Work stress on rise? Comparative analysis of trends in work stressors using the European working conditions survey
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ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Work stress on rise? Comparative analysis of trends in work stressors using the European working conditions survey M. Rigó1 · N. Dragano1 · M. Wahrendorf1 · J. Siegrist2 · T. Lunau1 Received: 25 May 2020 / Accepted: 12 October 2020 © The Author(s) 2020
Abstract Objective The rapid transformation of labor markets has been accompanied by the belief of rising stress at work. However, empirical evidence on such trends based on reliable survey data is scarce. This study analyzes long-term trends in wellestablished measures of work stressors across Europe, as well as potential occupational differences. Methods We use repeated cross-sectional data of 15 European countries from waves 1995, 2000, 2005, 2010, and 2015 of the European Working Conditions Surveys. We apply three-way multilevel regressions (with employees nested in countryyears, which are in turn nested in countries) to analyze trends in work stressors measured according to the demand-control and effort-reward imbalance models. Trends by occupational groups are also assessed. Results Our findings suggest that work stress generally increased from 1995 to 2015, and that the increase was mostly driven by psychological demands. People working in lower-skilled occupations had generally higher levels of job strain and effort-reward imbalance, as well as they tend to have a steeper increase in job strain than people working in higher-skilled occupations. Most of the change occurred from 1995 to 2005. Conclusion Our results indicate that work stress has been on rise since 1995, specifically for people working in disadvantageous occupations. This directs the attention to the vulnerable position of the least skilled and also to the use of preventive measures to counteract some of the disadvantages experienced by this occupational group. Keywords Work stressors · Effort-reward imbalance · Job strain · Trends · Cross-national study · Occupational disparities Abbreviations ERI Effort-reward imbalance EWCS European Working Conditions Survey ISCO International Standard Classification of Occupations NACE Nomenclature statistique des activités économiques dans la Communauté européenne HC High-skilled clerical LC Low-skilled clerical HM High-skilled manual LM Low-skilled manual
* M. Rigó [email protected] 1
Institute of Medical Sociology, Centre for Health and Society, Medical Faculty, University of Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany
Senior Professorship on Work Stress Research, Medical Faculty, University of Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany
2
Introduction The detrimental health consequences of work stress have been widely documented in the occupational health research. Long-term exposure to adverse psychosocial working conditions have been found to increase the chance of developing depressive disorders (Rugulies et al. 2017; Madsen et al. 2017; Theorell et al. 2015), cardiovascular diseases (Kivimäki et al. 2012; Dragano et al. 2017) or musculoskeletal diseases (Lang et al. 2012). Additionally, work stress was found to be associated wit
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