| Work Stress, Worksite Responsibilities, and Job Characteristics | ||||||||
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Although work-related stress has often been found
to be high, few studies have examined how it is influenced by perceived
job responsibilities and other workplace characteristics. The purpose
of this study was to investigate these influences in a workplace
sample. To this end we examined questionnaire responses from
2737 workplace participants in the province of Alberta, Canada. About 18% of the sample considered their job to be "extremely stressful". The accompanying graph shows statistically significant differences between these stressed individuals (labelled "High") with those reporting "some stress" or none at all ("Low") on worksite characteristics and personal attributes. For example, slightly over 60% of the total sample was female, but the figure was 66% among the stressed sub-sample and 59% for the sub-sample that reported low or moderate stress. Similarly, the majority reported having to work long hours (including overtime), but there was a large difference between those showing high stress (80%) and those who were low (52%). Overall, workers who had responsibility for tor the consequences of poor work and those who experienced variable/unpredictable work hours were more likely to report high stress levels. Personal matters contributing to high work stress involved a combination of the five listed attributes, which imply strong job engagement but also dissatisfaction, being female and having difficulties at home. Note that these factors made independent contributions to work-stress, so the the impact of one is not explainable by its relationship with any of the others. |
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| Source: Dewa CS, Thompson AH, Jacobs P (2011). Relationships between job stress and worker perceived reponsibilities and job characteristics. International Journal of Environmental and Occupational Medicine 2(1) 37-.46. Click here for a copy. | ||||||||
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