Boss' gender can affect workers' stress

Bosses in general can be a pain in the ... well, you know, but a new study finds that your boss' gender can affect just how much pain he or she seems to inflict.

Researchers at the University of Toronto used data from a 2005 national telephone survey of working adults in the United States and compared the stress levels and physical health problems of men and women working in one of three situations: for a lone male supervisor, a lone female supervisor, or for both a male and female supervisor.

The study found that:

* Women who had only one female boss reported more psychological distress (such as trouble sleeping, difficulty focusing on work, depression and anxiety) and physical symptoms (such as headaches, stomach pain or heartburn, neck and back pain and tiredness) than women who worked for one male boss.

* Women who reported to a mixed-gender pair of supervisors also reported more of these symptoms than their peers who worked for a single male boss.

* Men who worked for a single supervisor, regardless of the supervisor's gender, had similar levels of distress. Men who worked for a mixed-gender pair had fewer mental and physical symptoms than those working for a lone male supervisor.

The analysis, detailed in the September issue of the Journal of Health and Social Behavior, controlled for occupation, job sector and other workplace conditions, meaning the results were independent of these factors.

The findings, specifically those of female subordinates with females bosses, contradict theories suggested by previous studies that demographic similarities between a boss and their subordinate would promote harmony in the work place, while demographic differences would create problems.

The researchers speculated that these contradictions may stem from the stereotype that it is more "normal" for men to be leaders and display the typical leadership characteristics. So while female subordinates may expect more "aggressive" traits from a male leader, they could expect more support from a supervisor who is also female than they actually get, said study co-author Scott Schieman.

Women leaders who "act like men" in terms of society's unconscious expectations may be viewed more negatively, Schieman said. He and other sociologists suspect this was a situation faced by Hillary Clinton during the Democratic primary races.

總的來說，老板通常都是員工最討厭的人。不過一項最新研究發現，老板的性別會影響他（她）給員工造成的壓力程度。

多倫多大學的研究人員分析了2005年全美的上班族電話調查數據，對男性和女性員工在三種不同的工作環境下的壓力水平和健康問題進行了比較。這三種工作環境分別是：有一個男上司、有一個女上司、有男女上司各一位。

研究發現：

•只有一個女上司的女職員精神壓力較大（如睡眠差，工作時難以集中精力、抑郁和沮喪等），身體不適癥狀較多（如頭痛、胃痛，胃灼燒，頸部或背部不適以及疲倦），而擁有一個男上司的女員工情況則要好得多。

•與只有一位男上司的女員工相比，擁有一男一女兩位上司的女員工所出現的這些不適癥狀也較多。

•只有一位上司的男職員，無論上這位上司是男是女，他們感受到的壓力基本相當。有一男一女兩位上司的男職員出現的心理和生理問題比僅有一位男上司的職員少。

該研究在9月份的《健康與社會行為期刊》上發表。研究限定了受訪者的職業、職位類別和其它工作環境因素，因此研究結果不受這些因素的影響。

這些發現與之前的研究結果正好相反，尤其是女職員與女老板這一類。此前有研究認為，相同性別的老板與員工在工作中會更有默契，而異性“搭檔”則容易出問題。

研究人員推測，這一傳統說法可能源于人們的一些固有觀念，即男性當領導以及展現出“領導特質”更“合乎情理”。 研究小組成員斯科特•斯切爾曼說，女性員工可能更希望在男上司身上看到一些更“強勢”的東西，那么她們自然希望能從女上司那得到更多的支持。

斯切爾曼說，按照當今社會的潛在觀念，那些“作風男性化”的女上司可能更不受歡迎。他和其他一些社會學家們懷疑，這可能也是希拉里在民主黨初選中所面臨一個困境。

Vocabulary:
inflict:造成