Job stressors and long-term sick leave due to depressive disorders among Japanese male employees: findings from the Japan Work Stress and Health Cohort study

Abstract

Job control and role ambiguity may be important predictors of long-term sick leave due to depressive disorders among male employees, independent of depressive symptoms and neuroticism.

Psychosocial working conditions, occupational groups, and risk of disability pension due to mental diagnoses: a cohort study of 43 000 Swedish twins

“…Our finding that a one unit increase in job control was independently associated with a decreased risk of DP due to mental diagnoses confirms earlier studies (11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19)51). However, the results that each one unit increase, rather than a decrease, in job demands or social support predict a higher risk of DP contradict those of previous findings (13,17,31,52).…”

“…One explanation for these contradictory results may be the application of a validated JEM (20)(21)(22), while the majority of other studies (11,(15)(16)(17)(18)(19) used individually reported data on experiences of such exposures. Also, previous studies have mainly studied these working conditions as categorical (median split, quartiles) rather than as continuous variables and have, therefore, only been able to capture variation within the different categories (11,(15)(16)(17)(18)(19)47). Another explanation is that since the information about psychosocial working conditions was based on sector-based occupations, adjusting for occupation to account for the influence of socioeconomic status was not possible.…”

“…According to this model, jobs with high demands, low control, and/ or low social support, and jobs with a combination of high demands and low control (high strain) and low social support (iso strain) are associated with increased risks of sickness absence/DP due to mental diagnoses (7,(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18). In most of the previous studies of psychosocial working conditions, self-report surveys have been used to assess these factors (11,(15)(16)(17)(18)(19), but fewer studies have measured these working conditions by applying a validated job exposure matrix (JEM) (20)(21)(22), based on mean scores of job demands and control and social support in different occupations. Moreover, only a few previous studies are based on population-based cohorts (23), which limits the generalizability of their findings.…”

Effects of "Shinkeishitsu" on Occupational Stress in Japanese Workers

“…Neuroticism, which is one of the Big Five personality traits Costa [39], was associated with job stress and mental diseases. In a Cox's proportional hazard model analysis of the incidence of long-term sick leave because of depressive disorders, higher-level education, higher neuroticism, and having a white-collar job were associated significantly with sick leave because of depressive disorders [40]. Tokuyama [41] reported that the first onset of depression was associated with a past history of neuroticism.…”

“…Inoue et al [40] reported that low job control might be a strong predictor of longterm sick leave because of depressive disorders. In a review of the evidence, Glass and McKnight concluded the job uncontrollability contributed to negative psychological states largely when there was a discrepancy between career aspirations and occupational achievement.…”