IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v62y2006i5p1066-1077.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Gender differences in job strain, effort-reward imbalance, and health functioning among Chinese physicians

Author

Listed:
  • Li, Jian
  • Yang, Wenjie
  • Cho, Sung-il

Abstract

To examine the association between work stress measured by job strain and effort-reward imbalance (ERI) and health functioning in a sample of hospital-based Chinese physicians, a self-reported survey with a standardized questionnaire was conducted in three hospitals in China, among 256 men and 266 women. It was found that both job strain and ERI were associated with impaired health functioning in men and women, but that ERI indicated a stronger association. Men's job control was significantly higher, and was related to men's physical health; whereas women perceived relatively higher job reward which predicted women's mental health. The findings provide evidence of the adverse effects on health functioning of both job strain and ERI, but ERI appears to have more explanatory power as a model of work stress in this sample of Chinese physicians. In addition, gender differences of work stress with respect to health are present.

Suggested Citation

  • Li, Jian & Yang, Wenjie & Cho, Sung-il, 2006. "Gender differences in job strain, effort-reward imbalance, and health functioning among Chinese physicians," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 62(5), pages 1066-1077, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:62:y:2006:i:5:p:1066-1077
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277-9536(05)00382-5
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Niedhammer, Isabelle & Tek, Marie-Ly & Starke, Dagmar & Siegrist, Johannes, 2004. "Effort-reward imbalance model and self-reported health: cross-sectional and prospective findings from the GAZEL cohort," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 58(8), pages 1531-1541, April.
    2. Pikhart, Hynek & Bobak, Martin & Pajak, Andrzej & Malyutina, Sofia & Kubinova, Ruzena & Topor, Roman & Sebakova, Helena & Nikitin, Yuri & Marmot, Michael, 2004. "Psychosocial factors at work and depression in three countries of Central and Eastern Europe," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 58(8), pages 1475-1482, April.
    3. Chandola, Tarani & Kuper, Hannah & Singh-Manoux, Archana & Bartley, Mel & Marmot, Michael, 2004. "The effect of control at home on CHD events in the Whitehall II study: Gender differences in psychosocial domestic pathways to social inequalities in CHD," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 58(8), pages 1501-1509, April.
    4. Bosma, H. & Peter, R. & Siegrist, J. & Marmot, M., 1998. "Two alternative job stress models and the risk of coronary heart disease," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 88(1), pages 68-74.
    5. Richardsen, Astrid M. & Burke, Ronald J., 1991. "Occupational stress and job satisfaction among physicians: Sex differences," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 33(10), pages 1179-1187, January.
    6. Siegrist, Johannes & Starke, Dagmar & Chandola, Tarani & Godin, Isabelle & Marmot, Michael & Niedhammer, Isabelle & Peter, Richard, 2004. "The measurement of effort-reward imbalance at work: European comparisons," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 58(8), pages 1483-1499, April.
    7. Tsutsumi, Akizumi & Kawakami, Norito, 2004. "A review of empirical studies on the model of effort-reward imbalance at work: reducing occupational stress by implementing a new theory," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 59(11), pages 2335-2359, December.
    8. de Jonge, Jan & Bosma, Hans & Peter, Richard & Siegrist, Johannes, 2000. "Job strain, effort-reward imbalance and employee well-being: a large-scale cross-sectional study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 50(9), pages 1317-1327, May.
    9. Calnan, Michael & Wainwright, David & Forsythe, Malcolm & Wall, Barbara & Almond, Stephen, 2001. "Mental health and stress in the workplace: the case of general practice in the UK," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 52(4), pages 499-507, February.
    10. Lee, S. & Colditz, G. & Berkman, L. & Kawachi, I., 2003. "Caregiving to Children and Grandchildren and Risk of Coronary Heart Disease in Women," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 93(11), pages 1939-1944.
    11. Lerner, D.J. & Levine, S. & Malspeis, S. & D'Agostino, R.B., 1994. "Job strain and health-related quality of life in a national sample," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 84(10), pages 1580-1585.
    12. de Jonge, Jan & Mulder, Marike J. G. P. & Nijhuis, Frans J. N., 1999. "The incorporation of different demand concepts in the job demand-control model: effects on health care professionals," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 48(9), pages 1149-1160, May.
    13. Arnetz, Bengt B., 2001. "Psychosocial challenges facing physicians of today," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 52(2), pages 203-213, January.
    14. Yu, Mei-Yu & Sarri, Rosemary, 1997. "Women's health status and gender inequality in China," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 45(12), pages 1885-1898, December.
    15. Matthews, Sharon & Hertzman, Clyde & Ostry, Aleck & Power, Chris, 1998. "Gender, work roles and psychosocial work characteristics as determinants of health," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 46(11), pages 1417-1424, January.
    16. Theorell, T. & Tsutsumi, A. & Hallquist, J. & Reuterwall, C. & Hogstedt, C. & Fredlund, P. & Emlund, N. & Johnson, J.V., 1998. "Decision latitude, job strain, and myocardial infarction: A study of working men in Stockholm," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 88(3), pages 382-388.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Migheli, Matteo, 2010. "Gender at Work: Productivity and Incentives," AICCON Working Papers 74-2010, Associazione Italiana per la Cultura della Cooperazione e del Non Profit.
    2. Dan Kan & Xiaosong Yu, 2016. "Occupational Stress, Work-Family Conflict and Depressive Symptoms among Chinese Bank Employees: The Role of Psychological Capital," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-11, January.
    3. Tinna Laufey Ásgeirsdóttir & Arnar Buason & Ásthildur Margrét Jóhannsdóttir, 2023. "Valuing the Wellbeing Associated with Psychosocial Factors at Work," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 18(4), pages 1737-1759, August.
    4. Zongyu Liu & Liangyu Zhao & Shuzhen Wang & Yubo Gao & Liguo Zhang, 2022. "The Association between Occupational Stress and Mental Health among Chinese Soccer Referees in the Early Stage of Reopening Soccer Matches during the COVID-19 Pandemic Outbreak: A Moderated Mediation ," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(24), pages 1-16, December.
    5. Nomura, Kyoko & Gohchi, Kengo, 2012. "Impact of gender-based career obstacles on the working status of women physicians in Japan," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 75(9), pages 1612-1616.
    6. Siegrist, Johannes & Shackelton, Rebecca & Link, Carol & Marceau, Lisa & von dem Knesebeck, Olaf & McKinlay, John, 2010. "Work stress of primary care physicians in the US, UK and German health care systems," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 71(2), pages 298-304, July.
    7. Silke Tophoven & Jean-Baptist du Prel & Richard Peter & Veronika Kretschmer, 2015. "Working in gender-dominated occupations and depressive symptoms: findings from the two age cohorts of the lidA study [Geschlechterdominierte Berufe und Depressivität: Ergebnisse zu den zwei Altersk," Journal for Labour Market Research, Springer;Institute for Employment Research/ Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), vol. 48(3), pages 247-262, October.
    8. Wallace, Jean Elizabeth & Lemaire, Jane, 2007. "On physician well being--You'll get by with a little help from your friends," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 64(12), pages 2565-2577, June.
    9. Jiawei Zhou & Yanjie Yang & Xiaohui Qiu & Xiuxian Yang & Hui Pan & Bo Ban & Zhengxue Qiao & Lin Wang & Wenbo Wang, 2016. "Relationship between Anxiety and Burnout among Chinese Physicians: A Moderated Mediation Model," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(8), pages 1-15, August.
    10. Coda Moscarola, Flavia & Migheli, Matteo, 2015. "Educating Children to Save: an Experimental Approach to Financial Education of Pupils in Primary Schools," Department of Economics and Statistics Cognetti de Martiis. Working Papers 201502, University of Turin.
    11. Liza Jachens & Jonathan Houdmont, 2019. "Effort-Reward Imbalance and Job Strain: A Composite Indicator Approach," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(21), pages 1-9, October.
    12. Xinrui Wu & Qian Liu & Qi Li & Zhengwen Tian & Hongzhuan Tan, 2019. "Health-Related Quality of Life and Its Determinants among Criminal Police Officers," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(8), pages 1-12, April.
    13. Shimazu, Akihito & de Jonge, Jan, 2009. "Reciprocal relations between effort-reward imbalance at work and adverse health: A three-wave panel survey," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 68(1), pages 60-68, January.
    14. Lu Lu & Li Liu & Guoyuan Sui & Lie Wang, 2015. "The Associations of Job Stress and Organizational Identification with Job Satisfaction among Chinese Police Officers: The Mediating Role of Psychological Capital," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 12(12), pages 1-12, November.
    15. Orawan Kaewboonchoo & Grace Sembajwe & Jian Li, 2018. "Associations between Job Strain and Arterial Stiffness: A Large Survey among Enterprise Employees from Thailand," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-13, April.
    16. Luqiao Wang & Yunke Shi & Zhao Hu & Yanyan Li & Yan Ang & Pan Jing & Bangying Zhang & Xingyu Cao & Adrian Loerbroks & Jian Li & Min Zhang, 2022. "Longitudinal Associations of Work Stress with Changes in Quality of Life among Patients after Acute Coronary Syndrome: A Hospital-Based Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(24), pages 1-12, December.
    17. Zuberi, Daniyal M. & Ptashnick, Melita B., 2011. "The deleterious consequences of privatization and outsourcing for hospital support work: The experiences of contracted-out hospital cleaners and dietary aids in Vancouver, Canada," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 72(6), pages 907-911, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Thierry Debrand & Pascale Lengagne, 2007. "Organisation du travail et sante des seniors en Europe," Working Papers DT3, IRDES institut for research and information in health economics, revised Feb 2007.
    2. Sperlich, Stefanie & Geyer, Siegfried, 2015. "The mediating effect of effort-reward imbalance in household and family work on the relationship between education and women's health," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 58-65.
    3. Oshio, Takashi & Inoue, Akiomi & Tsutsumi, Akizumi, 2012. "Does workplace social capital moderate the associations between job stressors and psychological distress? A cross-sectional analysis among Japanese workers," CIS Discussion paper series 575, Center for Intergenerational Studies, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University.
    4. Jing Liao & Eric J Brunner & Meena Kumari, 2013. "Is There an Association between Work Stress and Diurnal Cortisol Patterns? Findings from the Whitehall II Study," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(12), pages 1-8, December.
    5. Thierry Debrand & Pascale Lengagne, 2007. "Pénibilité au travail et santé des seniors en Europe," Économie et Statistique, Programme National Persée, vol. 403(1), pages 19-38.
    6. Siegrist, Johannes & Dragano, Nico & Nyberg, Solja T. & Lunau, Thorsten & Alfredsson, Lars & Erbel, Raimund & Fahlén, Göran & Goldberg, Marcel & Jöckel, Karl-Heinz & Knutsson, Anders & Leineweber, Con, 2014. "Validating Abbreviated Measures of Effort-Reward Imbalance at Work in European Cohort Studies: The IPD-Work Consortium," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 87, pages 249-256.
    7. Jolivet, Anne & Caroly, Sandrine & Ehlinger, Virgine & Kelly-Irving, Michelle & Delpierre, Cyrille & Balducci, Franck & Sobaszek, Annie & De Gaudemaris, Régis & Lang, Thierry, 2010. "Linking hospital workers' organisational work environment to depressive symptoms: A mediating effect of effort-reward imbalance? The ORSOSA study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 71(3), pages 534-540, August.
    8. Siegrist, Johannes & Shackelton, Rebecca & Link, Carol & Marceau, Lisa & von dem Knesebeck, Olaf & McKinlay, John, 2010. "Work stress of primary care physicians in the US, UK and German health care systems," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 71(2), pages 298-304, July.
    9. Peter Koch & Johanna Stranzinger & Albert Nienhaus & Agnessa Kozak, 2015. "Musculoskeletal Symptoms and Risk of Burnout in Child Care Workers — A Cross-Sectional Study," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(10), pages 1-14, October.
    10. van Vegchel, Natasja & de Jonge, Jan & Bosma, Hans & Schaufeli, Wilmar, 2005. "Reviewing the effort-reward imbalance model: drawing up the balance of 45 empirical studies," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 60(5), pages 1117-1131, March.
    11. Silke Tophoven & Jean-Baptist du Prel & Richard Peter & Veronika Kretschmer, 2015. "Working in gender-dominated occupations and depressive symptoms: findings from the two age cohorts of the lidA study [Geschlechterdominierte Berufe und Depressivität: Ergebnisse zu den zwei Altersk," Journal for Labour Market Research, Springer;Institute for Employment Research/ Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), vol. 48(3), pages 247-262, October.
    12. Elena Cottini & Claudio Lucifora, 2013. "Mental Health and Working Conditions in Europe," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 66(4), pages 958-988, July.
    13. Rugulies, Reiner & Krause, Niklas, 2005. "Job strain, iso-strain, and the incidence of low back and neck injuries. A 7.5-year prospective study of San Francisco transit operators," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 61(1), pages 27-39, July.
    14. Dobson, Roy Thomas & Lepnurm, Rein & Struening, Elmer, 2005. "Developing a scale for measuring professional equity among Canadian physicians," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 61(2), pages 263-266, July.
    15. Marchand, Alain & Demers, Andrée & Durand, Pierre, 2005. "Does work really cause distress? The contribution of occupational structure and work organization to the experience of psychological distress," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 61(1), pages 1-14, July.
    16. Barron, David Nicholas & West, Elizabeth, 2007. "The emotional costs of caring incurred by men and women in the British labour market," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 65(10), pages 2160-2171, November.
    17. Debora Jeske & Carolyn M. Axtell, 2017. "Effort and Reward Effects: Appreciation and Self-Rated Performance in e-Internships," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 6(4), pages 1-14, December.
    18. Samuel E.D. Shortt & Michael E. Green & C. Keresztes, 2005. "Family Physicians for Ontario: An Approach to Production and Retention Policy," Canadian Public Policy, University of Toronto Press, vol. 31(2), pages 207-222, June.
    19. Oshio, Takashi & Tsutsumi, Akizumi & Inoue, Akiomi, 2015. "Do time-invariant confounders explain away the association between job stress and workers' mental health?: Evidence from Japanese occupational panel data," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 138-144.
    20. Aboagye, Michael Osei & Boateng, Phillip & Asare, Kotor & Sekyere, Frank Owusu & Antwi, Collins Opoku & Qin, Jinliang, 2020. "Managing conflictual teacher-child relationship in pre-schools: A preliminary test of the job resources buffering-effect hypothesis in an emerging economy," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 118(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:62:y:2006:i:5:p:1066-1077. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.