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.