Sustained involvement in youth sports activities predicts reduced chronic job strain in early midlife

Socialisation scenes in the health behaviour of teacher students at different levels of teacher training

The issue surrounding sport and health as valuable categories spans across generations. It is now widely recognised that inherited, lifestyle, and environmental factors influence an individual's health. Our study investigated the impact of family as the primary area of socialisation and school as the secondary area. Data collection commenced online in the spring of 2020, focusing on pedagogical students from the University of Nyíregyháza (N = 194). Among our research sample, kindergarten teachers exhibited the lowest indicators regarding risk behaviour. Conversely, students specialising in teaching demonstrated the most favourable outcomes regarding physical activity, with a rate of 20.6%. The family's influence presents a significant effect in both positive and negative aspects. When families prioritise instilling a love for sports, students tend to have a more favourable view of their health and aspire to embody exemplary values in the future; however, the family also presents a less encouraging image. Analysing the impact of residence reveals that a greater percentage of individuals from immigrant backgrounds identified the family as their role model (27.2%) compared to their counterparts residing in the county seat, while the influence of the teacher's personality was minimal. These findings align with earlier research. The students participating in our study hailed from the underprivileged Northern Great Plain region, which contributes to an increased search for security. The research indicates that family emerged as a significant example of values, and the objective is to foster positive health behaviours in both areas equally.

Relationship between physical activity and job stress among public office workers

[Purpose] This study investigated the relationship between physical activity and job stress among public office workers. [Participants and Methods] We examined the levels of physical activity and job stress of 488 male public officers in Seoul-city, Republic of Korea through self-reported questionnaires. The International Physical Activity Questionnaires and the Korean Occupational Stress Scale were used to evaluate physical activity and job stress, respectively. The level of physical activity was divided into three quantiles (low, moderate, high). [Results] We found no significant difference in job stress by physical activity level. Although a positive correlation between physical activity and job stress was found in the organizational system category, no significant difference was found in the categories of the physical environment, job demand, insufficient job control, interpersonal conflict, job insecurity, lack of reward, and occupational climate. [Conclusion] There was no apparent correlation between physical activity and job stress among public office workers.

Accumulated unhealthy behaviors and psychosocial problems in adolescence are associated with labor market exclusion in early adulthood - a northern Finland birth cohort 1986 study

Background

The relevance of health-related behaviors to exclusion from the labor market in early adulthood remains poorly studied in relation to the magnitude of the problem. We explored whether adolescents’ accumulated unhealthy behaviors and psychosocial problems are associated with later labor market exclusion, and whether multisite musculoskeletal pain (MMSP) impacts these relations.

Methods

We gathered questionnaire data on unhealthy behaviors and psychosocial problems and MMSP among adolescents aged 15 to 16 belonging to the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1986. The findings were combined with registry data on unemployment, employment and permanent work disability during a five-year follow-up between the ages of 25 and 29 (n = 6692). In the statistical modeling we used education, family leave and socioeconomic status of childhood family as potential confounders, as well as latent class and logistic regression analyses.

Results

The Externalizing behavior cluster associated with over one year of unemployment (RR 1.64, CI 1.25–2.14) and permanent work disability (OR 2.49, CI 1.07–5.78) in the follow-up among the men. The Sedentary cluster also associated with over one year (RR 1.41, CI 1.13–1.75) and under one year of unemployment (RR 1.25, CI 1.02–1.52) and no employment days (RR 1.93, CI 1.26–2.95) among the men. Obese male participants were at risk of over one year of unemployment (RR 1.50, CI 1.08–2.09) and no employment days (RR 1.93, CI 1.07–3.50). Among the women, the Multiple risk behavior cluster related significantly to over one year of unemployment (RR 1.77, CI 1.37–2.28). MMSP had no influence on the associations.

Conclusions

Unhealthy behavior patterns and psychosocial problems in adolescence have long-term consequences for exclusion from the labor market in early adulthood, especially among men. Simultaneously supporting psychological well-being and healthy behaviors in adolescence may reduce labor market inclusion difficulties in the early phase of working life.

The Role of Leisure-Time Physical Activity in the Change of Work-Related Stress (ERI) over Time

Background: Every second employee in Europe complains about work-related stress. Occupational stress due to an imbalance between efforts spent and rewards gained (effort-reward imbalance = ERI) is well investigated and it is associated with mental and physical health. A common guess is that leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) has beneficial effects on work-related stress. Yet, evidence in support of this assumption is weak, especially regarding ERI-stress. Longitudinal studies investigating the role of LTPA on ERI are missing. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the effect of LTPA on work-related stress by ERI over time. Methods: 3961 socially insured employees that were born in 1959 or 1965 and working in the first (t₁: 2011) and second wave (t₂: 2014) of the lidA-study were included. Work-related stress was measured by ERI, LTPA by the self-rated weekly frequency of physical activities. Besides the direct effect, a moderating effect of LTPA on ERI over time was tested in the multiple linear regression analysis. Results: The ERI at t₁ was strongly associated with ERI at t₂. While LTPA had no direct effect on ERI(t₂), it was a significant moderator of ERI from t₁ to t₂: The higher the frequency of LTPA, the lower ERI was over time. This interaction of LTPA with ERI remained after adjustment for socio-demographic factors. Conclusions: The long-term moderating effect of LTPA on ERI is in agreement with former investigations on the role of LTPA on work-related stress, generally, and on its cross-sectional effect on ERI-stress, specifically. Some of Hill’s criteria of a causal association in epidemiology (biological gradient, temporality, consistency) support our findings. As LTPA has also been shown to exert a protective effect on health outcomes that are associated with ERI, the moderation of ERI by LTPA could partly explain this protective effect. Future observational and interventional studies are required to support our results over more than two age groups and study times.

Exploring the interplay between job strain and different domains of physical activity on the incidence of coronary heart disease in adult men

AIMS

The aim of this study was to investigate the independent associations of occupational (OPA) and sport physical activity (SpPA) and job strain on the incidence of coronary heart disease (CHD) events, and to explore their interplay.

METHODS

The study sample included 3310 25-64-year-old employed men, free of CHD at baseline, recruited in three population-based and one factory-based cohorts. OPA and SpPA, and job strain were assessed by the Baecke and the Job Content Questionnaires, respectively. We estimated the associations between different domains of physical activity and job strain with CHD, adjusting for major risk factors using Cox models.

RESULTS

During follow-up (median=14 years), 120 CHD events, fatal and non-fatal, occurred. In the entire sample, a higher CHD risk was found for high job strain (hazard ratio=1.55, 95% confidence interval: 1.05-2.31). The joint effect of low OPA and high job strain was estimated as a hazard ratio of 2.53 (1.29-4.97; reference intermediate OPA with non-high strain). With respect to intermediate OPA workers, in stratified analysis when SpPA is none, low OPA workers had a hazard ratio of 2.13 (95% confidence interval: 1.19-3.81), increased to 3.95 (1.79-8.78) by the presence of high job strain. Low OPA-high job strain workers take great advantage from SpPA, reducing their risk up to 90%. In contrast, the protective effect of SpPA on CHD in other OPA-job strain categories was modest or even absent, in particular when OPA is high.

CONCLUSIONS

Our study shows a protective effect of recommended and intermediate SpPA levels on CHD risk among sedentary male workers. When workers are jointly exposed to high job strain and sedentary work their risk further increases, but this group benefits most from regular sport physical activity.

Relationships Between Youth Sports Participation and Mental Health in Young Adulthood Among Finnish Males

Purpose:

To examine whether retrospectively assessed sports participation (SP) and competitive sports (CS) at the age of 12 years is associated with mental health and health behavior in young adulthood among males.

Design:

A cross-sectional study using self-administered questionnaires.

Setting:

Conducted prior to compulsory military refresher training course in Finland allowing geographically representative sample of Finnish young men.

Participants:

Six hundred eighty males aged between 20 and 35 years.

Measures:

Mental well-being was measured with the short version of Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale and mental distress with 5 items of The Short Form Helalth Survey (SF-36) scale.

Analysis:

Binary logistic regression models.

Results:

Sports participation at the age of 12 was associated with better mental health in young adulthood, with both mental well-being (odds ratio [OR] = 1.86, 95% confidence interval 1.11-3.11) and mental distress (OR = 0.61, 0.41-0.90). Age, years of education, and current physical activity were controlled. Higher level of intensity of SP and the level of CS in childhood were associated with lower level of mental distress in adulthood. No association was found between the level of CS in childhood and mental well-being in adulthood. Further, youth SP seemed to be a risk factor for increased alcohol consumption and use of snuff in adulthood.

Conclusions:

Despite negative outcomes related to health behavior, the findings provide support for the association between youth SP and positive mental health outcomes in adulthood among males.

Association between childhood health, socioeconomic and school-related factors and effort-reward imbalance at work: a 25-year follow-up study

OBJECTIVES

Stress pathways can have origins in childhood, but few early predictors have been explored in relation to adult job stress. This study examined whether childhood school, health or socioeconomic factors were associated with adult job stress.

METHODS

Data came from the Childhood Determinants of Adult Health study that began in 1985 with children aged 7-15 years who reported effortreward imbalance (ERI) scales at ages 31-41 years. Linear regression assessed the association between childhood factors and adult ERI adjusted for age and socioeconomic position (SEP) in childhood and adulthood.

RESULTS

There were between 999 and 1390 participants in each analysis. Lower adulthood ERI, indicating less job stress, was predicted by several school-related factors in men. For example, each higher category of learner self-concept was associated with a 19% (95% CI - 32% to 6%) reduction in adult ERI, and each unit increase in academic attainment was associated with a 15% (95% CI -28% to 3%) reduction in adult ERI. Childhood health was associated with adult ERI. For example, in women, overweight children had 14% (95% CI 5% to 22%) higher adult ERI scores compared with healthy weight children, and each unit of negative affect was associated with 2% (95% CI 1% to 4%) increase in adult ERI. Adult SEP had no effect on these associations for men but explained some of the effect in women. Childhood SEP had inconsistent associations with adult ERI.

CONCLUSION

Our findings suggest that a range of childhood socioeconomic, school- and health-related factors might contribute to the development of job stress in adulthood.

Sport participation and its association with social and psychological factors known to predict substance use and abuse among youth: A scoping review of the literature

This article presents the results of a scoping review of the sport literature (2000-2014) on psychological and social outcomes relevant to youth alcohol and illicit drug use. Prior reviews report that sport is related to increased alcohol use and reduced illicit drug use among youth, yet provide little guidance regarding the mechanisms that can explain this relationship. We reviewed the literature on sport participation and psychological and social outcomes to identify factors that could help explain this link. Psychological and social factors were selected as they play a paramount role in understanding youth alcohol and drug use. Fifty-nine articles were identified and included in the review. The literature generally supported connections between sport and positive psychological and social outcomes, including self-esteem, self-regulation, general life skills, and pro-social behaviour. Yet limitations in the methods and measures limit the ability to draw conclusions from the literature. In addition, the diversity of youth and sport was generally ignored in the literature. This article suggests a number of directions for future research that might improve our understanding of how sport impacts psychological and social outcomes along with alcohol and illicit drug use.

Job strain as a risk factor for leisure-time physical inactivity: an individual-participant meta-analysis of up to 170,000 men and women: the IPD-Work Consortium

Unfavorable work characteristics, such as low job control and too high or too low job demands, have been suggested to increase the likelihood of physical inactivity during leisure time, but this has not been verified in large-scale studies. The authors combined individual-level data from 14 European cohort studies (baseline years from 1985–1988 to 2006–2008) to examine the association between unfavorable work characteristics and leisure-time physical inactivity in a total of 170,162 employees (50% women; mean age, 43.5 years). Of these employees, 56,735 were reexamined after 2–9 years. In cross-sectional analyses, the odds for physical inactivity were 26% higher (odds ratio = 1.26, 95% confidence interval: 1.15, 1.38) for employees with high-strain jobs (low control/high demands) and 21% higher (odds ratio = 1.21, 95% confidence interval: 1.11, 1.31) for those with passive jobs (low control/low demands) compared with employees in low-strain jobs (high control/low demands). In prospective analyses restricted to physically active participants, the odds of becoming physically inactive during follow-up were 21% and 20% higher for those with high-strain (odds ratio = 1.21, 95% confidence interval: 1.11, 1.32) and passive (odds ratio = 1.20, 95% confidence interval: 1.11, 1.30) jobs at baseline. These data suggest that unfavorable work characteristics may have a spillover effect on leisure-time physical activity.

Moderating effects of leisure-time physical activity on the association between job strain and depressive symptoms: the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study

OBJECTIVE

We examined whether long-term leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) has a moderating effect on the association between job strain and depressive symptoms using prospective data.

METHODS

Full-time employees (455 men and 480 women) aged 30 to 45 years were followed from 2001 to 2007. Data were collected using questionnaires.

RESULTS

Sustained participation in LTPA was inversely associated with depressive symptoms in employed men and women. The direct relationship of job strain to depressive symptoms was significantly moderated by LTPA only in women when the potential confounders were controlled for.

CONCLUSIONS

Depressive symptoms are inversely associated with regular LTPA and directly associated with chronic job strain in both sexes. In women, persistent participation in LTPA may modify the relation between chronic job stress and subthreshold depressive symptoms by reducing depressive symptoms associated with job strain.