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The Psychosocial Work Environment and Perceived Stress among Seniors with Physically Demanding Jobs: The SeniorWorkingLife Study

Author

Listed:
  • Jonas Vinstrup

    (National Research Centre for the Working Environment, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark)

  • Annette Meng

    (National Research Centre for the Working Environment, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark)

  • Emil Sundstrup

    (National Research Centre for the Working Environment, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark)

  • Lars L. Andersen

    (National Research Centre for the Working Environment, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark
    Sport Sciences, Department of Health Science and Technology, Aalborg University, 9220 Aalborg, Denmark)

Abstract

Background: Poor psychosocial work conditions are known to foster negative health consequences. While the existing literature on this topic focus mainly on white-collar workers, the influence of different aspects of the psychosocial work environment in physically demanding jobs remain understudied. Likewise, senior workers represent a population of the workforce at increased risk of adverse health outcomes and premature exit from the labour market. This study investigates the association between psychosocial work factors and perceived stress among the senior work force. Methods: Utilizing cross-sectional findings, this study reports associations between psychosocial factors (organizational justice, cooperation and collegial support, decision latitude, clarity of tasks, and quality of leadership) and the outcome of perceived stress quantified by Cohen’s Perceived Stress Scale (CPSS). Currently employed senior workers with physically demanding jobs were included in the analyses (n = 3386). Associations were modeled using general linear models with weights to make the estimates representative. Results: For all individually adjusted psychosocial variables, the category of “good” was consistently associated with lower stress scores compared to the categories of both “moderate” and “poor” (all p < 0.0001). Likewise, in the mutually adjusted analysis, the category of “good” was statistically different from “poor” for all included variables, while the category of “moderate” remained different from “poor” for “clarity of tasks”, “cooperation and collegial support”, and “decision latitude”. Conclusions: Among senior workers with physically demanding jobs, poor ratings of organizational factors related to the psychosocial work environment are consistently associated with high stress scores. Blue-collar occupations focusing primarily on physical risk factors are recommended to increase awareness on psychosocial aspects that may be relevant to the local work environment.

Suggested Citation

  • Jonas Vinstrup & Annette Meng & Emil Sundstrup & Lars L. Andersen, 2021. "The Psychosocial Work Environment and Perceived Stress among Seniors with Physically Demanding Jobs: The SeniorWorkingLife Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(14), pages 1-10, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:14:p:7437-:d:592786
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Bjørn Lau & Olga Shiryaeva & Torleif Ruud & Mattias Victor, 2019. "What are they returning to? Psychosocial work environment as a predictor of returning to work among employees in treatment for common mental disorders: A prospective observational pre–post study," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(4), pages 1-15, April.
    2. Stephen A Stansfeld & Ewan Carr & Melanie Smuk & Charlotte Clark & Emily Murray & Nicola Shelton & Jenny Head, 2018. "Mid-life psychosocial work environment as a predictor of work exit by age 50," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(4), pages 1-11, April.
    3. Alfredsson, L. & Karasek, R. & Theorell, T., 1982. "Myocardial infarction risk and psychosocial work environment: An analysis of the male Swedish working force," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 16(4), pages 463-467, January.
    4. Lars L. Andersen & Per H. Jensen & Annette Meng & Emil Sundstrup, 2019. "Strong Labour Market Inequality of Opportunities at the Workplace for Supporting a Long and Healthy Work-Life: The SeniorWorkingLife Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(18), pages 1-9, September.
    5. Audrius Dėdelė & Auksė Miškinytė & Sandra Andrušaitytė & Žydrūnė Bartkutė, 2019. "Perceived Stress Among Different Occupational Groups and the Interaction with Sedentary Behaviour," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(23), pages 1-15, November.
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    Cited by:

    1. Bach Q. Ho & Kunio Shirahada, 2022. "Older People’s Knowledge Creation Motivations for Sustainable Communities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(1), pages 1-11, December.

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