The well-being of Swedish psychologists in their early work-life : The relationship between emotional demands, role stressors, social support, appraised well-being and job satisfaction

Abstract: In Sweden, psychologists are one of the professions with the most serious maladaptive stress reactions, however the subject is rather unexplored amongst newly graduated psychologists. The purpose of this study was to explore the effect of emotional demands and role stressors on appraised well-being and job satisfaction among newly graduated working psychologists in Sweden, with social support as a potential moderator. Data was collected among alumni from six Swedish universities providing a psychology program, of which 561 respondents out of 622 met our inclusion criteria. A hierarchical moderated regression, showed that emotional demands affected appraised well-being negatively. Both appraised well-being and job satisfaction was negatively influenced by role stressors, and positively influenced by met expectations and social support. A moderating effect of social support from colleagues on appraised well-being was found, in psychologists experiencing role ambiguity. This study contributes to further understanding on how demands and resources available to newly graduated psychologists interact and affect their appraised well-being and job satisfaction.