Psychosocial work environment and mental health: Job-strain and effort-reward imbalance models in a context of major organizational changes

This study explored the association between the two job-stress models, job-strain and effort-reward imbalance, and mental health outcomes in a working population exposed to major organizational changes. The cross-sectional study was based on 680 subjects, 504 men and 176 women. Psychosocial factors at work included: psychological demands, decision latitude, social support, effort, reward, and overcommitment. Mental health outcomes were depressive symptoms (CES-D) and psychiatric disorders (GHQ-12). Job strain, low decision latitude, effort-reward imbalance, and low reward (especially job instability) were found to be associated with depressive symptoms and/or psychiatric disorders among men. Overcommitment at work was a risk factor for both men and women. Social support at work played a role to reduce depressive symptoms for women. These findings emphasize the deleterious effects of psychosocial work environment on mental health during major organizational changes.     

The psychosocial work environment and alcohol dependence: a prospective study

Aims: To examine whether a stressful psychosocial work environment predicts alcohol dependence.

Methods: Alcohol dependence of participants in the Whitehall II occupational cohort of London based civil servants (1985–88) was measured in 1991–93 using the CAGE questionnaire. The psychosocial work environment was measured by self report questions on the job demand-support-control model and on the model of effort-reward imbalance. Potential mediators including physical illness and poor mental health (GHQ) were measured at follow up in 1989.

Results: Effort-reward imbalance at work was associated with alcohol dependence in men after adjustment for employment grade and other baseline factors related to alcohol dependence. Although effort-reward imbalance predicted future longstanding illness, poor mental health and negative aspects of close relationships, the association between effort-reward imbalance and alcohol dependence in men was only partially mediated through these health and social support measures. In women, low decision latitude was related to alcohol dependence to some extent, but alcohol dependence among women was more prevalent in higher occupational grades. Men with high job demands or with low work social supports had a slightly reduced risk of alcohol dependence. No association was found between objectively assessed demands, job control, and alcohol dependence in either men or women.

Conclusion: A stressful psychosocial work environment in terms of effort-reward imbalance was found to be a risk factor for alcohol dependence in men. In view of the public health importance of alcohol dependence in working populations these findings call for more emphasis on psychosocial factors in occupational health research and prevention.

     

Work characteristics and health of correctional officers

BACKGROUND: The association between the psychosocial work environment and mental health problems has been well documented over the past years. Karasek and Theorell's job strain model and Siegrist's effort/reward imbalance model have been associated to several physical and mental health problems. Moreover, in the last decade, the Quebec correctional services sector has known an important increase in sickness benefit claims for mental health problems. This study aimed to describe the psychosocial work characteristics and health of Quebec correctional officers and to determine the occupational risk factors associated to psychological distress among them. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was realized among 1034 correctional officers from 18 prisons in the province of Quebec, 668 men and 366 women. The response rate was 76%. Psychological demands, decision latitude, social support at work, reward, and psychological distress have been documented by telephone interviews during spring 2000. RESULTS: Correctional officers were more exposed to adverse psychosocial factors at work than a comparable sample of Quebec workers and they reported more health problems. Results showed that the same sources of psychological distress affected men and women, but sometimes at different degrees. High psychological demands combined with low or high decision latitude, and effort/reward imbalance were associated to psychological distress independently of potential confounding factors. Among other work factors associated to the report of high psychological distress among correctional officers were low social support at work, and conflicts with colleagues and superiors. CONCLUSION: Many adverse psychosocial factors at work were in excess among correctional officers compared to workers from the general population. These factors, also related to high levels of psychological distress, could be addressed with the goal of primary prevention of mental health problems at work.     

The relationship between psychosocial work characteristics and fatigue and psychological distress

OBJECTIVES: To examine the associations between psychosocial work characteristics and fatigue in employees in the Maastricht Cohort Study. A second objective was to compare the relationships for fatigue versus psychological distress with these psychosocial work characteristics. METHODS: The design was cross-sectional and included 11,020 employees who responded to the self-administered baseline questionnaire of the Maastricht Cohort Study. Fatigue was measured with the Checklist Individual Strength, a 20-item self-report instrument. Psychological distress was measured with the 12-item version of the General Health Questionnaire. Psychosocial work characteristics comprised: psychological demands, decision latitude, and social support at work as measured by the Job Content Questionnaire, as well as emotional demands at work, physical demands at work, job insecurity, and conflict with supervisor/co-worker, which were assessed with items from existing Dutch questionnaires. RESULTS: Low decision latitude and low social support at work were associated with fatigue in both men and women. Associations were also found between emotional demands at work, job insecurity, physical demands and conflict with supervisor and fatigue in men; and high psychological demands and fatigue in women. As regards psychological distress, there was no association with low decision latitude, but strong associations with emotional demands and conflict with supervisor in both genders. CONCLUSIONS: The study provides strong support for associations between psychosocial work characteristics and fatigue in men and women, even after adjustment for psychological distress. Moreover, it suggests some differential effects of psychosocial work characteristics on fatigue and psychological distress.     

Psychometric properties of the Korean version of the job content questionnaire: data from health care workers

Objectives To test the validity and reliability of selected scales, namely, decision latitude, psychological job demand, social support, job insecurity, and macro-level decision latitude from the Korean version of the job content questionnaire (K-JCQ), as part of a psychosocial epidemiological study among university hospital workers. Methods K-JCQ was developed by translation and back translation complying with the JCQ usage policy, and its psychometric properties were explored among 338 workers (290 females and 48 males) in a university hospital in Korea. Internal consistency was examined using Cronbach’s alpha correlation coefficients. Factorial validity was tested using exploratory factor analysis. Pearson’s correlation coefficients were used for test–retest reliability among a subset of 157 workers who responded to a repeat survey. Criterion-related validity was assessed by investigating the effects of the scales on job satisfaction and self-identity through work in multiple regression models. Results Cronbach’s alpha for all selected scales was higher than 0.6, except for job insecurity (0.53) and macro-level decision authority (0.52), indicating appropriate internal consistency. Correlation coefficients between test and retest scales of decision latitude, psychological job demand, and social support were 0.60, 0.41, and 0.35, respectively. Exploratory factor analysis found three- and four-factor models, i.e., with and without macro-level decision latitude, respectively, closely corresponding to the theoretical constructs. High levels of decision latitude and social support, and low levels of psychological job demand and job insecurity were significantly associated with high level of job satisfaction. Higher self-identity through work was positively related to decision latitude and social support. Conclusions These findings suggest that K-JCQ is valid and reliable for assessing psychosocial job stress among Korean workers. Macro-level decision latitude showed a separate factorial structure and was strongly associated with task-level decision latitude.     

How to deal with stress in organizations?--a health perspective on theory and practice

This review is focused on organizational aspects of stress reduction. Theoretical models are presented. The association with a few health outcomes (cardiovascular disease, musculoskeletal disorders, and functional gastrointestinal illness) is examined. A few examples of evaluations of health consequences of improved work organization are introduced. Realistic expectations are discussed against the background of etiologic fractions. Concepts like psychological demands, decision latitude, social support, and effort-reward balance or imbalance are discussed and related to practical reorganizational efforts.     

Psychosocial work environment and cardiovascular risk factors in an occupational cohort in France

STUDY OBJECTIVE: Concordant results have been reported in several studies for the effects of job stress on cardiovascular disease, but the potential mechanisms of these effects have seldom been explored. The aim of this study was therefore to examine, in women and men, the cross sectional relations between psychosocial work variables (psychological demands, decision latitude, and social support) and cardiovascular risk factors (hypertension, hyperlipidaemia, diabetes, overweight, smoking, and alcohol consumption). PARTICIPANTS: The original cohort comprised 20,625 volunteers (men aged from 40 to 50 and women from 35 to 50) employed by the French Company Electricite De France-Gaz De France and followed up yearly since 1989. The study was restricted to the 13,226 volunteers in the cohort who were still working and answered a self administered questionnaire on psychosocial work factors in 1995. DESIGN: Data were based on replies to this questionnaire. Three psychosocial work environment exposure scores were used to assess psychological demands, decision latitude, and social support at work respectively. The main outcome measures were the prevalence of hypertension, hyperlipidaemia, and diabetes within the previous 12 months, overweight, smoking, and alcohol consumption. MAIN RESULTS: Psychosocial work factors were significantly associated with hypertension, hyperlipidaemia, overweight, smoking, and alcohol consumption, but not with diabetes. In men, low decision latitude was associated with hypertension, high decision latitude and high social support with overweight, low decision latitude with alcohol consumption. Moreover, the risk of hyperlipidaemia increased in men exposed to both high psychological demands and low social support. In women, low decision latitude was related to hyperlipidaemia, high psychological demands with overweight, high psychological demands and high decision latitude with smoking, and low social support with alcohol consumption. CONCLUSIONS: These cross sectional results underline the potential effects of psychosocial work characteristics on cardiovascular risk factors and the differences between the effects of job stress in men and women, and confirm the direct mechanisms (through physiological variables) and indirect mechanisms (through behavioural risk factors) potentially involved in the relation between psychosocial work characteristics and cardiovascular disease.

 

     

Job strain, social support at work, and incidence of myocardial infarction

OBJECTIVES: The combination of high psychological job demands and low decision latitude (high job strain) has been associated with an increased risk of coronary heart disease. It has been proposed that this may also be the case for low social support at work. The aim of this study was to analyse the relations between these psychosocial factors and incidence of myocardial infarction. METHODS: Associations between psychosocial work characteristics and incidence of myocardial infarction was investigated through a population based case-control study. The study base comprised employed men and women in five Swedish counties during the years 1976-84. Cases of first myocardial infarction were identified from hospital discharge registers and death records from outside hospital, controls were selected through a random sample, and psychosocial work environment was assessed through a job exposure matrix on the basis of the occupation in the 1970 and 1975 censuses. RESULTS: An increased incidence of myocardial infarction was found for men and women in occupations characterised by low decision latitude. For men this increase was seen primarily in combination with high psychological demands (high job strain) and low social support at work. Younger men (30-54 years of age) in occupations with both high job strain and low social support at work had a relative risk of 1.79 (95% confidence interval (95% CI) 1.22 to 2.65) compared with subjects in low strain and high social support jobs after controlling for age, county of residence, and socioeconomic group. CONCLUSIONS: Our results indicate that jobs characterised by low decision latitude, high job strain, or low social support at work may be associated with an increased risk of acute myocardial infarction. If these associations are causal they may be of substantial importance from the point of view of workers' health.

 

     

Work characteristics predict psychiatric disorder: prospective results from the Whitehall II Study

OBJECTIVES: The impact of work on the risk of future psychiatric disorder has been examined in few longitudinal studies. This was examined prospectively in a large epidemiological study of civil servants. METHODS: In the Whitehall II study, a longitudinal, prospective cohort study of 6895 male and 3413 female London based civil servants, work characteristics measured at baseline (phase 1: 1985-8) and first follow up (phase 2: 1989) were used to predict psychiatric disorder measured by a 30 item general health questionnaire (GHQ) at phase 2 and phase 3 follow up (phase 3: 1991-3). Work characteristics and GHQ were measured at all three phases. RESULTS: Low social support at work and low decision authority, high job demands and effort-reward imbalance were associated with increased risk of psychiatric disorder as assessed by the GHQ at follow up adjusting for age, employment grade, and baseline GHQ score. CONCLUSIONS: Social support and control at work protect mental health while high job demands and effort-reward imbalance are risk factors for future psychiatric disorder. Intervention at the level of work design, organisation, and management might have positive effects on mental health in working populations.

 

     

职业紧张对心理健康的影响

目的探讨工作需求和工作控制水平对心理健康的影响以及工作需求与控制间的交互作用效应.方法采用修订的工作需求-控制量表和职业紧张反应测量工具对93名男性铁路货运编组站调度员进行测试,应用单应变量多因素方差分析、非参数统计方法--Kruskal-Wallis H法和Modian法、逐步回归分析对数据进行统计分析.结果非参数统计结果表明,决定自由度各组间心理卫生评分差异有显著性(平均秩次55.57,47.95,48.42,33.50,P＜0.05),工作时间需求各组间心理卫生评分(37.45,40.01,58.35)、抑郁症评分(36.45,42.25,53.61)、每日紧张感评分(33.00,44.96,56.12)、工作满意感评分(53.18,46.91,32.43)的差异均有显著性(P＜0.05).方差分析结果表明,工作时间需求和决定自由度对身心抱怨(R2=0.24)、焦虑症(R2=0.26)和白天疲劳(R2=0.28)三个应变量存在着有明显意义的交互作用(P＜0.05).逐步回归分析表明,工作时间需求和工作负荷需求对应变量的决定系数(R2)大多大于0.05,且工作时间需求的决定系数(R2)大于工作负荷需求.工作时间需求和决定自由度的乘积变量进入了身心抱怨、焦虑和白天疲劳评分的预测方程,且乘积变量的决定系数(R2)几乎均在0.05以上.结论工作时间需求和决定自由度对部分心理性紧张反应存在着明显的影响,时间需求越大,心理性紧张反应越大,工作时间需求的作用大于决定自由度,二者对部分紧张反应结局变量有交互作用效应.     

Psychosocial work exposures and health outcomes: a meta-review of 72 literature reviews with meta-analysis

ObjectiveThis meta-review aimed to present all available quantitative pooled estimates for the associations between psychosocial work exposures and health outcomes using a systematic literature review of literature reviews with meta-analysis.MethodsA systematic review of the literature from 2000 to 2020 was conducted using PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, and PsycINFO databases following the PRISMA guidelines. All literature reviews and Individual-Participant Data (IPD)-Work consortium studies exploring an association between psychosocial work exposures and health outcomes and providing pooled estimates using meta-analysis were included. All types of psychosocial work exposures and health outcomes were studied. The quality of each included review was assessed.ResultsA total of 72 reviews and IPD-Work consortium studies were included. These mainly focused on job strain as exposure and cardiovascular diseases and mental disorders as outcomes. The associations between psychosocial work factors and cardiovascular diseases and mental disorders were in general significant, and the magnitude of these associations was stronger for mental disorders than for cardiovascular diseases. Based on high-quality reviews, significant associations were found between job/high strain and long working hours as exposures and coronary heart diseases, (ischemic) stroke, and depression as outcomes. A few additional significant associations involved other exposures and health outcomes.ConclusionsThe included reviews brought convincing findings on the associations of some psychosocial work factors with mental disorders and cardiovascular diseases. More research may be needed to explain these associations, explore other exposures and outcomes, and make progress towards determining the causality of the associations.Key terms: pooled estimate, systematic literature review

Psychosocial work exposures emerged in the area of occupational health epidemiology during the 1990s, the first studies being published in the 1980s (1–5) and some very rare studies in the 1970s (6). Since then, the literature has expanded considerably, making a synthesis of the literature timely. Psychosocial work factors are characterized by a multitude of exposures, which presents problems in summarizing the literature. A number of studies have investigated the factors of the job strain model, one of the first and widely used theoretical model, including decision latitude, psychological demands, job strain (combination of high demands and low latitude), and social support. However, psychosocial work factors embrace a much higher number of aspects, such as long working hours, job insecurity, effort–reward imbalance, but also more recently workplace bullying, organizational injustice, and work–family conflict, amongst others. In addition, this is not only the issue of exposure that is complicated but also the issue of outcome, as the diversity of outcomes also adds to complexity in the field.A large amount of the literature has focused on the associations of psychosocial work exposures with mental disorders and cardiovascular diseases. Various other health outcomes have also been investigated, although less frequently, such as cardiovascular risk factors, behavioral risk factors, and more rarely other diseases. Psychosocial work factors may be expected to be associated with a large number of health outcomes, consequently for this reason too, a synthesis of the literature may also be difficult to achieve.A substantial number of literature reviews have been published on specific associations between psychosocial work exposures and health outcomes in recent years. Four meta-reviews, based on literature reviews, have been published so far and summarized the evidence for two outcomes, cardiovascular diseases (7) and common mental health problems (8), and two exposures, workplace bullying (9) and long working hours (10). Three of these meta-reviews used a systematic procedure to synthesize information, and only one provided quantitative pooled estimates. Focusing on literature reviews with meta-analysis based on primary studies that have already been selected on the basis of well-defined criteria may be useful in order to summarize the literature in a quantitative way. Indeed, an additional problem may be the heterogeneity of the literature regarding the quality of the studies. In addition, given the inherent problems related to the study of the associations between psychosocial work exposures and health outcomes (such as residual confounding and reporting bias), causal inferences may be difficult to reach and a limited number of primary studies in the literature or pooled in a meta-analysis may not be enough to provide the level of evidence required. Finally, a state-of-the-art providing quantitative pooled estimates may be particularly helpful to other research topics such as those related to the estimation of fractions and costs attributable to psychosocial work exposures.Our aim was therefore to perform a meta-review (ie, a systematic literature review of literature reviews with meta-analysis) on the associations between psychosocial work exposures and health outcomes and to report all available quantitative pooled estimates for each of these associations. As our aim was to provide a comprehensive review on the etiological effects of psychosocial work exposures, all psychosocial work factors and all health outcomes were included. We further investigated the significance, magnitude, precision, and consistency over time of the associations, and the differences between outcomes to provide more information about the specificity of the effects or on the contrary about the multiple effects of these exposures on health.     

某热电厂工人工作满意感与职业应激相关因素的关系

目的 探讨热电厂工人工作满意感与职业应激相关因素的关系.方法 采用整群抽样的方法对某热电厂875名工人进行调查,用职业应激测量工具、工作内容问卷和付出-回报失衡问卷等测试热电厂工人的工作满意感、职业应激因素、应激反应、个体特征、应付策略和社会支持.结果 不同性别、文化程度、婚姻状况、吸烟和饮酒组间工作满意感评分比较,差异无统计学意义(P＞0.05).不同年龄和工龄组间工作满意感评分比较,差异有统计学意义(P＜0.01).相关分析结果表明,工作满意感与对人的责任、对事的责任、提升机会、决定水平、工作稳定性、回报、心理卫生、正性情感、自尊感、上级支持、同事支持和应对策略呈正相关(P＜0.01或P＜0.05),与角色模糊、角色冲突、工作前景未知性、工作需求、负性情感、抑郁症状和工作心理控制源呈负相关(P＜0.01或P＜0.05).方差分析结果表明,工作满意感评分高组对人的责任、对事的责任、提升机会、决定水平、工作稳定性、回报、心理卫生、正性情感、自尊感和缓解因素评分明显高于工作满意感评分中等或低水平者(P＜0.01),而工作满意感评分高组角色模糊、角色冲突、工作前景未知性、工作需求、工作心理控制源和抑郁症状评分低于工作满意感中等或低水平者(P＜0.01或P＜0.05).多因素logistic回归分析结果表明,低回报者发生工作不满意感的风险约为高回报者的4倍(OR=3.773),低社会支持和工作心理控制源外控者发生工作不满意感的风险是高社会支持和内控者的2倍多(OR值分别为2.419和2.219).每日紧张感、低控制策略、低支持策略、低决定水平和负性情感均是工作不满意的危险因素(OR=1.125～1.790),而自尊感和正性情感可使工作不满意感发生的风险降低.结论 增加工作中的决定水平、社会支持和应对策略、回报,减少角色冲突与模糊、工作需求、负性情感,可提高工人的工作满意感水平.     

Occupational stress and mental health among correctional officers: a cross-sectional study

A harsh psychosocial environment in the workplace might cause adverse health events, but the association has not been well demonstrated in the penitentiary environment. This cross-sectional study was designed to explore the association between workplace psychosocial risks and the mental health of correctional officers in a Spanish penitentiary center. A self-administered questionnaire was distributed to correctional officers. A total of 164 responded anonymously (response rate 43%). The SF36 survey was used to measure mental health and ISTAS21 (Spanish version of Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire) was used to measure exposure to workplace psychosocial conditions. Low scores were obtained for mental health, high scores were obtained for psychological demands, low self-esteem, and low control and influence and moderate scores for low social support, double exposure, and insecurity at work. A linear regression analysis was constructed to study the influence of workplace psychosocial conditions (independent variables) on mental health (dependent variable). The effect was adjusted for sex, age, seniority, and occupational group. Psychological demands (highest impact), low control and influence, and double exposure had significant inverse associations with mental health. The association between low social support, low self-esteem, and insecurity at work with mental health was insignificant. Psychosocial work conditions are a potential target for mental health promotion programs at work.     

Psychosocial working conditions and psychological well-being among employees in 34 European countries

Purpose

The aim of this study was to explore the associations between psychosocial working conditions and psychological well-being among employees in 34 European countries. Another objective was to examine whether these associations varied according to occupation and country.

Methods

The study was based on data from the European Working Conditions Survey 2010 including 33,443 employees, 16,512 men and 16,931 women, from 34 European countries. Well-being was measured by the WHO-5 well-being index. Twenty-five psychosocial work factors were constructed including job demands, role stressors, work hours, job influence and freedom, job promotion, job insecurity, social support, quality of leadership, discrimination and violence at work, and work-life imbalance. The associations between these factors and well-being were examined using multilevel logistic regression analyses. Different models were performed including interaction tests.

Results

When all 25 psychosocial work factors were studied simultaneously in the same model with adjustment variables, 13 showed a significant association with poor well-being among both genders: quantitative demands, demands for hiding emotions, low possibilities for development, low meaning of work, low role conflict, low quality of leadership, low social support, low sense of community, job insecurity, low job promotion, work-life imbalance, discrimination, and bullying. The association with low sense of community on poor well-being was particularly strong.

Conclusions

A large number of psychosocial work factors were associated with poor well-being. Almost no country and occupational differences were found in these associations. This study gave a first European overview and could be useful to inform cross-national policy debate.     

Psychometric evaluation of the Chinese (mainland) version of Job Content Questionnaire: a study in university hospitals

To evaluate the psychometric properties of the Chinese (mainland) version of Job Content Questionnaire (JCQ), this validation study was conducted in university hospitals among 193 men and 581 women health care workers. The Cronbach's alpha coefficients for decision latitude, psychological job demands and social support ranged from 0.56 to 0.82, which indicated that psychological job demands had lower internal consistency. The decision latitude displayed a negative correlation with psychological job demands and a positive correlation with social support. Exploratory factor analysis showed 3 meaningful factors that could explain the 3 theoretical dimensions of job strain model. Apart from some uncertainty over psychological job demands particularly, it is concluded that the Chinese (mainland) version of JCQ is a reliable and valid instrument for measuring job stressors, and is applicable to Chinese working population.     

Health and psychosocial work characteristics of employees who did or did not consult the general practitioner in relation to work

OBJECTIVES: To examine how health problems and psychosocial work characteristics are associated with having visited or not having visited the general practitioner (GP) in relation to work. METHODS: Baseline self-reported data of the Maastricht Cohort Study about fatigue at work were used to gather information about fatigue (Checklist Individual Strength), presence of at least one long-term disease, likelihood of having a mental illness (General Health Questionnaire), and psychosocial work characteristics (psychological job demands, decision latitude and social support at work, as measured with the Job Content Questionnaire). The cohort participants indicated having visited (VISITORS) or not having visited (NON-VISITORS) the GP in relation to work. Differences between these groups were measured by multiple logistic regression analyses. RESULTS: When compared with VISITORS and taking into account the influence of sociodemographic characteristics and mutual associations between reported health problems and psychosocial work characteristics, a lower percentage of NON-VISITORS reported at least one long-term disease and NON-VISITORS presented lower levels of fatigue and psychological job demands, and higher levels of decision latitude and social support at work. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study indicate that NON-VISITORS reported fewer health problems and a more positive perception of their work environment than VISITORS did. Interrelationships between psychosocial work characteristics and health variables should be taken into consideration when studying their associations with visiting the GP in relation to work.     

Psychosocial job factors and the one-year evolution of back-related functional limitations

OBJECTIVES: This 1-year prospective study aimed at assessing the association between some psychosocial job characteristics and back-related functional limitations. METHODS: The participants were 849 workers who sought medical consultation for nonspecific back pain in primary care settings of the Quebec City area. Information on job decision latitude, psychological demands, and social support at work was collected during a telephone interview conducted after the medical consultation. Back-related functional limitations were measured at baseline and 1 year later with the Roland-Morris Disability Questionnaire. The analyses were stratified by gender. Social support at work and the type of back pain were considered potential effect modifiers. Several potential confounders were also considered in the multiple regression analyses that were conducted to isolate the effect of the job psychological demands and decision latitude on the 1-year level of back-related functional limitations. RESULTS: A modest difference in the 1-year Roland-Morris average scores was found only among the women and only for the association between job decision latitude with back-related functional limitations, according to the level of social support at work. This difference was of limited clinical significance. Analyses by type of back pain showed, however, a clinically significant association between the combination of high psychological demands and low decision latitude and back-related functional limitations only for subjects with persistent pain. CONCLUSIONS: Job psychological demands and decision latitude have little influence on the 1-year evolution of back-related functional limitations for one-time and recurrent back-pain problems. However, our results suggest that this association could be important for workers with persistent pain.     

Job demands, job resources, and work engagement of Japanese employees: a prospective cohort study

Purpose

Research on the prospective association of job demands and job resources with work engagement is still limited in Asian countries, such as Japan. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the prospective association of job demands (i.e., psychological demands and extrinsic effort) and job resources (i.e., decision latitude, supervisor support, co-worker support, and extrinsic reward), based on the job demands-control (JD-C) [or demand-control-support (DCS)] model and the effort-reward imbalance (ERI) model, with work engagement among Japanese employees.

Methods

The participants included 423 males and 672 females from five branches of a manufacturing company in Japan. Self-administered questionnaires, including the Job Content Questionnaire (JCQ), the Effort-Reward Imbalance Questionnaire (ERIQ), the nine-item Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES-9), and demographic characteristics, were administered at baseline (August 2009). At one-year follow-up (August 2010), the UWES-9 was used again to assess work engagement. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses were conducted.

Results

After adjusting for demographic characteristics and work engagement at baseline, higher psychological demands and decision latitude were positively and significantly associated with greater work engagement at follow-up (β = 0.054, p = 0.020 for psychological demands and β = 0.061, p = 0.020 for decision latitude).

Conclusions

Having higher psychological demands and decision latitude may enhance work engagement among Japanese employees.     

A study of job stress among women and men in the Federal Republic of Germany

A study was designed to test the association between job demandsand job decision latitude and coronary heart disease (CHD) riskand psychological strain among working men and women in theFRG. The data are from the 1984 FRG national health survey.The sample used for this research was composed of 795 persons:476 working men and 319 working women. Following the work ofKarasek, the results indicate that psychological strain wasrelated to high job demands and low job decision latitude. However,an association between CHD risk and high job demands and lowjob decision latitude was not supported by the findings. Correlationalanalyses revealed moderate correlations between psychologicalstrain and CHD risk. Multiple regression analyses indicatedthat low decision latitude may be a stressor that grows moresevere in the presence of high job demands in terms of negativehealth outcomes. Significant differences between men and womenwere also found.