Effects of Social Support on the Stress-Health Relationship: Gender Comparison among Military Personnel.

Chi-Ming Hsieh,Bi-Kun Tsai

doi:10.3390/ijerph16081317

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate how the role of workplace social support and gender affect the relationship between work stress and the physical and mental health of military personnel in Taiwan. The analysis results reveal that military personnel expressed significantly high perceptions of work-related stress. Social support from supervisors and colleagues is a crucial factor in buffering the effect of work-related stress on perceived health, and increasing the physical and mental health among military personnel. This study shows that male personnel who perceived higher stress and gained more social support from supervisors and colleagues than female personnel were less likely to have physical and mental issues than female personnel. Managerial implications and suggestions could serve as references in managing work-related stress, enhancing social support occurring in the military workplace, and reducing job dissatisfaction, which in turn improves the health and well-being of military personnel in Taiwan.

Highlights

Developments in international and cross-strait situations have provoked the restructuring of Taiwan’s military
This study focused on both female and male military personnel, sampling from military units all over Taiwan, and developed a modeling architecture from relevant literature, including the following factors: work-related stress, social support, and physical and mental health that are experienced by professional military personnel
This study study examined the work-related stress, social social support, support, and and physical physical and and mental mental health health that are experienced by military personnel, the relationships between them, and the moderating effects are experienced by military personnel, the relationships between them, and the moderating effects of of social and gender gender on on these these pathway pathway relationships

Summary

Introduction

Developments in international and cross-strait situations have provoked the restructuring of Taiwan’s military. In addition to organizational downsizing, the number of troops was sharply reduced from 452 thousand in 1997 to 275 thousand in 2010, and it was further decreased to 196 thousand in 2016 to achieve the goal of “a small, but superior, strong, and smart military force” [1,2]. Taiwan’s military will heavily rely on troops of volunteer personnel, through the gradual replacement of compulsory personnel, to comprise the main body of the army. Taiwan’s military restructuring raises certain issues, such as the possibility of an increase in the work-related stress of voluntary personnel as a result of downsizing. Previous research has established the influence of work-related stress on military personnel [4,5,6]

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Conclusion