Telepressure and College Student Employment: The Costs of Staying Connected Across Social Contexts

Telepressure is a psychological state consisting of the preoccupation and urge to respond quickly to message-based communications from others. Telepressure has been linked with negative stress and health outcomes, but the existing measure focuses on experiences specific to the workplace. The current study explores whether an adapted version of the workplace telepressure measure is relevant to general social interactions that rely on information and communication technologies. We validated a general telepressure measure in a sample of college students and found psychometric properties similar to the original workplace measure. Also, general telepressure was related to, but distinct from, the fear of missing out, self-control and technology use. Using a predictive validity design, we also found that telepressure at the beginning of the semester was related to student reports of burnout, perceived stress and poor sleep hygiene 1 month later (but not work-life balance or general life satisfaction). Moreover, telepressure was more strongly related to more negative outcomes (burnout, stress and poor sleep hygiene) and less positive outcomes (work-life balance and life satisfaction) among employed compared with non-employed students. Thus, the costs of staying connected to one's social network may be more detrimental to college students with additional employment obligations. Copyright (C) 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.