This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Brown, D. E. Articles by Mills, P. S. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Brown, D. E. Articles by Mills, P. S. Related Collections Blood Pressure Culture Social Class Stress and Coping

Occupational Differences in Job Strain and Physiological Stress: Female Nurses and School Teachers in Hawaii

From the Department of Anthropology, University of Hawaii at Hilo, Hilo, Hawaii (D.E.B., P.S.M.); and the Institute for Primary and Preventative Health Care and Decker School of Nursing, Binghamton University, Binghamton, New York (G.D.J.).

Address correspondence reprint requests to Daniel E. Brown, PhD, Department of Anthropology, University of Hawaii at Hilo, 200 W. Kawili Street, Hilo, HI 96720-4091. E-mail: dbrown{at}hawaii.edu

Objectives: The two objectives are to test the hypothesis that women in a profession with low decision latitude will have greater catecholamine excretion and higher blood pressure than women in a profession with greater decision latitude, and to assess the influence of ethnicity on the occupational comparison.

Methods: Premenopausal women who were either full-time teachers in public schools (teachers; N = 92) or nurses or nurse’s aides (nurses; N = 55) in East Hawaii who were not currently taking antihypertensive medication had ambulatory blood pressure (BP) and urinary catecholamine excretion measured over an approximate 4-hour period at work and home and over an approximate 8-hour period overnight. The women also filled out the Job Content Questionnaire (JCQ).

Results: The nurses had significantly lower scores on the "decision latitude" subscale of the JCQ. After controlling for the effects of ethnicity, age, body mass index, JCQ subscale scores, smoking habits, and menopausal status in regression analyses, the nurses also had significantly higher mean systolic and diastolic BP both in work and home settings and higher mean rates of both norepinephrine and epinephrine excretion in all daily settings (p < .05). There were no significant ethnic differences in scores on the JCQ subscales, but Asian-Americans had significantly higher systolic BP in all daily settings and higher diastolic BP overnight (p < .05) than Euro-Americans.

Conclusions: These results suggest that among professional women, physiological stress responses are significantly greater when occupation-related decision latitude is low (nurses) than when it is high (teachers). The physiological response to stress is carried over into the home and overnight settings when occupation-related decision latitude is low (nurses). Individual scores on the JCQ were not significantly related to physiological measures in this study, however. Inclusion of contrasting occupations may be necessary to properly evaluate the relationships between individually reported job strain and heightened physiological stress responses in studies of working women.

Key Words: job strain • ambulatory blood pressure • epinephrine • norepinephrine • stress • women

Abbreviations: JCQ = Job Content Questionnaire; BMI = body mass index; BP = blood pressure.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				D. R. Smith and P. A. Leggat An international review of tobacco smoking research in the nursing profession, 1976-2006 Journal of Research in Nursing, March 1, 2007; 12(2): 165 - 181. [Abstract] [PDF]