IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v15y2018i1p73-d125548.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Workaholism as a Mediator between Work-Related Stressors and Health Outcomes

Author

Listed:
  • Cecilie Schou Andreassen

    (Department of Clinical Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Bergen, 5020 Bergen, Norway)

  • Ståle Pallesen

    (Department of Psychosocial Science, Faculty of Psychology, University of Bergen, 5020 Bergen, Norway)

  • Torbjørn Torsheim

    (Department of Psychosocial Science, Faculty of Psychology, University of Bergen, 5020 Bergen, Norway)

Abstract

It is currently unknown if unfavorable working conditions, reflected by the demand–control–support model and the effort–reward imbalance model, directly influence health or if the effects may be mediated by work-related attitudes and behaviors such as workaholism. In the present study, 988 employees (55.6% males, mean age 36.09, SD = 9.23) from a large consultant firm participated in a cross-sectional survey assessing work variables such as job demands, job control, social support, effort, reward, and overcommitment. Workaholism was also assessed together with eight different health-related outcomes. Although direct effects of the work stressors on health were found on most health outcomes, the work-related stressors were overall strongly related to workaholism (R 2 = 0.522), which, in turn, was positively related to four (anxiety/insomnia, somatic symptoms, emotional exhaustion, and social dysfunction) of the eight outcome variables. Of a total of 40 relationships between work-related stressors and health outcomes, workaholism fully mediated three of these, and partly mediated 12. Overall, the study suggests that the effects of work-related stressors on health in many cases may be mediated by workaholism.

Suggested Citation

  • Cecilie Schou Andreassen & Ståle Pallesen & Torbjørn Torsheim, 2018. "Workaholism as a Mediator between Work-Related Stressors and Health Outcomes," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(1), pages 1-12, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:15:y:2018:i:1:p:73-:d:125548
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/15/1/73/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/15/1/73/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Johnson, J.V. & Hall, E.M., 1988. "Job strain, work place social support, and cardiovascular disease: A cross-sectional study of random sample of the Swedish Working Population," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 78(10), pages 1336-1342.
    2. 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.
    3. Ko Matsudaira & Akihito Shimazu & Tomoko Fujii & Kazumi Kubota & Takayuki Sawada & Norimasa Kikuchi & Masaya Takahashi, 2013. "Workaholism as a Risk Factor for Depressive Mood, Disabling Back Pain, and Sickness Absence," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(9), pages 1-8, September.
    4. Siegrist, Johannes, 2000. "Place, social exchange and health: proposed sociological framework," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 51(9), pages 1283-1293, November.
    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. Paweł A. Atroszko & Zsolt Demetrovics & Mark D. Griffiths, 2020. "Work Addiction, Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder, Burn-Out, and Global Burden of Disease: Implications from the ICD-11," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(2), pages 1-13, January.
    2. Lorenzo Avanzi & Enrico Perinelli & Michela Vignoli & Nina M. Junker & Cristian Balducci, 2020. "Unravelling Work Drive: A Comparison between Workaholism and Overcommitment," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(16), pages 1-14, August.
    3. Liliya Scafuri Kovalchuk & Carmela Buono & Emanuela Ingusci & Francesco Maiorano & Elisa De Carlo & Andreina Madaro & Paola Spagnoli, 2019. "Can Work Engagement Be a Resource for Reducing Workaholism’s Undesirable Outcomes? A Multiple Mediating Model Including Moderated Mediation Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(8), pages 1-20, April.
    4. Monica Martoni & Marco Fabbri & Annalisa Grandi & Luisa Sist & Lara Colombo, 2023. "Self-Care Practices as a Mediator between Workaholism and Sleep–Wake Problems during COVID-19," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(16), pages 1-14, August.
    5. Paola Spagnoli & Cristian Balducci & Marco Fabbri & Danila Molinaro & Giuseppe Barbato, 2019. "Workaholism, Intensive Smartphone Use, and the Sleep-Wake Cycle: A Multiple Mediation Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(19), pages 1-13, September.
    6. Thomas Cossin & Isabelle Thaon & Laurence Lalanne, 2021. "Workaholism Prevention in Occupational Medicine: A Systematic Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(13), pages 1-20, July.
    7. Monica Molino & Claudio G. Cortese & Chiara Ghislieri, 2018. "Daily Effect of Recovery on Exhaustion: A Cross-Level Interaction Effect of Workaholism," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-12, September.
    8. Nicola Magnavita & Giovanni Tripepi & Carlo Chiorri, 2021. "Telecommuting, Off-Time Work, and Intrusive Leadership in Workers’ Well-Being," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(7), pages 1-10, March.
    9. Paola Spagnoli & Cristian Balducci & Liliya Scafuri Kovalchuk & Francesco Maiorano & Carmela Buono, 2018. "Are Engaged Workaholics Protected against Job-Related Negative Affect and Anxiety before Sleep? A Study of the Moderating Role of Gender," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-18, September.

    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. Weziak-Bialowolska, Dorota & Lee, Matthew T. & Cowden, Richard G. & Bialowolski, Piotr & Chen, Ying & VanderWeele, Tyler J. & McNeely, Eileen, 2023. "Psychological caring climate at work, mental health, well-being, and work-related outcomes: Evidence from a longitudinal study and health insurance data," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 323(C).
    2. Xavier Bartoll & Joan Gil & Raul Ramos, 2018. "“Has the economic crisis worsened the work-related stress and mental health of temporary workers in Spain?”," AQR Working Papers 201808, University of Barcelona, Regional Quantitative Analysis Group, revised Oct 2018.
    3. Lorenzo Avanzi & Enrico Perinelli & Michela Vignoli & Nina M. Junker & Cristian Balducci, 2020. "Unravelling Work Drive: A Comparison between Workaholism and Overcommitment," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(16), pages 1-14, August.
    4. 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.
    5. Vicente Prado-Gascó & María del Carmen Giménez-Espert & Hans De Witte, 2021. "Job Insecurity in Nursing: A Bibliometric Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(2), pages 1-13, January.
    6. Nicola Magnavita & Carlo Chiorri, 2022. "Development and Validation of a New Measure of Work Annoyance Using a Psychometric Network Approach," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(15), pages 1-25, July.
    7. 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).
    8. Hannah Carver & Tracey Price & Danilo Falzon & Peter McCulloch & Tessa Parkes, 2022. "Stress and Wellbeing during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Mixed-Methods Exploration of Frontline Homelessness Services Staff Experiences in Scotland," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(6), pages 1-20, March.
    9. Mario Schnalzenberger & Nicole Schneeweis & Rudolf Winter-Ebmer & Martina Zweimüller, 2014. "Job Quality and Employment of Older People in Europe," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 28(2), pages 141-162, June.
    10. Rémi Colin-Chevalier & Bruno Pereira & Amanda Clare Benson & Samuel Dewavrin & Thomas Cornet & Frédéric Dutheil, 2022. "The Protective Role of Job Control/Autonomy on Mental Strain of Managers: A Cross-Sectional Study among Wittyfit’s Users," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(4), pages 1-10, February.
    11. Sebastiano, Antonio & Belvedere, Valeria & Grando, Alberto & Giangreco, Antonio, 2017. "The effect of capacity management strategies on employees' well-being: A quantitative investigation into the long-term healthcare industry," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 35(4), pages 563-573.
    12. Nektaria Nicolakakis & Maude Lafantaisie & Marie-Claude Letellier & Caroline Biron & Michel Vézina & Nathalie Jauvin & Maryline Vivion & Mariève Pelletier, 2022. "Are Organizational Interventions Effective in Protecting Healthcare Worker Mental Health during Epidemics/Pandemics? A Systematic Literature Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(15), pages 1-18, August.
    13. Modesta Morkevičiūtė & Auksė Endriulaitienė, 2022. "Understanding Work Addiction in Adult Children: The Effect of Addicted Parents and Work Motivation," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(18), pages 1-15, September.
    14. Suzuki, Etsuji & Takao, Soshi & Subramanian, S.V. & Komatsu, Hirokazu & Doi, Hiroyuki & Kawachi, Ichiro, 2010. "Does low workplace social capital have detrimental effect on workers' health?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 70(9), pages 1367-1372, May.
    15. repec:iab:iabfda:201601(de is not listed on IDEAS
    16. Akiomi Inoue & Hisashi Eguchi & Yuko Kachi & Sarven S. McLinton & Maureen F. Dollard & Akizumi Tsutsumi, 2021. "Reliability and Validity of the Japanese Version of the 12-Item Psychosocial Safety Climate Scale (PSC-12J)," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(24), pages 1-14, December.
    17. Liebig, Stefan & Schupp, Jürgen, 2008. "Leistungs- oder Bedarfsgerechtigkeit? Über einen normativen Zielkonflikt des Wohlfahrtsstaats und seiner Bedeutung für die Bewertung des eigenen Erwerbseinkommens," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 59(1), pages 7-30.
    18. Georges Steffgen & Philipp E. Sischka & Martha Fernandez de Henestrosa, 2020. "The Quality of Work Index and the Quality of Employment Index: A Multidimensional Approach of Job Quality and Its Links to Well-Being at Work," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(21), pages 1-31, October.
    19. Huizing, Anna R. & Hamers, Jan P.H. & de Jonge, Jan & Candel, Math & Berger, Martijn P.F., 2007. "Organisational determinants of the use of physical restraints: A multilevel approach," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 65(5), pages 924-933, September.
    20. Rosie Mulholland & Andy McKinlay & John Sproule, 2013. "Teacher Interrupted," SAGE Open, , vol. 3(3), pages 21582440135, September.
    21. Cäker, Mikael & Siverbo, Sven, 2018. "Effects of performance measurement system inconsistency on managers’ role clarity and well-being," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 34(3), pages 256-266.

    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:gam:jijerp:v:15:y:2018:i:1:p:73-:d:125548. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.