Type A and Type B behaviors, work stressors, and social support at work

Effects of personality on overtime work: a cross-sectional pilot study among Japanese white-collar workers

Background

As detailed associations between personality and long work hours are unclear, we assessed associations between personality dimensions and overtime work among Japanese white-collar workers.

Methods

From records of hours worked over 12 months by 267 office workers in an organization within the service industry, average overtime work hours per month and occurrence of excessive overtime was determined for each worker. Excessive overtime was defined as >  45 overtime work hours per month for at least one month. Responses to a questionnaire assessing socio-demographic and workplace-related factors and the Big Five personality test were analyzed. Associations between personality factors and overtime work were assessed by multivariate logistic regression analysis.

Results

Low Extraversion was associated with excessive overtime work (OR 2.02, 95%CI 1.02 – 4.02, P =  0.04).

Conclusions

It is suggested that workers with low Extraversion can’t share work when busy to avoid excessive overtime. Personality factors should be considered in studies evaluating work time. Moreover, strengthening communication among workers with low Extraversion may reduce excessive overtime work and associated health problems.

Prevalence and associated factors of stress in the Malaysian Police Force

OBJECTIVE

This study aims to determine the prevalence of stress and the associated socio-demographic and work factors among police personnel in Metropolitan Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

METHOD

A cross-sectional study was conducted in two randomly selected police districts in Kuala Lumpur from 2009 to 2011. A total of 579 police officers from 11 police stations and two headquarters participated in this study. The 21-item Depression, Anxiety and Stress questionnaire was used. Multinomial logistic regression analyses were carried out to examine the effect of socio-demographic and work factors on stress.

RESULTS

The overall prevalence of stress was 38.8% (95% CI 34.2, 43.6) with 5.9% (3.9, 8.8), 14.9% (11.6, 18.8) and 18.0% (14.5, 22.2) for severe, moderate and mild stress, respectively. Inspectors were more likely to suffer from severe stress (aOR 10.68, 95% CI 3.51, 32.53) compared to junior officers. Those who complained that their salaries were not commensurate with their jobs were more likely to suffer from moderate levels of stress (aOR 2.73, 95% CI 1.43, 5.22) compared to those who were happy with their salaries.

CONCLUSIONS

This study strengthens findings that police job is stressful. Special attention needs to be paid to Inspector-level ranks and the remuneration structure of police officers to address this issue.

The relationship of work stress and family stress to the self-rated health of women employed in the industrial sector in Korea

OBJECTIVE

To identify the relationship of work stress and family stress to the health of women in Korea.

DESIGN

Cross-sectional study.

SAMPLE

Three hundred and thirty-one married women working in 14 manufacturing companies in Korea.

METHODS

Subjects responded to a questionnaire that included items on work stress, family stress, social support, and general characteristics. Perceived health status (PHS) was assessed with the Short Form-36.

RESULTS

There was a significant positive relationship between social support and PHS, but significant negative relationships were found between PHS and work stress as well as family stress. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis explained the health status of married working women by four categories: personal, work related, family related, and social support, and accounted for 45.4% of the variance. When family-related factors were added to the model, the power of explanation was increased by 17.9% compared with the explained variance. Family stress was a major variable not only for explaining the variance but also for correlating with health status.

CONCLUSIONS

Both work stress and family stress should be considered together when addressing the health of working women in the industrial sector in Korea.

The short-term effects of a body awareness program: better self-management of health problems for individuals with chronic a-specific psychosomatic symptoms

A three-day residential Body Awareness Program (BAP) was developed to teach people with Chronic A-specific Psychosomatic Symptoms (CAPS) to react adequately to disturbances of the balance between a daily workload and the capacity to deal with it. The short-term effects of the program for people with CAPS are presented in this study. The design is a non-control group design with pre- and post-measures (2 months after the program). The sample for this paper was formed by 187 participants. The mean age is 42.3 (S.D. = 8.9), and 57% is female. The results showed decreased stress-related symptoms, increased quality of life, increased self-efficacy, less depressive attribution style, more expression of emotions, and a positive change of lifestyle. Most of these measured changes can be interpreted as clinically relevant outcomes with medium-to-large effect sizes. Personal pre-training goals were attained by 85% of the participants. Spouses also confirmed the found effects. Evaluation of the BAP gives enough evidence to conclude that this program leads to positive effects in CAPS. Participants react more adequately to disturbances between daily workload and the capacity to deal with this load. They are more capable of self-management in coping with stress and psychosomatic symptoms. Conclusions are drawn about the prevention by early interventions for patients with a-specific physical symptoms.

Managing the Stress of Bringing the Economy in the Eastern German States to the Level of the Western German States

A select group of managers in the private and public sector working in the new and old German federal states were administered the German version of the Pressure Management Indicator (PMI; Williams, Kirkcaldy, & Cooper, 1999 ). Twenty-four scale scores were assessed encompassing diverse aspects of occupational stress, individual differences (type A, locus of control, and coping), and outcome variables (work satisfaction, physical and psychological health). Several differences were observed between those managers reared and educated in the former East Germany and those from the former West Germany. East-German managers, for example, were characterized by an external locus of control with regard to their jobs and revealed higher type A scores compared to their West-German counterparts. Furthermore, although there were no differences in the evaluation of working climate nor in subjectively perceived occupational stress, specific outcome variables such as self-reported physical and psychological health did differ between West- and East-German managers. The implications of these findings are discussed.

Type A behavior, social support, and sex in Japanese college students

The relations among self-report scores for Type A behavior with social support and sex were examined in 239 female and 213 male Japanese college students. Scores on Type A behavior were inversely correlated with those for social support for both women and men separately. There were no significant differences in the magnitudes of these coefficients for women and men.