Job stress and mental well-being: similarities and differences among American, Japanese, and Indian managers

The Role of Facets of Job Satisfaction in the National and Socioeconomic Differences in Overall Job Satisfaction: A Comparison Between Studies of Civil Servants in Great Britain and Japan

OBJECTIVE

To explore national and socioeconomic differences in overall job satisfaction, we examined whether those differences can be explained by what job-related factors.

METHODS

Our datasets for this study are from the Whitehall II study and the Japan Civil Servant Study. Of the participants who were 5540 cases, with 3250 people from Great Britain and 2290 from Japan.

RESULTS

The odds ratio for job dissatisfaction was more than double in Japan compared with Britain. However, after adjusting the related factors-especially the facets of job satisfaction variables-the difference was reversed. Also, regarding the occupational differences, lower occupational grades had lower risks of overall job dissatisfaction, after adjusting for related factors.

CONCLUSIONS

The national and socioeconomic differences in overall job satisfaction were strongly related to facets of job satisfaction rather than job stress factors.

Psychosocial stress factors and intention to leave job: differences between foreign-born and Finnish-born general practitioners

AIMS

Physicians' high dropout rate is a significant problem in primary care in many countries. One solution to this issue is to recruit internationally mobile physicians. This study explores the role of psychosocial factors in explaining intention to leave among GPs including potential differences between foreign-born and Finnish GPs.

METHODS

A cross-sectional questionnaire was sent to randomly-selected Finnish physicians (n = 7000) and all foreign-born physicians (n = 1297) living in Finland in the year 2010. The questionnaire was returned by 4333 physicians, of whom 832 were GPs. Of those 176 were foreign-born GPs.

RESULTS

Intention to leave was more common among foreign-born GPs (59%) than among Finnish GPs (52%). High job demands were associated with higher intention to leave from primary care both in foreign-born (OR 1.90) and Finnish GPs (OR 2.20). This association remained among foreign-born GPs after adjusted the model for the country of origin or the reason for migration (OR 1.80, 1.82). Lack of job control, patient-related stress, and stresses related to teamwork were associated with higher intention to leave only among Finnish GPs (ORs 0.45, 1.75 and 1.99).

CONCLUSIONS

There may be cultural differences in the psychosocial factors that enhance or prevent job involvement among physicians. Thus, novel thinking is needed in organizational development of GP work in order to better understand foreign-born physicians' specific needs in a target country. This study also suggests that lightening workload could help to attract more GPs, both foreign-born and Finnish, to primary care.

Reliability and validity of the 4-item perceived stress scale among pregnant women: results from the OTIS antidepressants study

We aimed to estimate the reliability of the 4-item Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) and its validity in predicting maternal depression and quality of life (QoL). Data regarding stress, depression and QoL were collected during pregnancy among a sub-sample from the Organization of Teratology Information Specialists Antidepressants in Pregnancy Cohort. The 4-item PSS demonstrated acceptable internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha coefficient = .79), alternate forms stability reliability with the 10-item PSS (Pearson correlation coefficient r = .63; p < .001), convergent validity with the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (r = .67; p < .001), and concurrent validity with the mental health component of the Short-Form-12 (r = -.62; p < .001) as a measure of QoL. The 4-item PSS is a valid and useful tool for assessing maternal stress during pregnancy.

Are intrinsic motivational factors of work associated with functional incapacity similarly regardless of the country?

BACKGROUND

Many psychosocial models of wellbeing at work emphasise the role of intrinsic motivational factors such as job autonomy, job complexity, and innovativeness. However, little is known about whether the employees of multinational enterprises differ from country to country with regard to intrinsic motivational factors, and whether these factors are associated with wellbeing similarly in the different countries. The purpose of this study was to examine the level of intrinsic motivational factors and their impact on functional incapacity in different countries in a multinational corporation.

METHODS

In 2000, data were collected from a globally operating corporation with a questionnaire survey. The participants were 13 795 employees (response rate 59%; 56% under age 45; 80% men; 61% blue collar employees), who worked in similar industrial occupations in five countries (Canada, China, Finland, France, and Sweden).

RESULTS

The Chinese employees reported higher autonomy and lower complexity at work than the employees from the other countries. After adjustment for age, sex, socioeconomic status, and physical work environment, job autonomy, and job complexity at work were associated with functional incapacity in most countries, whereas in China the impact was significantly stronger. In Finland and in China employees with low innovativeness at work were more prone to functional incapacity than corresponding employees in other countries.

CONCLUSIONS

The level of intrinsic motivational factors varied between the Chinese employees and those in other countries. In line with theoretical notions, the relation between intrinsic motivational factors of work and functional incapacity followed a similar pattern in the different countries. However, these country specific results show that a culture specific approach to employee wellbeing should also be applied.

The Japanese version of the Multiple Affect Adjective Checklist-Revised: development and validation

In order to develop a Japanese version of the Multiple Affect Adjective Checklist-Revised (MAACL-R), the 66 scored adjectives were translated into Japanese and translated back into English as recommended by Werner and Campbell (1971). Confirmatory factor analyses evidenced the existence of five first-order factors (i.e., the anxiety, depression, hostility, positive affect, and sensation-seeking factors) and the two second-order factors (i.e., the dysphoric and pleasant affect factors) underlying the response to the Japanese MAACL-R. Internal consistency ranged from .73 to .91, and four-week retest reliability ranged from .67 to .74 on the seven scales (Anxiety, Depression, Hostility, Positive Affect, Sensation Seeking, Dysphoria, and PASS). Although correlations with the scales of the State-Trait Personality Inventory, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression scale, a sensation-seeking scale, and a subjective well-being scale indicated only acceptable discriminant validity, adequate convergent validity was evidenced by the examination of these correlations. The Japanese version of the MAACL-R seems to be ready for use in research.

Job satisfaction of Asian Americans

Since Asian Americans have demographic and labor force characteristics more similar to Euro-Americans than African Americans, one might predict that their job satisfaction would be more like the former than the latter. And, because Asian Americans originating from different countries are heterogeneous in language, culture, and recency of immigration, one might predict that they may report obtaining different amounts of satisfaction from their jobs. However, data from 21 nationally representative opinion surveys from 1972 through 1996 suggest the opposite. Asian Americans (n = 199) reported job satisfaction more like African Americans (n = 1,231) than Euro-Americans (n = 10,709), and Asian Americans from China (n = 53), Japan (n = 44), India (n = 55), and the Philippines (n = 47) reported similar job satisfaction. These differences persisted when age, education, occupation, and personal income were held constant.

Health care utilization as a function of subjective health status, job satisfaction and gender among health care workers in Guangzhou, southern China

Job satisfaction, subjective health and health care utilization was studied on 72 doctors and 127 nurses working at two hospitals in Guangzhou in the People's Republic of China (P.R.C.), along with medication use and consultations with physicians over the 14 days preceding data collection. Female doctors were, on average, ten years older than male doctors. Nurses (all female) were comparable to male doctors in terms of age. Current and general subjective health, and job satisfaction differed between doctors and nurses. Nurses were less satisfied than doctors and reported poorer perceived health, until gender and age were controlled. Female doctors had poorer ratings of general and current subjective health and lower job satisfaction than their male colleagues. Path analysis tested whether lower job satisfaction leads to decrements in perceived current health which in turn increased consultation with a physician and medication use. When male and female subjects were examined separately, job satisfaction was inversely related to consultation behaviour among males and positively related to perceived current health in both genders. Among females job satisfaction and consultation behaviour related to current perceived health but were not related to each other. The hypothesized path was upheld for nurses. Lack of power prevented the same path being significant for male or female doctors. In combination, doctors showed significant relationships between the four main variables studied.

Prevalence and demographic correlates of alcohol-related problems in Japanese employees

To examine the relationship of basic sociodemographic characteristics to alcohol-related problem in Japanese employees, a questionnaire survey was conducted of a total of 2,581 employees of a computer factory in a suburb of Tokyo. The questionnaires included items on gender, age, marital status, social class (i.e., education, family income and occupation), alcohol consumption, and the Kurihama Alcoholism Screening Test (KAST). Data from 1098 male and 265 female current drinkers aged 20 years or older were analyzed; 15% and 6% of the male and female subjects, respectively, were classified as having alcohol-related problems on the basis of the KAST score (13% and 4% of the entire study population, respectively). Multiple logistic regression analysis indicated that alcohol-related problems were more prevalent in the less educated, managers and those who had a high alcohol consumption. The results suggested that education and occupation are important factors related to alcohol-related problems in Japanese employees.