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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Is it Getting Better or Worse? Health-Oriented Leadership and Psychological Capital as Resources for Sustained Health in Newcomers

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During the transition from university to work, young adults face a stressful period in which leadership behavior serves as a guideline. Positive leadership behavior has the potential to increase internal resources, such as positive psychological capital (PsyCap). The research question addressed in this paper is if health-oriented leadership and PsyCap as resources jointly influence the physical and mental health of novice teachers during the transition to work. In a longitudinal study, 776 novice teachers responded to three questionnaires with a time lag of 10 weeks during the first 5 months of their occupational experience. Results of a latent class growth analysis show that three trajectories of physical health and four trajectories of mental health can be distinguished. Health-oriented leadership and PsyCap predict class membership separately, and the relationship between health-oriented leadership and class membership is mediated by PsyCap. This implies that training supervisors in health-oriented leadership can help novice teachers cope with stressors during their teacher training. Applying latent class growth models in this line of research is novel and adds to the understanding of internal and external resources in the process of adaptation to major life events, such as the transition from university to work.