Contemporary work characteristics, stress, and ill health

Abstract

This study investigates the relationship between work and ill health resulting from stressors originating in the work environment. The association between work and health has been well-documented. Factors in the work environment leading to ill health have included generalized psychological stress and/or specific physical environmental characteristics. Data for this study come from a 1998 telephone survey, the Indiana Survey of Work in a Polarized Economy, under the auspices of the Center for Survey Research at Indiana University. The dependent variable is an index that measures ill health among workers; control variables include sociodemographic and lifestyle characteristics of these workers as well as their job characteristics; and the four key independent variables are occupational status, organizational disruption, layoff experience, and educational discordance of the workers. Multiple regression analysis on the entire sample (n = 919) demonstrates that occupational status is negatively associated with ill health, while organizational disruption, layoff experience, and educational discordance are positively associated with it. Separate analyses for male (n = 474) and female (n = 445) respondents find significant sex differences in the effects of the key variables: for males, organizational disruption is positively related to ill health while for women occupational status is negatively related and layoff experience and educational discordance are positively related to ill health. The findings from the present research provide insight into the interrelationship of occupational environment and health within the framework of evolutionary medicine.

The impact of comparative state-directed development on working conditions and employee satisfaction

“…Additionally, many researchers have suggested an increasing importance in the role that our work plays in our everyday lives, with most able-body individuals spending at least one-half or more of their waking hours in the workplace (in one form or another), and with the landscape of work in the US and across the world changing dramatically over the past 15-20 years in response to economic shifts, technological advances, and an increasingly global economy (e.g., Handel, 2005;Jamison, Jamison, & Wallace, 2004). As work plays an increasingly significant role in our lives, and as different workplaces are unique -each with its own particular set of characteristics, it is important to understand what it is about the workplace that impacts our lives and how these characteristics impact a worker's overall job satisfaction.…”

How Older Workers with Coronary Heart Disease Perceive the Health Effects of Work

“…Other researchers have examined the association between job characteristics, including job demands (Cohidon, Morisseau, Derriennic, Goldberg, & Imbernon, 2009;Jamison, Wallace, & Jamison, 2004;Laaksonen, Rahkonen, Martikainen, & Lahelma, 2006;Silva & Barreto, 2012), work stress (Oxenstierna et al, 2011;Wege et al, 2008), workplace support (Rydstedt, Head, Stansfeld, & Woodley-Jones, 2012), and work hours (Nakata, 2012), and self-reported health across a range of occupations. Generally, exposure to negative job characteristics has been associated with poorer self-reported health status, including physical and mental well-being.…”

The impact of comparative state-directed development on working conditions and employee satisfaction

“…Additionally, many researchers have suggested an increasing importance in the role that our work plays in our everyday lives, with most able-body individuals spending at least one-half or more of their waking hours in the workplace (in one form or another), and with the landscape of work in the United States and across the world changing dramatically over the past 15–20 years in response to economic shifts, technological advances, and an increasingly global economy (e.g., Jamison, Jamison, & Wallace, 2004; Handel, 2005). As work plays an increasingly significant role in our lives, and as different workplaces are unique – each with its own particular set of characteristics, it is important to understand what it is about the workplace that impacts our lives and how these characteristics impact a worker's overall job satisfaction.…”