The Person-Environment (P-E) Fit model, developed in the early
1970s by researchers at the University of Michigan, states that
strain develops when there is a discrepancy between the motives
of the person and the supplies of the environment (job), or between
the demands of the job and the abilities of the person to meet
those demands. Motives include factors such as participation,
income, and self-utilization. Demands include work load and job
complexity (Caplan et al., 1975; Van Harrison, 1978; Baker, 1985).
The major test of the P-E Fit model was a cross-sectional study
of 2010 workers in 23 occupations (Caplan et al., 1975). However,
these were not a random sample of American occupations, no objective
measurements of the work sites were obtained, and the response
rate was as low as 25% for some of the occupations. The most important
stressor appeared to be workload excess, job complexity misfit,
underutilization of abilities, and unwanted overtime. Assemblers
and relief workers on the machine-paced assembly lines had the
highest stress and strain of any of the 23 occupations (Caplan
et al., 1975, p.201). However, the P-E Fit measures together contributed
only 1.5-14% additional variance beyond the environment and person
questions, separately (Baker, 1985). The investigators warned
that the P-E Fit variables supplement, but do not replace, the
predictive power of the component measures (French, Caplan and
Van Harrison, 1982).
References
Baker D. Occupational stress. Annual Review of Public Health 1985;6:367-381.
Caplan RD, Cobb S, French JRP, Van Harrison R, Pinneau SR. 1975.
Job demands and worker health. Cincinnati, OH: National Institute
for Occupational Safety and Health. (Publication No. 75-168)
French JRP, Caplan RD, Van Harrison R. The mechanisms of job stress
and strain. New York: Wiley, 1982.
Van Harrison R. Person-environment fit and job stress. In Cooper
CL, Payne R (Eds.) Stress at work. Chichester: Wiley, 1978.