Just like the COVID-19 vaccine protects against contracting the contagious virus, the collective elements of self-efficacy, optimism, hope and resiliency helps inoculate employees from the negative effects of working through a pandemic, according to a new study.

Jeffery Houghton, management professor, had studied how college students coped with stress through adaptive (i.e. exercise, meditation, social networking) and maladaptive (i.e. binge drinking, substance abuse, negative thoughts) behaviors before the world was dramatically altered by COVID-19 in early 2020.

It dawned on him to shift that focus to people working through the midst of the pandemic. How were people handling working under the same roof they ate and slept — with some of them also homeschooling and rearing children?

He teamed up with two of his PhD students, Richard Oxarart and Luke Langlinais, and Salisbury University researchers to see how «psychological capital» — or PsyCap, a positive state of mind characterized by self-efficacy, optimism, hope and resiliency in the world of psychology — influenced employees.

The findings, published in the International Journal of Workplace Health Management, aren’t a total surprise: Those lagging in PsyCap characteristics drifted to maladaptive behaviors and exhibited a high perception of stress.

«If you’re adaptively coping, you’re going to have less stress,» Houghton said. «If you have a lower PsyCap, you’re likely going to engage in maladaptive coping, which leads to even greater stress.

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Materials provided by West Virginia University. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.