation at the same time. Searching support includes efforts to do something and directly occupy oneself with the problem. Cognitive avoiding measures cognitive efforts to avoid realistic thinking about the problem. Accepting includes cognitive attempts of reacting to a problem by accepting it. Searching for alternative substitutes includes behaviour attempts of including in new activities and creating new sources of satisfaction. Emotional effusion or emptying includes attempts to let loose tension by releasing negative emotions. The first four strategies are strategies of approaching (orientated to the problem), while the last four are strategies of avoiding (orientated to emotions). The scale of self-effectiveness – (SSE) (Schwarzer and Jerusalem, 1993). The scale of general self- effectiveness measures a wide and stable feeling of personal competence for effective handling of different stressful situations. It consists of 10 statements to which the participant answers on a four level scale (1 as not valid at all to 4 as completely valid). The scale was used in numerous research projects. General Health Questionnaire – – GHQ 12 (Goldberg, 1972). This examines a lack of health. It is a sift instrument for discovering psychiatric disturbances in residential communities in pri- mary care or general practice. It consists of 13 questions to which the participant has to answer Stress and health in Slovenian army 45 Kinesiologia Slovenica, 14, 1, 39–55 (2008) on a scale from 1 (not at all) to 5 (a lot more than usually). For the final result, the answers of all 13 questions are summarised. The possible rage of results is from 13 to 65. A high number of points means an absence or lack of health (an individual has problems with sleeping, concen- trating, is unhappy, irritable and depressive, has lost faith in him/herself and his/her abilities etc.). The Maslach Burnout Inventory (first part) – – MBI (Maslach in Jackson, 1979), which was adapted to Slovenian conditions by Lamovec (1994). The questionnaire consists of six sub- scales. It measures three ingredients of burnout (emotional burnout, depersonalisation and personal fulfilment) and consists of 22 statements. The frequency of appearance is estimated by the participants from 1 (a few times a year) to 6 (every day). The participants can also re- spond with 0 if they never experienced the condition. The authors (Maslach in Jackson, 1979, in Penko, 1994) report suitable validity and reliability of the questionnaire. Stress at work was examined with the scale for estimating stress – (SES) (Sabadin, 2005). The scale consists of 41 sources of stress and a five-level scale. The participant labels those that were present in the last 12 months and still present a threatening factor and then estimates the level of his/her own stress on the five -level scale where 1 means not at all and 5 means very strong. Each of the sources of stress has its own description and in different ways contributes to easier estimation of stress overload. A questionnaire was developed concerning the intention leaving one’s job (Celin, 2006), con- – sisting of 10 statements. The participant labels how much a statement is true for him/her on a five-level scale where 1 means “I completely disagree” and 5 means “I completely agree” . A high result reflects a high intention leaving one’s job (e.g. searching for other possibilities for work). For discovering points of view on sport, a scale on sport – (SS) (Tušak in Korenjak, 2006) was developed. It is composed of 34 statements. The participant labels how much a statement is true for him/her on a five level scale where 1 means “I completely disagree” and 5 means “I completely agree” . The participants supplied some demographic data (age, body weight and height, etc.) and data – about their work in the army (distance from work, satisfaction with the occupation etc.) Procedure After previous agreement with the Slovenian army and their consent to collaborate in the research, data was collected in different units. The testees completed the questionnaires individu- ally according to the instructions. For any possible questions, the testers were there to clarify any ambiguities. The completed questionnaires were collected after completion. The data was statistically handled with help of the program SPAS 14.0. RESULTS It is seen from Table 1 that the distance of living from work does not statistically connect with any change of stress. The quantity of occupation time in the Slovenian army is statistically significant connected with four variables. The correlations with logical analysis and solving the problem are positive; the ones with weakness and estrangement are negative. With all four cases, the connec- tion of variables is low. The satisfaction with one’s occupation in the Slovenian army is statistically significant connected with ten variables. Correlations with general satisfaction and personal 46 Stress and health in Slovenian army Kinesiologia Slovenica, 14, 1, 39–55 (2008) fulfilment are positive. However, the satisfaction negatively correlates with the intent of leaving the job, health, number of stressful events, stress at work, emotion burnout, depersonalisation, weakness and estrangement. The desire of soldiers to stay in the work in the Slovenian army is statistically connected with nine variables. Correlations with general self-effectiveness, personal fulfilment and logical analysis are positive and low. Negative correlations appear with the intent to leave work, health, emotional burnout, depersonalisation, weakness and estrangement. Table 1: Pearson’s coefficients of correlation between variables of stress, burnout, satisfaction with life and some demographic variables. Variables Distance from work Quantity of occupa- tion time in SA Satisfaction with the occupation in SA Wish to stay in SA SWLS -.05 -.04 -.49** -.35** I AW -.12 -.15 -.57** -.59** SSE -.07 -.12 -.03 -.03 GHQ -.01 -.04 -.35** -.31** SES1 -.01 -.01 -.26** -.21 SES2 -.00 -.07 -.27** -.21 MBI1 -.12 -.10 -.43** -.47** MBI2 -.02 -.09 -.42** -.43** MBI3 -.08 -.08 -.24** -.27** CRI1 -.08 -.29** -.17 -.24** CRI2 -.11 -.04 -.12 -.18 CRI3 -.04 -.07 -.01 -.06 CRI4 -.03 -.24** -.21 -.16 CRI5 -.02 -.10 -.16 -.03 CRI6 -.08 -.06 -.15 -.08 CRI7 -.07 -.07 -.12 -.13 CRI8 -.00 -.08 -.13 -.02 DRS1 -.07 -.14 -.18 -.07 DRS2 -.07 -.23** -.43** -.26** DRS3 -.03 -.12 -.01 -.02 DRS4 -.01 -.23** -.35** -.31** DRS5 -.02 -.01 -.13 -.18 DRS6 -.00 -.18 -.14 -.17 SS -.03 -.12 -.12 -.09 Legend: SWLS - Satisfaction with life scale; IAW - Intention for abandonment of workplace; SSE – The scale of self- effectiveness; GHQ - General health questionnaire; SES - The scale for estimating stress (1-number of events, 2-stress at work); MBI - The Maslach burnout inventory (1- emotional burnout, 2- depersonalisation, 3- personal fulfilment); CRI - Coping response inventory (1-logical analysis, 2-positive estimation, 3-searching support, 4-solving problems, 5-cogni- tive avoiding, 6-accepting, 7-alternative substitutes, 8-emotional effusion); DRS - Disposition resilient scale (1-supervi- sion, 2-weakness, 3-enthusiasm, 4-estrangement, 5-challenge, 6-rigidness); SS – The point of view scale on sport; ** p < 0,01. Stress and health in Slovenian army 47 Kinesiologia Slovenica, 14, 1, 39–55 (2008) Table 2: Pearson’s coefficients of correlation between the variables of stress, burnout, satisfaction with life and variables of sport. Variables BMI Weekly preoccupation with sport Attitude to sport SWLS -.05 -.08 -.01 I AW -.10 -.02 -.00 SSE -.03 -.05 -.06 GHQ -.04 -.16 -.20 SES1 -.11 -.07 -.02 SES2 -.11 -.06 -.03 MBI1 -.04 -.03 -.11 MBI2 -.03 -.05 -.13 MBI3 -.01 -.15 -.15 CRI1 -.12 -.03 -.16 CRI2 -.01 -.20 -.30** CRI3 -.01 -.12 -.22 CRI4 -.03 -.12 -.13 CRI5 -.07 -.09 -.12 CRI6 -.08 -.08 -.19 CRI7 -.02 -.13 -.42** CRI8 -.06 -.19 -.05 DRS1 -.11 -.00 -.06 DRS2 -.02 -.01 -.01 DRS3 -.12 -.09 -.03 DRS4 -.09 -.14 -.00 DRS5 -.06 -.09 -.09 DRS6 -.14 -.07 -.08 Legend: BMI – Body mass index; SWLS - Satisfaction with life scale; IAW - Intention for abandonment of workplace; SSE – The scale of self-effectiveness; GHQ - General health questionnaire; SES - The scale for estimating stress (1-number of events, 2-stress at work); MBI - The Maslach burnout inventory (1- emotional burnout, 2- depersonalisation, 3- personal fulfilment); CRI - Coping response inventory (1-logical analysis, 2-positive estimation, 3-searching support, 4-solving problems, 5-cognitive avoiding, 6-accepting, 7-alternative substitutes, 8-emotional effusion); DRS - Disposition resilient scale (1-supervision, 2-weakness, 3-enthusiasm, 4-estrangement, 5-challenge, 6-rigidness); ** p < 0.01. Table 2 shows that the index of body mass and weekly practice in sport are not statistically connected to any variable. The viewpoint on sport is positively connected to positive estimation (low correlation) and alternative satisfactions (middle correlation). From Table 3 it can be seen that bad health statistically significantly correlates with twelve vari- ables. The most seen is the high positive correlation of bad health and emotional exhaustion and also positive and middle high with depersonalisation. Bad health also positively correlates with the number of stressful events, stress at work, cognitive avoiding, accepting, emotionally letting 48 Stress and health in Slovenian army Kinesiologia Slovenica, 14, 1, 39–55 (2008) loose, weakness and estrangement. A negative connection exists between bad health and general self-effectiveness, personal fulfilment and challenge. The intention to leave work is statistically connected with six variables: the number of stressful events, stress at work, emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation, weakness and estrangement. All of the mentioned correlations are positive, low and middle by size. The general satisfaction with life is statistically connected with fourteen variables. Positive correlations appear with general self-effectiveness, personal fulfilment, logi- cal analysis, positive estimation, solving problems, control and challenge. Satisfaction with life negatively correlates with the number of stressful events, stress at work, emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation, accepting, weakness and estrangement; the most significant are the last two correlations. Table 3: Pearson’s coefficients of correlation with variables of stress, burnout and health, the intention to leave work and general satisfaction with life. Variables GHQ I AW SWSL SS -.20 -.00 -.01 SSE -.25** -.00 -.26** SES1 -.36** -.37** -.24** SES2 -.37** -.37** -.26** MBI1 -.64** -.42** -.31** MBI2 -.55** -.42** -.34** MBI3 -.31** -.20 -.43** CRI1 -.06 -.06 -.24** CRI2 -.00 -.09 -.24** CRI3 -.14 -.06 -.03 CRI4 -.19 -.08 -.30** CRI5 -.30** -.09 -.17 CRI6 -.41** -.12 -.24** CRI7 -.01 -.07 -.18 CRI8 -.37** -.10 -.11 DRS1 -.17 -.06 -.33** DRS2 -.34** -.24** -.52** DRS3 -.05 -.07 -.05 DRS4 -.47** -.26** -.53** DRS5 -.29** -.10 -.27** DRS6 -.12 -.17 -.01 Legend: GHQ – General health questionnaire; ; IAW - Intention for abandonment of workplace; SWLS - Satisfaction with life scale; SS – The point of view scale on sport; SSE – The scale of self-effectiveness; SES - The scale for estimating stress (1-number of events, 2-stress at work); MBI - The Maslach burnout inventory (1- emotional burnout, 2- depersonalisation, 3-personal fulfilment); CRI - Coping response inventory (1-logical analysis, 2-positive estimation, 3-searching support, 4-solving problems, 5-cognitive avoiding, 6-accepting, 7-alternative substitutes, 8-emotional effusion); DRS - Disposition resilient scale (1-supervision, 2-weakness, 3-enthusiasm, 4-estrangement, 5-challenge, 6-rigidness); ** p < 0.01. Stress and health in Slovenian army 49 Kinesiologia Slovenica, 14, 1, 39–55 (2008) Table 4: Pearson’s coefficients of correlation between variables of stress and burnout. VA R SSE DRS 1 DRS 2 DRS 3 DRS 4 DRS 5 DRS 6 MBI 1 MBI 2 MBI 3 CRI 1 CRI 2 CRI 3 CRI 4 CRI 5 CRI 6 CRI 7 CRI 8 SSE 1 DRS1 -.60 1 DRS2 -.24 1 DRS3 -.19 1 DRS4 -.24 1 DRS5 -.51 1 DRS6 -.14 1 MBI1 -.04 .00 .24 .05 .34 -.15 .08 1 MBI2 -.09 -.06 .24 .03 .38 -.11 .19 1 MBI3 .41 .30 -.33 .07 -.44 .43 .07 1 CRI1 .37 .23 -.18 .05 -.27 .41 .14 -.06 -.19 .39 1 CRI2 .30 .13 -.02 .10 -.16 .41 .09 .03 -.10 .35 1 CRI3 .18 .09 .02 -.11 .00 .20 .10 .15 .04 .20 1 CRI4 .53 .33 -.30 .07 -.39 .44 .15 -.12 -.19 .47 1 CRI5 -.15 -.05 .26 -.01 .26 .06 .14 .24 .18 .01 1 CRI6 -.12 -.05 .33 .06 .34 .07 .19 .29 .29 -.10 1 CRI7 .25 .15 -.08 .05 -.14 .24 .04 -.02 -.02 .27 1 CRI8 .00 -.05 .08 -.09 .24 .11 -.12 .35 .35 .04 1 SES1 .03 -.02 .29 .06 .21 .02 .09 .47 .43 -.10 .08 .16 .10 .03 .30 .23 .07 .23 SES2 .02 -.03 .29 .07 .22 .02 .10 .47 .43 -.11 .08 .16 .10 .03 .32 .24 .06 .24 Legend: Hardly marked Pearson’s coefficients of correlation are statistically important on level of risk 0.01; V AR. - Variables; SSE – The scale of self-effectiveness; DRS - Disposition resilient scale (1-supervision, 2-weakness, 3-enthusiasm, 4-es- trangement, 5-challenge, 6-rigidness); MBI - The Maslach burnout inventory (1- emotional burnout, 2- depersonali- sation, 3-personal fulfilment); CRI - Coping response inventory (1-logical analysis, 2-positive estimation, 3-searching support, 4-solving problems, 5-cognitive avoiding, 6-accepting, 7-alternative substitutes, 8-emotional effusion); SES - The scale for estimating stress (1-number of events, 2-stress at work). It is seen from Table 4 that statistically significant correlations are low to middle. None of the calculated correlations is high. The highest positive correlation exists between self-effectiveness and control, which can be found on the limit between middle and high correlation. General self-effectiveness also statistically positively correlates with challenge, personal fulfilment, logical analysis, positive estimation, problem solving and finding alternative solutions. Negative and statistically important correlations appear with weakness and estrangement. The feeling of control positively correlates with personal fulfilment, while the feeling of weakness positively correlates with emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation, cognitive avoiding, accepting, the number of stressful events, stress at work and negatively with personal fulfilment and solving the problem. Estrangement positively correlates with emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation, cognitive avoiding, accepting, emotionally letting loose and negatively with personal fulfilment, logical analysis and solving the problem. The feeling of challenge is statistically and positively connected with personal fulfilment, logical analysis, positive estimation, solving the problem and 50 Stress and health in Slovenian army Kinesiologia Slovenica, 14, 1, 39–55 (2008) alternative satisfactions. Emotional exhaustion and depersonalisation positively correlates with accepting, emotionally letting loose, number of stressful events and stress at work. Important positive correlation appears between emotional exhaustion and cognitive avoiding. Personal fulfilment positively correlates with logical analysis, positive estimation, solving the problem and alternative satisfaction. Cognitive avoiding, accepting and emotionally letting loose statistically positively correlate with the number of stressful events and stress at work. DISCUSSION Regarding the correlations, we can presume that individuals who are employed in the Slovenian army for a longer time period mostly use logical analysis and solving problems to deal with stress. It is significant for them that they try to understand the stressor as well as the attempt to mentally prepare themselves to that stressor and its consequences. They also strive to do some- thing and occupy themselves directly with the problem. For these participants, lower expression of feelings of weakness, resignation and estrangement (feelings of insignificance and isolation) is also significant. We also found out that individuals who are more satisfied with work in the Slovenian army are more satisfied with life and feel greater personal fulfilment. They think less about leaving their jobs; they experience a smaller number of stressful events and less stress at work. For individuals who are not satisfied with their work in the Slovenian army, the lack of health, emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation, as well as feelings of weakness, resignation, unimportantance and estrangement is significant. Those individuals who wish to continue working in the Slovenian army are more satisfied with their lives and healthier. Slightly higher personal fulfilment is significant for them; for handling stress they mostly use logical analysis (they try to understand the stressor and also the attempt to mentally prepare to that stressor and its consequences). They think less about leaving their jobs, and are less frequently emotionally exhausted and weak. Also, a low level of depersonalisation is significant for them. From what was said above, we state that burnout (high emotional exhaustion and depersonalisation and low fulfilment) of the employees in the Slovenia army is connected with satisfaction with the work in the Slovenian army and the wish to stay in this work. Our findings are consistent with the findings that were found by Golembiewski, Boudreau, Sun in Luo (1998), who also discovered that the development of burnout in organizations is shown in a decrease of working satisfaction and an increase of wanted and actual premature leaving from work. Maslachova (2003) also thinks that for employees who are burnt out, leaving work often is significant. According to her, some completely leave the activity and change the area of the work while others change their job but remain in the working field where they already worked. Regarding viewpoints of sport, we discovered that those individuals who have a positive viewpoint about sport handle stress with positive estimation and find alternative solutions more frequently, which means that when a problem occurs they try to explain and remodel the problem on a positive way and accept the reality of the situation in the same time. They also strive to include themselves in new activities and create new sources of satisfaction. With examining the connection of stress with health, we saw that the lack of health highly cor- relates with emotional exhaustion and somewhat less with depersonalisation, which means that for individuals with bad health (they have troubles with sleeping, they concentrate hard on their work, they have a feeling that they are under pressure, they cannot deal with their problems, are Stress and health in Slovenian army 51 Kinesiologia Slovenica, 14, 1, 39–55 (2008) unhappy, irritable and depressed, have lost trust in them and their abilities etc.) a higher level of emotional exhaustion and depersonalisation is significant. Emotional exhaustion and cynicism are, according to Maslach (2003), the main consequences of burnout with emotional exhaustion occurring first. We can say that the employees in the Slovenian army who experience a higher level of burnout have more troubles with their health. Also, Maslach in Leiter (2002) discovered that burnout can cause physical problems such as headaches, stomach and digestive illnesses, high blood pressure, tension in muscles and chronic fatigue. Psychological disturbances can also appear, such as a feeling of anxiety, feeling down and poor sleeping. Burnout can have fatal negative consequences on our health. Bad health is also connected with the quantity of stress at work. Hogan et al. (1995) explain that stress affects health through physiological changes which begin in the body and cause higher agitation. Frequent and long lasting agitation causes overloads of the organs and organic systems which can lead to certain illnesses. Regarding correlation, it can be assumed that individuals with bad health mostly use cognitive avoiding (cognitive efforts to avoid realistic thinking about the problem), accepting (cognitive attempts of responding to a problem by accepting it) and emotionally letting loose (letting loose the tension by letting out negative emotions) when dealing with stress. They also feel helpless, resigned, not important and frequently estranged. These results are consistent with theories that make the understanding of stress effects on the psychophysical health of an individual possible and they emphasize the meaning of individual’s feelings of helpless and hopelessness (Engel, Schmal and Green, 1956-1972, in Rakovec-Felser, 1998). According to them, an individual will fall ill sooner if despair overflows him/her, if he/ she looses faith in him/herself and if he/she does not feel accepted and useful in his/her working environment. Conversely, the gained correlations show that individuals with good health have a slightly higher feeling of personal competence for effective dealing with different stressful situations, feel a slightly higher personal fulfilment, and often see stressful situations as a chal- lenge and not as a threat. The results of the achieved correlations show that personality strength connects quite highly with health. Personally strong individuals feel in control over their lives, they accept challenges and also have a feeling of reasonableness of their actions and life in general; they do not experience changes as a burden but as a normal ingredient of life as they do not easily feel threatened. Kobasa (1981, in Lamovec, 1994) confirmed with research that, based on personality strength, an individual’s health condition can both be described and predicted. The author speaks about three factors: obligation, control and challenge. She discovered low levels of different illnesses among businessman on responsible positions who often feel challenge, commitments and control. The research showed that some dimensions of personality strength are connected to health. In our case, the bad health of individuals negatively correlates with the dimension of challenge (-0.29) and positively with the dimensions of weakness (0.34) and estrangement (0.47). With regards to achieved correlations, it can be assumed that individuals who are healthier often see stressful situations as a challenge and not as a threat and also more rarely experience the feelings of helpless and estrangement. Beside the consequences of burnout for an individual, Maslach (2003) also mentions the consequences for the employers; one of those is leaving work. Because of the findings of other authors, we also wanted to check the relation or connection between burnout and the intention of leaving work with Slovenian army employees. We discovered that individuals who are more 52 Stress and health in Slovenian army Kinesiologia Slovenica, 14, 1, 39–55 (2008) often and more intensively emotional exhausted, hopeless, estranged and experience more stress at work have a stronger intention of leaving or changing jobs. Also, high depersonalisation of the employees, which is shown as impersonal treatment of people, a lack interest for their problems and a lack of normal relations, is positively related to the intention of leaving work. Some authors (Jackson, Schwab in Schuler, 1986) report that emotional exhaustion strongly signifies a wish for a different job, thinking of finding a new job and actual leaving of the job. Those individuals who are more satisfied with their lives also have a slightly higher expressed feeling of personal competence for effective handling of different stressful situations that they see more as a challenge and not as a threat, they feel higher personal fulfilment and for handling stress they mostly use logical analysis (trying to understand the stressor and attempting to mentally adapt to the stressor and its consequences), positive estimation (when a problem occurs, trying to explain and remodel the problem in a positive way, while simultaneous accepting the reality of the situation) and solving problems (striving to do something and handling the problem directly). Satisfied individuals also have a higher belief that they are able to affect on situations. C onversely, genera l d iss at isfac t ion w it h l i fe is con nec ted w it h t he qu a nt it y of st re s s at work, emo- tional exhaustion, depersonalisation, weakness and estrangement (the feeling of unimportance and isolation) and accepting (responding to a problem with accepting). For unsatisfied individu- als, a higher level of burnout is significant (high emotional exhaustion and depersonalisation and also low personal fulfilment). Maslach (2003) discovered that, in cases of burnout, a general worsening of the psychological well-being of an individual also occurs. Analysis of interacting connection of factors that affect the stress burden showed that the most positively connected are self-effectiveness and control (r=0.60), which means that individuals with a high feeling of personal competence for effective handling of different stressful situations also have a high confidence that they are capable of influencing situations. The next correlations also show that they are flexible in seeing stressful situations more as a challenge than a threat, they feel higher personal fulfilment and for handling stress they mostly use logical analysis (trying to understand the stressor and also attempting to mentally adapt to the stressor and its consequences), positive estimation (trying to explain and remodel the problem in a positive way and accepting the reality of the situation at the same time) and solving problems (striving to do something and handling the problem directly) and alternative solutions (attempting to include new activities and creating new sources of satisfaction). Alternatively, the low feeling of personal competence for effective handling of different stressful situations is connected to a greater feeling of helplessness, resignation and estrangement. As these are the dimensions of personality strength, we can say that low personality strength or some of its dimensions influence an individual’s lower feeling of his/her own competence. We also discovered that those individuals who have high feelings of self-effectiveness and the belief that they are capable of influencing situations feel higher personal fulfilment. For those who feel helpless and frequently resigned, burnout (high emotional exhaustion and depersonalisation and lower personal fulfilment) and more stress at work are significant; they mostly handle stress with cognitive avoiding (cognitive effort to avoid realistic thinking about the problem) and accepting (cognitive attempts of reacting to the problem by accepting) but they rarely try to do something and deal with the problem directly. Individuals who often have feelings of unimportance and isolation, feel burnout (high emotional exhaustion and depersonalisation and lower personal fulfilment) and they mostly handle stress by avoiding realistic thinking about the problem, accept Stress and health in Slovenian army 53 Kinesiologia Slovenica, 14, 1, 39–55 (2008) it or they let loose the tension with negative emotions, but they very rarely try to understand the stressor mentally adapting to that stressor and its consequences or do something to handle the problem directly. For individuals who often see stressful situations as a challenge and not as a threat, a higher personal fulfilment is significant; they solve problems actively with logical analysis, positive estimation and alternative satisfactions. High feelings of emotional exhaustion and depersonalisation (high exhaustion) with individuals connect with a greater quantity of stress at work, inactively accepting the problem and letting loose the tension with negative emo- tions. That means that those individuals who are more burnout experience more stress at work, are inactive in solving problem and they let loose the tension mainly with negative emotions. Individuals who feel high personal fulfilment handle stress very constructively and actively (with logical analysis, positive estimation, solving the problem and alternative satisfaction). Conclusion The article is one of the main parts of a wider research Človeški viri v Slovenski vojski (Human sources in the Slovenian army) where we try to research psychological factors that influence the way of work and the lives of the employees in the Slovenian army. Based on the results of connections of the factors which influence on the quality of life and the satisfaction of the employees, we presume that stress and burnout at work is quite a serious problem in the Slovenian army. It is connected with their health, decreasing satisfaction with life, increasing estrangement and weakness and emphasizes their willingness to leave work in the Slovenian army, which is of course not something the institution wants, as the needs for cadre in the Slovenian army are greater than merely asking for military jobs. We have discovered that an important compensation factor of this process is the feeling of self-effectiveness and control as a dimension of personality strength. We see here some of the key possibilities for intervention; above all, in the system of assuring the increased feeling of self-effectiveness of a soldier or officer. REFERENCES Bratina, A. (2003). Stres pri delu. 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