Capturing the Ecology of Workplace Stress With Cumulative Risk Assessment

Abstract

Most research on occupational stress and health examines singular psychosocial or physical work characteristics. Occasionally, the interactive health effects of multiple psychosocial and physical work characteristics are examined. Most approaches to occupational stress and health, however, do not fully capture the complex, dynamic ecological context of work stress. This article proposes and tests a model of cumulative risk, a concept adapted from developmental psychology, as an alternative perspective on occupational stress and health. Cumulative risk models categorize singular psychosocial or physical work characteristics dichotomously as risks or stressors that are either present or absent for each worker. Cumulative risk is then the simple additive summation of these multiple dichotomous categories. Herein, the authors show in two different work settings (clerical offices and primary care hospitals) that the accumulation of relatively modest, low levels of multiple physical and psychosocial stressors is associated with multiple indicators of well-being, including fatigue, job stress, and psychological distress. The cumulative risk index, unlike singular risk exposures, predicts well-being. Furthermore, these associations replicate in two quite different work settings and are statistically independent of a control for negative affectivity, a general indicator of neuroticism.