Epidemiology of Job Stress and Health in Japan: Review of Current Evidence and Future Direction.

Abstract

Abstract:With the increasing concern about job stress, there is a growing body of literature addressing psychosocial job stress and its adverse effects on health in Japan. This paper reviews research findings over the past 15 years concerning the assessment of job stress, the relationship of job stress to mental and physical health, and the effects of worksite stress reduction activities in Japan. Although studies were conducted in the past using ad-hoc job stress questionnaires, wellestablished job stressor scales have since been translated into Japanese, their psychometric properties tested and these scales extensively used in recent epidemiologic studies. While the impact of overtime and quantitative job overload on mental health seems moderate, job control, skill use and worksite support, as well as qualitative job demands, had greater effects on psychological distress and drinking problems in cross-sectional and prospective studies. These job stressors also indicated a strong association with psychiatric disorders, including major depression, even with a prospective study design. Long working hours were associated with a higher risk of myocardial infarction, diabetes mellitus and hypertension. There is evidence that the job demands-control model, as well as the use of new technology at work, is associated with higher levels of blood pressure and serum lipids among Japanese working populations.Fibrinolytic activity, blood glucose levels, immune functions and medical consultation rates were also affected by job stressors. It is further suggested that Japanese workers tend to suppress expression of positive feelings, which results in apparently higher psychological distress and lower job satisfaction among Japanese workers compared with workers in the U.S. Future epidemiologic studies in Japan should focus more on a prospective study design, theoretical models of job stress, job stress among women, and cultural difference and well-designed intervention studies of various types of worksite stress reduction.

Occupational Class and Exposure to Job Stressors among Employed Men and Women in Japan

“…Job strain has been shown to be associated with fewer leisure-time physical activities in previous studies in Japan. 20,21 However, using the same sample, we previously reported fewer leisure-time physical activities both in high-class occupations and low-class occupations. 5 This apparent discrepancy may be attributable to other work-related factors, such as greater job commitment among managers.…”

“…22,23 Females are frequently employed in support roles. 20 Furthermore, they are assumed to have more job mobility than men in Japan because they bear a larger share of childcare responsibilities that men do and might have to change or give up jobs as a result. Women in low-skill occupations may feel that their positions are often unstable.…”

Highly Cited Articles in Environmental and Occupational Health, 1919–1960

“…This is consistent with previous studies conducted at Occupational Medicine (Oxford), 45 where the journal's most highly cited article of all time 107 was only 5 years old. A similar situation was also demonstrated at Industrial Health, 103 where the most highly cited article 108 was only 8 years old. Such findings in EOH need to be seen in context, however, as history has shown that very few articles ever get cited at high rates.…”

Comparing the mental health of housewives and day shift working women in Yazd County, Iran, 2010

“…In 1992, the United Nations reported occupational stress as the illness of 20 th century and after that world health organization reported it as an epidemic problem in the world [5]. Also, in a study done by Kawakami in 1999 occupational stressors were reported to be the strongest cause of psychological damages especially depression [6]. Some systematic researches reported that working women are healthier (physiologically or psychologically) than housewives [7][8][9][10][11][12][13], but in some other studies no significant statistical differences in satisfaction with marriage and family life or anxiety level between working and nonworking women was found [14,15].…”