Mental health of scientific researchers I. Characteristics of job stress among scientific researchers working at a research park in Japan

Abstract

In order to clarify the characteristics of job stress in scientific researchers, a self-administered questionnaire survey for 16,330 workers was carried out at Tsukuba Research Park City, Japan. The data of 7,063 (43%) workers aged 20-59 years old were analyzed, and the characteristics of job stress in 3,290 scientific researchers were compared with those of 1,799 technicians and 1,849 clerks. The researchers perceived higher quantitative and qualitative workload, greater job control (job decision latitude), and greater reward from work, than did the other two job groups. In addition, young male researchers received a large amount of support from their coworkers, while middle-aged male researchers perceived difficulty in personal relationships with their coworkers. From the viewpoints of the demand-control-support model and the effort-reward imbalance model, the researchers, particularly men, were typically occupied in active jobs, and the large amount of effort required for their work seemed to be balanced by greater reward from work. Compared with male researchers, however, female researchers perceived lesser job demand, lesser job control, and lesser reward from work. The working environment of female researchers may be related to the so-called career stress of working women. The mental health status of these scientific researchers should be examined directly in a future study.

Work stress and reduced health in young physicians: prospective evidence from Swiss residents

“…According to other studies from different cultural backgrounds and professions (Godin and Kittel 2004;Godin et al 2005;Kageyama et al 2001;Larisch et al 2003;Li et al 2006;Niedhammer et al 2004;Pikhart et al 2004;Preckel et al 2005;Rockenbauch et al 2006), we also found a strong relationship between stress at work measured by the ERI model and self-reported health. It is a matter of concern that ongoing stress at work leads to serious physical and mental problems, especially symptoms of anxiety disorder and depression and low satisfaction with life in young physicians.…”

Associations of Sleep Problems and Recent Life Events with Smoking Behaviors among Female Staff Nurses in Japanese Hospitals

“…As expected from the above job environment, the GHQ scores and the CES-D scores in our subjects were high, showing that they are at poor mental health status compared with the general workers 22,23,28,30) . This agrees with many previous studies on Japanese hospital nurses [33][34][35] .…”

“…The latter includes the scales for severity of patients' illness and difficulty in patient-nurse relationships, which are proper stressors to hospital nurses. The reliability and validity of these scales are previously reported 16,[22][23][24] . The number of recent major life events was counted using a previously reported method 18) .…”

Factors associated with occupational stress among Chinese doctors: a cross-sectional survey

“…A study in radiographers (Rutter and Lovegrove 2008) reported superintendents had significantly greater stress than junior staff and social support could reduce the effect of role conflict on perceived stress. According to other studies (Kageyama et al 2001;Preckel et al 2005), we found a strong relationship between occupational stress and health function. Some studies also evaluated the coping strategies of occupational stress on doctors (Kinzl et al 2007;Wallace and Lemaire 2007).…”