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

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.

Prolonging working life among blue-collar workers: The buffering effect of psychosocial job resources on the association between physically demanding and hazardous work and retirement timing

“…For example, it can be possible to perform physically demanding tasks in a more comfortable and more adapted way to one's physical conditions. In a similar vein, one recent cross-sectional study including mostly blue-collar workers above 50 years of age, who all had heavy physical demands, found that low job resources were associated with higher perceived stress ( Vinstrup et al, 2021 ). However, stratifying by gender, we found that the buffering effect of decision authority only remained significant for men.…”

Perceived stress by mototaxi drivers and its relationship with sociodemographic and occupational characteristics

“…A study that investigated associations between occupational stressors and perceived stress in elderly people in Denmark, with physically demanding jobs, showed that the lower the level of control over work and social support from co-workers, the greater the level of stress ( 41 ) . Research with motorcyclists in Indonesia identified that social support from family, friends or other sources reduced the stress of riding the motorcycle and the worker’s concerns, as well as favoring harmonious relationships ( 42 ) .…”

Estresse percebido por mototaxistas e sua relação com características sociodemográficas e ocupacionais

“…Estudo que investigou associações entre estressores ocupacionais e estresse percebido em idosos da Dinamarca, com empregos fisicamente exigentes, mostrou que, quanto menor o nível de controle sobre o trabalho e de suporte social dos colegas de trabalho, maior foi o nível de estresse (41) . Investigação com motociclistas da Indonésia identificou que o suporte social da família, amigos ou outras fontes reduziu o estresse na condução da motocicleta e as preocupações do trabalhador bem como favoreceu relacionamentos harmoniosos (42) .…”