Abstracts - June 1997
Psychosocial Correlates of Job Strain in a Sample of Working Women
Redford B. Williams, MD; John C. Barefoot, PhD; James A. Blumenthal, PhD;
Michael J. Helms, MS; Linda Luecken, MA; Carl F. Pieper,
DPH; Ilene C. Siegler, PhD, MPH; Edward C. Suarez, PhD
Background: This study identifies potential mediators of job strain
effects on health by determining whether psychosocial factors known to
predict an increased risk of cardiovascular disease and all-cause
mortality are higher among women who report high levels of job strain.
Methods: Measures of job strain and other psychosocial risk factors were
obtained in a sample of 152 female employees of a local corporation.
Canonical correlation and analyses of covariance were used to assess
relationships between job demands and decision latitude and other
psychosocial risk factors.
Results: A significant (P=.002) solution to the canonical correlation
analysis showed that high job demands and low decision latitude were
correlated with a pattern of psychosocial factors consisting of (1)
increased levels of negative emotions like anxiety, anger, depression, and
hostility; (2) reduced levels of social support; and (3) a preponderance
of negative compared with positive feelings in dealings with coworkers and
supervisors. This pattern was confirmed by analyses of covariance that
adjusted for demographic and specific job characteristics.
Conclusions: The canonical correlation analysis results provide empirical
support for the job strain construct. The most important finding is that
health-damaging psychosocial factors like job strain, depression,
hostility, anxiety, and social isolation tend to cluster in certain
individuals. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 1997;54:543-548
Science News Update for the week of June 11, 1997
American Medical Association Science News
JOB STRAIN AMONG WORKING WOMEN LINKED TO ANGER, DEPRESSION
Study finds workers under stress more socially isolated
CHICAGO--Health-damaging psychosocial factors such as hostility,
depression and social isolation are common among women reporting high
levels of job stress, according to an article in the June issue of the
AMA's Archives of General Psychiatry.
Redford B. Williams, M.D., and colleagues from Duke University Medical
School, Durham, N.C., studied 152 women employed by a corporation in the
Durham area. Ninety-four women worked in customer service; the other 58
processed paperwork. The women were given confidential questionnaires
measuring job stress and psychological factors.
The study focused on white- and blue-collar jobs requiring workers to
complete a great deal of work in too short a time and also on jobs in
which employees do a lot of repetitive work while not being allowed to
make decisions on their own, to learn new skills or to develop special
abilities.
The researchers conclude: "Any intervention that can reduce the distress
associated with high job strain has the potential for immediate benefits
in reduced use of costly medical services. Even more important, there is
reason to expect that interventions effective in reducing this
psychosocial distress will also lead to a reduced incidence of
debilitating medical problems during the long-term."
The researchers found a consistently adverse profile among workers
reporting higher levels of job strain: "Psychologically, they are more
depressed, anxious, angry, neurotic and hostile than their counterparts
reporting lower levels of job strain. They also show reduced levels of a
positive trait, curiosity."
The researchers write: "Workers with a high level of job strain also
reported less of a sense of belonging, and they had a preponderance of
negative compared with positive dealing with co-workers and supervisors
encountered at this particular work site."
The study also found that workers under high levels of job stress felt
their sources of social support were less adequate to meet their emotional
needs or enhance their self-esteem.
Past research has found that hostility, depression, anxiety and low levels
of social support or social isolation can increase the risk of coronary
heart disease, death after heart attacks and other adverse health
outcomes.
Williams and colleagues point out that the health consequences can be even
more damaging when two or more psychosocial risk factors are present: "The
clustering of increased depression, anxiety, anger, hostility and social
isolation found among the working women reporting high job strain in this
study suggests, therefore, that women who perceive their jobs as high in
strain will be at particularly high risk for a range of health problems."
The researchers point out that smoking, over-eating, increased alcohol
consumption and other risk behaviors have been found among people
exhibiting the same psychosocial profile as women reporting high job
strain in this study.
They also assert that psychosocial distress, in the absence of objective
medical illness, is responsible for many patient visits to primary care
physicians.
Interesting stuff eh?
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