The clustering of health-related occupational stressors among contemporary wage-earners

Abstract

In this study, it is investigated whether a typology can be imposed upon a sample of wage-earners, based on their exposure to a broad number of occupational stressors: quantitative, emotional, and physical demands, repetitive movements, atypical schedules, low job control, relationships with superiors, job insecurity, and bullying behaviour. Also associations between this typology and measures of emotional problems (EP) and musculoskeletal complaints (MC) are tested. Logistic regression and a latent class cluster analysis are performed on a representative sample of 10,074 Flemish (Belgian) employees. Five clusters are revealed: “low stress”, “high stress”, “manual-passive”, “human contact”, and “high demand”. These clusters are showing a clear socioeconomic distribution and distinct associations with EP and MC—with the “high stress cluster” being the most problematic. Health-damaging occupational stress clusters are prevalent at both higher and lower socioeconomic positions. This is suggesting a complex relationship between occupational stressors and socioeconomic health variations.

Keywords:

• Belgium
• Emotional problems
• Latent class cluster analysis
• Musculoskeletal complaints
• Occupational stress
• Wage-earners

Acknowledgments

This research is facilitated by the research grant OZR-1005, assigned to the first author by the Research Council of the Vrije Universiteit, Brussels. For this study the data from the “Flemish Quality of Labour Monitor, 2004”, originated and owned by the Socio-Economic Council of Flanders, are used. The content of this article is the full responsibility of the authors. The authors like to thank the owners of the database for giving permission to use their data for the purpose of scientific research.