Can Work Make You Sick? A Meta-Analysis of the Relationships Between Job Stressors and Physical Symptoms

Details

• Personal Author:
  Bauer J ; Krueger JR ; Mazzola JJ ; Nixon AE ; Spector PE ; Bauer J ; Krueger JR ; Mazzola JJ ; Nixon AE ; Spector PE
• Description:
  A meta-analysis of 79 studies reporting cross-sectional and longitudinal relationships between physical symptoms and various occupational stressors was conducted. Stressors were organizational constraints, interpersonal conflict, role conflict, role ambiguity, workload, work hours, and lack of control. The relationships between stressors and eight physical symptoms were quantitatively summarized and contrasted, for both individual symptoms and composite symptom scales. All of the occupational stressors were significantly related to physical symptoms in cross-sectional analyses, and the effect sizes of these relationships varied both by the stressor and the individual symptom examined. The longitudinal relationships were similar to the cross-sectional results, and provided some evidence of temporal consistency of the occupational stress or physical symptom relationship. Organizational constraints and interpersonal conflict had the strongest relationships with symptoms in both the crosssectional and longitudinal analyses. Gastrointestinal problems and sleep disturbances were significantly related to more stressors than other symptoms examined. These findings show that it is important to examine physical symptoms, as they are related to a wide range of job stressors and these relationships prevail over time. Potential underlying mechanisms, including the immediacy of physiological reactions to stressors, participants' attributions concerning stress or physical symptom relationships, and the possible multidimensional nature of symptoms, are proposed and discussed. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Environmental Exposure Occupational Health Safety Workload Workplace
• Keywords:
  Author Keywords: Stress Employee Health Employees Exposure Levels Health Effects Interpersonal Conflict Meta-analysis Organizational Constraints Physical Symptoms Physiological Effects Physiological Stress Role Stressors Stress Work-related Stress Work Capability Work Capacity Work Environment Worker Health Workers Work Hours Workload

  More +
• ISSN:
  0267-8373
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article ; Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Florida ; Oklahoma ; OSHA Region 4 ; OSHA Region 6
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) ; National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health ; Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America ; North America
• Pages in Document:
  1-22
• Volume:
  25
• Issue:
  1
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20062385
• Citation:
  Work Stress 2011 Jan-Mar; 25:(1):1-22
• Email:
  aenixon@mail.usf.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2011
• Performing Organization:
  Sunshine Education and Research Center, University of South Florida
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20050701
• Source Full Name:
  Work and Stress
• End Date:
  20290630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:b31016514964e67400de95a4330f718baae8776922492ff17d63c2c302e873191aae6448b9b9c3946976ede0c80fc9e5413185bce77062f556c26cc5f761265a
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/225645/cdc_225645_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 371.48 KB ]