Citation: Van Katwyk, P. T., Fox, S., Spector, P. E., & Kelloway, E. K. (2000). Using the Job-related Affective Well-being Scale (JAWS) to investigate affective responses to work stressors. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 5, 219-230.
DOI: 10.1037//1076-8998.5.2.219
Main positive psychological well-being construct measured: job-related affective well-being
Sub-constructs measured: N/A
Available subscales: Four categories: high arousal, low arousal, pleasurable, displeasurable
The five most extreme items were placed into each subscale: high pleasure high arousal, (ecstatic, enthusiastic, excited, energetic, inspired); high pleasure low arousal, (satisfied, content, at ease, relaxed, calm); low pleasure high arousal, (furious, angry, frightened, anxious, disgusted); and low pleasure low arousal, (depressed, discouraged, gloomy, fatigued, bored).
Description: The Job-Related Affective Well-Being Scale (JAWS) aims to measure pure, context specific affect and covers a wide range of affective responses in order to distinguish patterns of affective experience (i.e., negatively/positively valanced responses at high or low arousal levels). The 30 items refer to either pleasurable or displeasurable affect (15 items each).
Number of items: 30
Example of statement/item: “My job made me feel at ease”, “My job made me feel elated”, My job made me feel angry”, My job made me feel depressed”
Response options: Participants are asked to indicate the amount to which any part of their job has made them feel the specified emotion in the past 30 days. Participants indicate their response using a 5-point scale ranging from 1”never” to 5 “extremely often or always”
Total score: Five scores were derived from the JAWS. For the overall job-related affective well-being score, the displeasurable items were reverse coded and added to the scores on all the pleasurable items. A high score on the resulting summation represents a high level of overall job-related affective well-being.
Examples of Studies:
Weziak-Bialowolska, D., Bialowolski, P., VanderWeele, T. J., & McNeely, E. (2021). Character Strengths Involving an Orientation to Promote Good Can Help Your Health and Well-Being. Evidence From two Longitudinal Studies. American journal of health promotion : AJHP, 35(3), 388–398.
Thogersen-Ntoumani, C., Black, J., Lindwall, M., Whittaker, A., & Balanos, G. M. (2017). Presenteeism, stress resilience, and physical activity in older manual workers: A person-centered analysis. European Journal of Ageing, 14(4), 385–396.
Armon, G., Melamed, S., Berliner, S., & Shapira, I. (2014). High arousal and low arousal work-related positive affects and basal cardiovascular activity. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 9(2), 146–154.
Shirom, A., Melamed, S., Berliner, S., & Shapira, I. (2009). Aroused versus calm positive affects as predictors of lipids. Health psychology : official journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association, 28(6), 649–659.