Job satisfaction, common cold, and sickness absence among white-collar employees: a cross-sectional survey

The purpose of this study is to examine the independent association of job satisfaction with common cold and sickness absence among Japanese workers. A total of 307 apparently healthy white-collar employees (165 men and 142 women), aged 22-69 (mean 36) yr, completed a questionnaire survey during April to June, 2002. Global job satisfaction was measured by a 4-item scale from the Japanese version of a generic job stress questionnaire with higher scores indicating greater satisfaction. Information about whether the employees had a common cold (within the past 6 months) and sickness absence (within the past 12 months) was self-reported. Hierarchical log-linear Poisson regression analysis controlling for confounders revealed that greater job satisfaction was inversely correlated with days (B = -0.116; p<0.001) and times (B = -0.058; p = 0.067) of common cold and days (B = -0.160; p<0.001) and times (B = -0.141; p<0.001) of sickness absence. Our findings suggested that poor job satisfaction is associated with both common cold and sickness absence.