Decision-Making Competence, Social Orientation, Time Style, and Perceived Stress

Abstract

Peoples’ decision-making competence, defined as tendency to follow normative rational principles in their decision making, is important as it may influence the extent that requirements are met and levels of perceived stress. In addition, perceived stress could be influenced by social orientation and time style; for example, decisions need to comply with given deadlines and the expectations of others. In two studies, with students (n = 118) and professionals (police investigators, n = 90), we examined how the three individual difference features: decision-making competence, social orientation, and time approach relate to perceived stress. Results showed that social orientation and time approach were related to levels of perceived stress, but decision-making competence was not. These results indicate that social orientation and time approach are important to consider in relation to perceived stress, but the role of decision-making competence may be less important for perceived stress. However, the role of decision-making competence for perceived stress needs to be further researched.

The association between decision‐making skills and subjective decision outcomes among administrative officers in the Swedish Social Insurance Agency

“…Our results support the suggestion by van de Luitgaarden (2009) that it is useful to analyse decision-making in human service professions in a way that includes rational choice but also attends prac- (Geisler & Allwood, 2018) by demonstrating that the overall ability to regulate one's actions in order to successfully manage decision-making at work and avoid stress-related concerns (i.e. tendencies to burnout), may be less contingent on cognitive decision-making skills -as defined and measured by the DMC.…”

“…It has been noted that evaluations of decision quality not only should attend to positive effects but also the propensity to avoid negative effects (Higgins, 2000 ). In line with this, research has investigated decision‐making competence (DMC) in relation to the propensity to avoid negative outcomes associated with poor decision‐making (Bruine de Bruin et al., 2007 ; Parker et al., 2015 ), risk‐taking (Weller et al., 2015 ) and self‐reported stress (Geisler & Allwood, 2018 ).…”

Accounting for Individual Differences in Decision-Making Competence: Personality and Gender Differences

“…With respect to decision-making tendencies, Taylor et al (2015) found that higher Honesty/Humility was associated with fewer errors on a conditional reasoning task, suggesting that these individuals responded more rationally on this task. Geisler and Allwood (2018) also reported similar, albeit indirect, evidence for the association between Honesty/Humility and DMC. Specifically, they found that individuals reporting higher Machiavellianism demonstrated lower DMC performance.…”

Health Behaviors of Higher Education Students from 7 Countries: Poorer Sleep Quality during the COVID-19 Pandemic Predicts Higher Dietary Risk

“…In addition to academics, time is also spent on a variety of factors including socializing; working, volunteering, or extracurricular activities; and health behaviors like sleeping, eating and physical activity. Struggling with time management demands contributes to many undergraduate and graduate students reporting elevated levels of perceived stress [ 5 , 6 ]. These high levels of perceived stress are a global phenomenon; for example, prior to the pandemic more than three-quarters of Malaysian students reported experiencing moderate stress [ 7 ] while nearly 40% of USA students reported high levels of perceived stress [ 8 ].…”

“…These high levels of perceived stress are a global phenomenon; for example, prior to the pandemic more than three-quarters of Malaysian students reported experiencing moderate stress [ 7 ] while nearly 40% of USA students reported high levels of perceived stress [ 8 ]. Stress plays an important role in health behaviors, like insufficient sleep [ 6 , 9 , 10 ] and increased alcohol consumption [ 11 , 12 , 13 ], which can lead to negative health outcomes such as cardiovascular disease [ 14 , 15 ], diabetes [ 16 , 17 ] and cancers [ 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 ]. An improved understanding of the health behaviors of young adults, especially under conditions of heightened stress, is needed to assist public health practitioners in designing programming to promote the development of lifelong healthy habits.…”