Provided by Blake Allan

Blake Allan

Associate Professor of Counseling Psychology, The University of Houston
Areas of Expertise:

Connect with Blake

About Blake

Blake focuses his research at the intersection of work psychology, social justice, and positive psychology. Blake's area of expertise is access to decent and fulfilling work. He comments on factors that restrict people's access to "good jobs" and the psychological consequences of different work arrangements. For example, unemployment, underemployment, and precarious work consistently predict poorer mental health and well-being. These broad areas include things like poverty wage employment and contract work.

Publications

"The Development and Initial Validation of the Decent Work Scale" (with Ryan D. Duffy, Jessica W. England, David L. Blustein, Kelsey L. Autin, Richard P. Douglass, Joaquim Ferreira, and Eduardo J. R. Santos). Journal of Counseling Psychology 64, no. 2 (2017): 206-221.

Describes into five components of decent work (physically and interpersonally safe working conditions, access to health care, adequate compensation, hours that allow for free time and rest, and organizational values that complement family and social values) that relate to mental health and well-being outcomes.

"Construction and Validation of the Subjective Underemployment Scales" (with Ryan D. Duffy, Jessica W. England, David L. Blustein, Kelsey L. Autin, Richard P. Douglass, Joaquim Ferreira, and Eduardo J. R. Santos). Journal of Counseling Psychology 64, no. 2 (2017): 206-221.

Breaks down underemployment into seven dimensions (pay, status, field, hours, involuntary temporary work, poverty wage employment, and overqualification), which relate to mental health and well-being outcomes.