Lunau Thorsten, Siegrist Johannes, Dragano Nico, Wahrendorf Morten
Centre for Health and Society, Institute for Medical Sociology, Medical Faculty, University of Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany.
Senior Professorship on Work Stress Research, Medical Faculty, University of Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany.
PLoS One. 2015 Mar 26;10(3):e0121573. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0121573. eCollection 2015.
Several studies report socioeconomic differences in work stress, where people in lower socioeconomic positions (SEP) are more likely to experience this burden. In the current study, we analyse associations between education and work stress in a large sample of workers from 16 European countries. In addition we explore whether distinct national labour market policies are related to smaller inequalities in work stress according to educational attainment.
We use data collected in 2010/11 in two comparative studies ('Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe' and the 'English Longitudinal Study of Ageing'; N = 13695), with samples of men and women aged 50 to 64 from 16 European countries. We measure highest educational degree according to the international standard classification of education (ISCED) and assess work stress in terms of the demand-control and the effort-reward imbalance model. National labour market policies are measured on the basis of policy indicators which are divided into (1) 'protective' policies offering financial compensation to those excluded from the labour market (e.g. replacement rate), and (2) 'integrative' policies supporting disadvantaged individuals on the labour market (e.g. investments into active labour market policies or possibilities for further qualification in later life). In addition to country-specific analyses, we estimate multilevel models and test for interactions between the indicators of national policies and individual education.
Main findings demonstrate consistent associations between lower education and higher levels of work stress in all countries. The strength of this association, however, varies across countries and is comparatively small in countries offering pronounced 'integrative' policies, in terms of high investments into measures of an active labor market policy and high participation rates in lifelong learning activities.
Our results point to different types of policies that may help to reduce educational differences in work stress, in particular policies supporting those who are disadvantaged on the labour market.
多项研究报告了工作压力方面的社会经济差异，社会经济地位较低的人群更有可能承受这种负担。在本研究中，我们分析了来自16个欧洲国家的大量工人样本中教育与工作压力之间的关联。此外，我们还探讨了不同的国家劳动力市场政策是否与根据教育程度划分的工作压力方面较小的不平等现象相关。
我们使用了在2010/11年两项比较研究（“欧洲健康、老龄化和退休调查”以及“英国老龄化纵向研究”；N = 13695）中收集的数据，样本来自16个欧洲国家的50至64岁男性和女性。我们根据国际教育标准分类（ISCED）来衡量最高教育程度，并根据需求 -控制模型和努力 -回报失衡模型来评估工作压力。国家劳动力市场政策是根据政策指标来衡量的，这些指标分为两类：（1）“保护性”政策，为那些被排除在劳动力市场之外的人提供经济补偿（例如替代率）；（2）“整合性”政策，支持劳动力市场上的弱势群体（例如对积极劳动力市场政策的投资或晚年进一步深造的可能性）。除了针对特定国家的分析之外，我们还估计了多层次模型，并检验国家政策指标与个人教育之间的相互作用。
主要研究结果表明，在所有国家中，较低的教育程度与较高的工作压力水平之间存在一致的关联。然而，这种关联的强度在不同国家有所不同，在那些对积极劳动力市场政策措施进行大量投资且终身学习活动参与率较高的、提供明显“整合性”政策的国家中，这种关联相对较小。
我们的研究结果指出了不同类型的政策，这些政策可能有助于减少工作压力方面的教育差异，特别是那些支持劳动力市场上弱势群体的政策。
