Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

The Cost of Caring? Emotional Labour, Wellbeing and the Clergy

  • Published:
Pastoral Psychology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Although members of the clergy experience working conditions that have been associated with “emotional labour”, little is known about the impact of this aspect of the job role on wellbeing. This study examined relationships between emotional labour and psychological distress and intrinsic job satisfaction in 188 UK-based clergy. Also investigated were the potential moderating effects of social support and training in counselling skills. Findings revealed significant associations between emotional labour and both psychological distress and job satisfaction. Evidence was found that counselling training and a wider social network may protect clergy from the negative impact of emotional labour, but social network size may also be a risk factor for wellbeing. Further research should examine the impact of emotional labour on clergy, and the factors that might help them manage this more effectively.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Ashforth, B. E., & Humphrey, R. H. (1993). Emotional labor in service roles: the influence of identity. Academy of Management Review, 18(1), 88–115.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baron, R. M., & Kenny, D. A. (1986). The moderator-mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: strategic and statistical considerations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51, 1173–1182.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Beebe, R. (2007). Predicting burnout, conflict management style and turnover among clergy. Journal of Career Assessment, 15, 257–275.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beehr, T. A., Bowling, N. A., & Bennett, M. M. (2010). Occupational stress and failures of social support: when helping hurts. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 15(1), 45–59.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bono, J. E., & Vey, M. A. (2005). Toward understanding emotional management at work: A quantitative review of emotional labour research. In N. Ashkanasy & C. Hartel (Eds.), Emotions in Organisational Behaviour (pp. 213–249). Mahwah: Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brotheridge, C. M., & Grandey, A. A. (2002). Emotional labor and burnout: comparing two perspectives of “people work”. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 60(1), 17–39.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brotheridge, C. & Lee, R. (1998). On the dimensionality of emotional labour: Development and validation of an emotional labour scale. Paper presented at the first Conference on Emotions in Organizational Life. San Diego.

  • Chalfant, H. P., Heller, P. L., Roberts, A., Briones, D., Aguirre-Hochbaum, S., & Farr, W. (1990). The clergy as a resource for those encountering psychological distress. Review of Religious Research, 31, 305–313.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Crossley, K. (2002). Professional satisfaction among US healthcare chaplains. Journal of Pastoral Care and Counselling, 56(1), 1–7.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cutrona, C. (1990). Stress and social support: in search of optimal matching. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 9(1), 3–14.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dewe, P. (1987). New Zealand ministers of religion: identifying sources of stress and coping strategies. Work & Stress, 1(4), 351–363.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dollard, M. F., Dormann, C., Boyd, C. M., Winefield, H. R., & Winefield, A. H. (2003). Unique aspects of stress in human service work. Australian Psychologist, 38(2), 84–91.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Doolittle, B. (2007). Burnout among parish-based clergy. Mental Health Religion & Culture, 10(1), 31–38.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Evers, W., & Tomic, W. (2003). Burnout among Dutch Reformed pastors. Journal of Psychology and Theology, 31, 329–338.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fisher, C. (2000). Mood and emotions while working: missing pieces of job satisfaction. Journal of Organisational Behaviour, 21, 185–202.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fletcher, B. (1990). Clergy under stress. London: Mowbray.

    Google Scholar 

  • Francis, L. J., Robbins, L., & Kay, M. (2000). Pastoral care today: Practice, problems and priorities in churches today. Farnham: CWR.

    Google Scholar 

  • Francis, L. J., Kaldor, P., Shevlin, M., & Lewis, C. A. (2004). Assessing emotional exhaustion among the Australian clergy: internal reliability and construct validity of the Scale of Emotional Exhaustion in Ministry (SEEM). Review of Religious Research, 45, 269–277.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goldberg, D., & William, P. (1988). A users guide to the general health questionnaire. Windsor: NFER-Nelson.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grandey, A. A. (2000). Emotion regulation in the workplace: a new way to conceptualize emotional labor. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 5, 59–100.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grosch, W. N., & Olsen, D. C. (2000). Clergy burnout: an integrative approach. Psychotherapy in Practice, 56(5), 619–632.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hill, P. C., & Pargament, K. I. (2003). Advances in the conceptualization and measurement of religion and spirituality: implications for physical and mental health research. The American Psychologist, 58(1), 64–74.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hill, W., Darling, C. A., & Raimondi, N. (2003). Understanding boundary-related stress in clergy families. Marriage and Family Review, 35, 45–62.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hoge, D., & Wenger, J. (2005). Pastors in transition: Why clergy leave local church ministry. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.

    Google Scholar 

  • Holaday, M., Lackey, T., Boucher, M., & Glidewell, R. (2001). Secondary stress, burnout and the clergy. American Journal of Pastoral Counseling, 4(1), 53–72.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hochschild, A. R. (1983). The managed heart: Commercialisation of human feeling. Berkely: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kinman, G. (2009). Emotional labour and strain in the front line: does mode of delivery matter? Journal of Managerial Psychology, 24(2), 118–136.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Knox, S., Virginia, S., & Lombardo, J. P. (2002). Depression and anxiety in Roman Catholic secular clergy. Pastoral Psychology, 50(5), 345–358.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Krause, N., Ellison, C., & Wulff, K. (1998). Church-based emotional support, negative interaction and psychological wellbeing: Findings from a national sample of Presbyterians. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 37(4), 725–741.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leavey, G. (2008). Models of Pastoral care in mental health among UK clergy. Transcultural Psychiatry, 45(1), 79–104.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lee, C. (1999). Specifying intrusive demands and their outcomes in congregational ministry. A report on the Ministry Demands Inventory. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 38(4), 477–489.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lewis, C. A., Turton, D., & Francis, L. J. (Eds.) (2007). Clergy work related psychological health, stress, and burnout [Special Issue]. Mental Health, Religion and Culture, 10, 1–8.

  • Morris, M., & Blanton, P. (1994). The influence of work-related stressors on clergy husbands and their wives. Family Relations, 43(2), 189–195.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Morris, M., & Blanton, P. (1998). Predictors of family functioning among clergy and spouses: influences of social context and perceptions of work-related stressors. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 7(1), 1573–1024.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Morris, J. A., & Feldman, D. C. (1996). The dimensions, antecedents, and consequences of emotional labour. Academy of Management Review, 21(4), 986–1010.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mueller, C. W., & McDuff, E. M. (2004). Clergy-congregation mismatches and clergy job satisfaction. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 43, 261–273.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mullarkey, S., Wall, T. D., Warr, P. B., Clegg, C. W., & Stride, C. B. (1999). Measures of job satisfaction, mental health and job related well being. Sheffield: Institute of Work Psychology.

    Google Scholar 

  • O’Kane, S., & Millar, R. (2001). An investigation into the counselling-type work of Roman Catholic priests: a survey of one diocese in Northern Ireland. British Journal of Guidance and Counselling, 29(3), 323–335.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Parker, P. & Martin, A. (2009). Clergy motivation and occupational wellbeing: Exploring a quadripolar model and its role in predicting burnout and engagement. Journal of Religion and Health. Published online doi:10.1007/s10943-009-9303-5. (Accessed 1.3.10).

  • Sarason, I. G. (1983). Assessing social support: the social support questionnaire. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 44, 127–139.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith, T. (2007) Job Satisfaction in the United States, NORC/The University of Chicago: www-ews.uchicago.edu/releases/07/pdf/070417.jobs.pdf. (Accessed 28.2.10).

  • Spence, G. B., & Grant, A. M. (2007). Professional and peer life coaching and the enhancement of goal striving and well-being: an exploratory study. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 2(3), 185–194.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stanford, M., & McAlister, K. (2008). Perceptions of serious mental illness in the local church. Journal of Religion, Disability and Health, 12(2), 144–253.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Turton, D., & Francis, L. (2007). The relationship between attitude toward prayer and professional burnout among Anglican parochial clergy in England. Are praying clergy healthier clergy? Mental Health, Religion and Culture, 10(1), 61–74.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Virginia, S. G. (1998). Burnout and depression among Roman Catholic secular, religious, and monastic clergy. Pastoral Psychology, 47, 49–67.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Warr, P. B., Cook, J. D., & Wall, T. D. (1979). Scales for the measurement of some work attitudes and aspects of psychological wellbeing. Journal of Occupational Psychology, 52, 129–148.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weaver, A. (2005). Clergy as health care providers. The Southern Medical Journal, 98(12), 1237.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weaver, A. J., Koenig, H. G., & Larson, D. B. (1997). Marriage and family therapists and the clergy: A need for clinical collaboration, training, and research. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 23(1), 13–25.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Weiss, R. S. (1974). The provisions of social relationships. In Z. Rubin (Ed.), Doing unto others (pp. 17–26). Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wharton, A. (1993). The psychosocial consequences of emotional labor. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 561, 158–176.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zapf, D. (2002). Emotion work and psychological well-being: a review of the literature and some conceptual considerations. Human Resource Management Review, 12, 237–268.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Bedfordshire, Bedfordshire, England, UK

    Gail Kinman, Obrene McFall & Joanna Rodriguez

Authors
  1. Gail Kinman
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Obrene McFall
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Joanna Rodriguez
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Gail Kinman.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Kinman, G., McFall, O. & Rodriguez, J. The Cost of Caring? Emotional Labour, Wellbeing and the Clergy. Pastoral Psychol 60, 671–680 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11089-011-0340-0

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11089-011-0340-0

Keywords

Search

Navigation