Master’s Thesis Defense Meeting

Date: Friday, March 1st, 2024

Time: 12:00pm

Location: Click here to join the meeting

Thesis Advisor:
Kimberly French, Ph.D. (Colorado State/Georgia Tech)

Thesis Committee Members:

Hsiao-Wen Liao, Ph.D. (Georgia Tech)

Charles Calderwood, Ph.D. (Virginia Tech)

Christopher Wiese, Ph.D. (Georgia Tech)

Title: The Role of Microbreaks in the Work Recovery Process

Abstract: Job stress remains a threat to the health and productivity of workers nationwide, and in response, increased efforts have been made to understand how individuals recover from unavoidable stressors in the workplace. However, little research has been done on how at-work breaks such as microbreaks are related to off-work recovery experiences. This study sought to uncover when and why individuals use microbreaks as a part of the broader recovery process, as well as how family demands impact the relationship between fatigue and microbreaks. I test a serial mediation model at the daily level in which evening relaxation predicts next-day evening relaxation via morning fatigue and microbreak frequency. Specifically, I examine whether high evening relaxation predicts lower next-day morning fatigue, which in turn predicts lower at-work microbreak frequency, which then predicts higher evening relaxation. I also consider whether family role overload moderates the relationship between morning fatigue and microbreak frequency. Experience-sampling methodology was used to examine these relationships over a period of 4 weeks, with multilevel structural equation modeling used to examine the posited relationships. None of the hypothesized paths were significant. Limitations and implications of the study are discussed.