Associations of alternative operationalizations of job strain with health and well‐being outcomes in the same multioccupational worker sample

Abstract

ObjectivesThe main goal of this study was to evaluate, in a large, occupationally diverse sample of Colombian workers, the association between alternative methods of operationalizing job strain and various health and well‐being measures using the original Job Content Instrument (Job Content Questionnaire). We examine whether the specific way job strain is operationalized can explains differing variance in the outcomes.MethodsA cross‐sectional survey was conducted using self‐report instruments. A total of 168 496 workers affiliated with the Colombian General System of Occupational Hazards answered a questionnaire that evaluated demographics, job demands and control, stress symptoms, general and mental health, vitality, job satisfaction, and diagnosis of hypertension. Hierarchical linear and logistic regression analyses were conducted. Seven different formulations of job strain were used as predictors.ResultsResults Differences in operationalization of job strain explained similar and significant percentages of variance in outcomes used in this study. Definition of job strain as cases found within the most extreme quartiles of high demands and low control explained more variance than alternative characterizations of job strain. Job strain definitions were predictive of hypertension, although did not explain additional variance in the model.ConclusionsThe effect of psychological demands and control on health and well‐being appears to be additive and not multiplicative. A definition of job strain that takes into account those most at risk in the sample appears have a better predictive value than alternative formulations.

Job Demand-Control and Hypertension in African Americans and Non–African Americans

“…The theoretically broader range of employment options by African Americans in the MIDUS Refresher may have generated the power needed to detect differences. It is also possible that our decision to operationalize job strain in the multiplicative form as opposed to other commonly used strategies 29 may have resulted in the novel association. Pragmatically, the multiplicative form of job strain was selected because we expected and found that elements of the JDC differed by race.…”

“…Next, the MIDUS did not use the full battery of items from the Job Content Questionnaire, 29 which can produce meaningful variation in estimates of JDC concepts. 29 Our study focuses on the JDC model; however, we did not include the social support aspect of the model. Therefore, future research may want to include it to further test this model.…”

“…Gómez Ortiz and colleagues 29 compared seven distinct operational forms of job strain and found that two forms consistently contributed the most explained variance to health outcomes. The first form, characterized as a “quadrant approach” because it classifies job strain discretely in terms of having scores in the highest quartile of psychological demand and the lowest quartile of job control, consistently explained the most variance across all health outcomes.…”

Ten Years of Research on Psychosocial Risks, Health, and Performance in Latin America: A comprehensive Systematic Review and Research Agenda

“…Moreover, the majority of studies have been done in the healthcare contexts, educational institutions, and manufacturing industries. Only very few of them have examined the constructs of interest and their relationships in more novel occupational contexts, such as the managerial profession (e.g., Pujol-Cols & Lazzaro-Salazar, 2020), or have collected their data in diverse samples of workers with different backgrounds and occupations (e.g., Gómez-Ortiz et al, 2020). We believe that future research should not only involve other regions of Latin America but also include individuals who are expected to be exposed to the highest levels of work-related psychosocial risks, such as police officers, firefighters, social workers, surgeons in ER or trauma units, crisis counselors, hospice caregivers, and emergency dispatchers, among many others.…”

“…Psychosocial risks and health. Overall, research has shown that an increasing exposure to psychosocial risks is associated with a poorer health status (e.g., Gómez-García et al, 2020;Gómez Ortiz et al, 2020). In this regard, previous studies have reported significant correlations between, for instance, high strain (a situation in which the individual faces high job demands and is provided with insufficient job control) or effort-reward imbalance, and common mental disorders (e.g., Araújo et al, 2016;Mattos et al, 2017).…”