Decent Work as a Moderator for Survivors of Traumatic Life Events

Abstract

The Psychology of Working Theory (PWT) is a vocational psychology theory that aims to explore the pathways and outcomes that may hinder or improve the likelihood of obtaining decent work by including contextual factors such as marginalization and economic constraints. Vocational psychology primarily focuses on individual characterological elements of obtaining work; however, limited evidence exists exploring how traumatic symptoms or exposure may affect one’s abilities to find work. This study seeks to utilize PWT to understand better how the relationship between trauma exposure and job satisfaction and personal wellbeing is moderated by decent work. Sampling consisted of 61.3% female (n = 211) and 38.7% male (n = 133) and a racially representative sample of the United States. Model testing suggests decent work moderates the effects of trauma symptoms when measured by life satisfaction (R2 = 0.29, p