Zigarettenrauchen und psychosoziale Arbeitsbelastungen bei Besch�ftigten des mittleren Managements

Abstract

The association between psychosocial work stress and cigarette smoking is analyzed in a socioeconomically and professionally homogeneous group of 163 middle managers (40-55 years; 48.4 +/- 4.5) in a large industrial company. Psychosocial stress is defined in terms of an imbalance between effort spent and reward obtained at work. The relative risk of regular smoking is 4.34 (odds ratio after controlling for age; 95% CI 1.50-12.54) in those middle managers who suffer from a marked imbalance between effort and reward, compared to those who are free from this type of psychosocial stress at work. This effect persists in the older age group although the proportion of smokers decreases with age. Within the group of regular smokers, every second middle manager suffering from a marked imbalance between effort and reward is a heavy smoker (greater than or equal to 20 cigarettes/day) whereas in the group experiencing less stress at work, only 28% heavy smokers are found. However, due to small numbers this difference is not statistically significant. In conclusion, the data reported in this study demonstrate an association between psychosocial stress at work in terms of high effort and low reward and the risk of regular smoking. This association is not confounded by age, socio-economic status or type of occupation.

Adverse health effects of high-effort/low-reward conditions.

“…The second study to be reported was a crosssectional analysis of associations between indicators of effort-reward imbalance at work and major coronary risk factors such as hypertension, elevated fibrinogen, elevated atherogenic lipids, and smoking in a sample of male middle managers (n = 179; ages 40-55; M = 48.5 ± 4.5). This sample was remarkably homogeneous in terms of age and occupational status, and it was representative of the total group of middle managers of this age group in the enterprise (Peter, Siegrist, Stork, et al, 1991). In both studies, epidemiological and clinical information was combined with psychophysiological information derived from a standardized psychomental stress test (Klein, 1990(Klein, ,1995.…”

The Role of Effort–Reward Imbalance for Reservists on a Military Deployment

“…Previous ERI studies have predicted other employee behaviors such as days missed due to illness (Peter & Siegrist, 1997), smoking (Peter, Siegrist, Stork, Mann, & Labrot, 1991), and alcohol consumption (Puls, Wienold, & Blank, 1998). To date, however, the ERI outcomes reported have been limited to individual health-related concerns.…”

Work stress and health risk behavior

“…The only prospective study on smoking intensity resulted in a negative finding (45). Concerning the effort-reward imbalance model, only two studies have been published, one restricted to a male sample with positive findings on smoking intensity (46) and one exploring smoking status and intensity among men and women and in which the full model was supported only among the women (23).…”