Job strain, job insecurity, and health: rethinking the relationship.
Job strain (high demands and low control) is a widely used measure of work stress. The authors introduce a new way of looking at work stress by combining job strain with job insecurity, a combination increasingly prevalent in contemporary economies, using data from a cross-sectional survey (N = 1,188) of mid-aged Australian managers and professionals. Those reporting both strain and insecurity showed markedly higher odds for mental and physical health problems (depression: odds ratio [OR] 13.88, 95% confidence interval [CI] 5.67-34.01; anxiety: OR 12.88, CI 5.12-32.39; physical health problems: OR 3.97, CI 1.72-9.16; and poor self-rated health: OR 7.12, CI 2.81-18.01). Job strain and insecurity showed synergistic associations with health, and employees experiencing both could be at heightened health risk.
Strazdins
Lyndall
L
National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health.
D'Souza
Rennie M
RM
National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health.
Lim
Lynette L-Y
LL
National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health.
Broom
Dorothy H
DH
National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health.
Rodgers
Bryan
B
Centre for Mental Health Research.
D000328:Adult; D003625:Data Collection; D004651:Employment; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D007588:Job Satisfaction; D008297:Male; D016017:Odds Ratio; D013315:Stress, Psychological; D017132:Workplace