title: Psychosocial work environment and its association with socioeconomic status. A comparison of Spain and Denmark.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this study was to describe psychosocial work environment inequalities among wage earners in Spain and Denmark.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data came from the Spanish COPSOQ (ISTAS 21) and the Danish COPSOQ II surveys both performed in 2004-05 and based on national representative samples of employees with a 60% response rate. Study population was 3,359 Danish and 6,685 Spanish women and men. Only identical items from both surveys were included to construct 18 psychosocial scales. Socioeconomic status was categorized according to the European Socioeconomic Classification System. Analysis included ordinal logistic regression and multiple correspondence analysis after categorizing all scales.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A relationship between socioeconomic status and psychosocial work environment in both Denmark and Spain was observed, with wider social inequalities in Spain for many scales, describing a strong interaction effect between socioeconomic status and country.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Socioeconomic status is related to psychosocial work environment and some adverse psychosocial conditions tend to cluster in lower socioeconomic status groups in both Spain and Denmark. This effect could be modified by a country's characteristics, such as economic and labour market structures, normative regulations and industrial relations including work organization. Hence, preventive strategies to reduce social inequalities in working conditions should consider the combination of actions at the macro and micro levels.
authors.affiliation: Union Institute of Work Environment and Health (ISTAS), Barcelona, Spain. smoncada@ccoo.cat
authors.forename: Salvador
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Moncada
authors.forename: Jan Hyld
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Pejtersen
authors.forename: Albert
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Navarro
authors.forename: Clara
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Llorens
authors.forename: Hermann
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Burr
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Hasle
authors.forename: Jakob Bue
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Bjorner
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003718:Denmark; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007588:Job Satisfaction; D007857:Leadership; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016273:Occupational Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects; D016272:Occupational Health; D009790:Occupations / Q000145:classification; D012307:Risk Factors; D012456:Salaries and Fringe Benefits; D012923:Social Class; D012944:Social Support; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013030:Spain; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016526:Workload / Q000523:psychology; D017132:Workplace / Q000523:psychology*