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Job strain and psychiatric morbidity
M Cropley1, A Steptoe, K Joekes
1Department of Psychology, St George's Hospital Medical School, University of London.
Psychological Medicine
|January 5, 2000
Summary
Job strain significantly increases psychiatric morbidity, particularly neurotic disorders, in teachers. High job strain is linked to greater anxiety, worry, and fatigue compared to low job strain.
Area of Science:
- Occupational Health
- Psychiatry
- Epidemiology
Background:
- Investigates the link between job strain and mental health outcomes.
- Assesses neurotic disorder prevalence in teachers with varying job strain levels.
- Compares teacher data to national survey data for similar educational backgrounds.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine the association between job strain and psychiatric morbidity in school teachers.
- To compare the prevalence of neurotic disorders in high and low job strain teachers with the general population.
Main Methods:
- Interview-based assessments using the Revised Clinical Interview Schedule (CIS-R).
- Selection of 160 primary and secondary school teachers based on high or low job strain.
- Calculation of neurotic symptom prevalence and total psychiatric morbidity scores.
Main Results:
- Higher psychiatric morbidity observed in high job strain teachers after adjusting for covariates.
- Significantly greater prevalence of severe anxiety, worry, and fatigue in high job strain teachers.
- Elevated neurotic disorder rates in high job strain teachers compared to national data; low job strain teachers reported more anxiety and fatigue than national comparators.
Conclusions:
- Job strain is demonstrably associated with increased psychiatric morbidity.
- High levels of neurotic psychopathology in teachers align with previous findings of teaching as a high-stress occupation.