Self-reported Health Complaints Research Articles

Psychosomatic complaints and unwinding of sympathoadrenal activation after work

It is well known that chronically elevated catecholamine excretion rates are associated with health problems, indicating the importance of recovery after work. In 28 male truck drivers, unwinding after work was found to be insufficient. The resulting spillover of sympathoadrenal activation, as assessed by urinary excretion rate of adrenaline and noradrenaline, was significantly related to self-reported psychosomatic health complaints. Age had a significant effect on spillover of noradrenaline, whereas this personal factor was only marginally significant for adrenaline. This study shows that elevated sympathoadrenal activation after work, and not only increased reactivity during work, causes health problems, although it is also plausible that young and healthy drivers are able to unwind more quickly than older drivers with psychosomatic complaints. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Helsemessige aspekter ved mobbing i arbeidslivet: Modererende effekter av sosial støtte og personlighet

Bullying in organisations has been an issue of great public interest and debate in Scandinavia during the past few years. Several studies based on interviews with victims have stressed the serious negative impacts such experiences have on the the victims' health and well-being. The aim of the present study is to investigate the relationships between exposure to bullying and self-reported health complaints and whether these relationships are moderated by social support and aspects of the victims personality. The term bullying refers to a situation in which a person is subjected to negative conduct from co-workers or supervisors over a period of time, such as harassment, offensive remarks, constant criticism or social exclusion. To qualify as bullying the victim must have difficulties defending himself/herself in the actual situation. 2215 Norwegian union members from both blue-collar and white-collar occupations participated in the study. The results showed that victimization from bullying was associated w...

Internal, powerful others and chance locus of control: Relationships with personality, coping, stress and health

In this paper, the relationship was studied between the internal, powerful others and chance (IPC)-scales and a range of other psychological characteristics, self-reported life stress and health complaints. The data were gathered in a large Dutch sample consisting of different groups. The factor structure and reliability of the Dutch translation were highly comparable with those of the original version. A comparison of the IPC-scales with a Rotter derived unidimensional scale shows that the latter assesses mainly chance oriented external locus of control. Furthermore, the IPC-scales in this study are differentially related to personality traits, measurements of subjective stress and self-reported health symptoms. These relationships allow a more articulate interpretation of the scales. Salient new results are e.g. that the P-scale is more strongly related to passive coping strategies, while the C-scale is more related to psychopathological symptoms and to social inadequacy. Subjects scoring high on the I-scale evaluate life events more positively, use active coping strategies, and also express their anger more often. The results partly confirm reported findings of other authors concerning the validity of the scales, and are indicative of the usefulness and meaning of the IPC-scales.

Psychological determinants of health and performance: The tangled web of desirable and undesirable characteristics.

Correlations were determined for male (n = 225) and female (n = 242) college students between sets of undesirable personality traits (anxiety, stress reactivity, anger, and alienation) and desirable personality traits (instrumentality, achievement strivings, and optimism measured by the Scheier-Carver [1987] Life Orientation Test), and a series of outcome variables related to health (self-reported health complaints and health maintenance behaviors and beliefs) and academic performance (academic expectations and actual grade point average). Significant correlations were found between many of the personality variables and the outcome variables. However, partial correlations revealed different relationships for the various criteria. With other variables held constant, health complaints were related to several undesirable characteristics, whereas health maintenance behaviors and beliefs were related to several desirable attributes. Only achievement strivings made an independent contribution in both sexes to the 2 measures of academic performance. The theoretical and methodological wisdom of using measures of multiple personality constructs and outcome variables is discussed.

Psychological determinants of health and performance: The tangled web of desirable and undesirable characteristics.

Correlations were determined for male (n = 225) and female (n = 242) college students between sets of undesirable personality traits (anxiety, stress reactivity, anger, and alienation) and desirable personality traits (instrumentality, achievement strivings, and optimism measured by the Scheier-Carver [1987] Life Orientation Test), and a series of outcome variables related to health (self-reported health complaints and health maintenance behaviors and beliefs) and academic performance (academic expectations and actual grade point average). Significant correlations were found between many of the personality variables and the outcome variables. However, partial correlations revealed different relationships for the various criteria. With other variables held constant, health complaints were related to several undesirable characteristics, whereas health maintenance behaviors and beliefs were related to several desirable attributes. Only achievement strivings made an independent contribution in both sexes to the 2 measures of academic performance. The theoretical and methodological wisdom of using measures of multiple personality constructs and outcome variables is discussed.

Benzodiazepine prescriptions and therapist non-compliance.

In an investigation of benzodiazepine (BDZ) prescription patterns, psychiatrists in private practice were found to exhibit "therapist non-compliance" with regard to general medical recommendations for BDZ use. The findings indicate that BDZ prescriptions in general (53% among patients treated with psychotropics) as well as long-term treatment of patients (37%) are quite common among private practice psychiatrists. BDZ treatment is not restricted to "minor psychiatric disorders", and contrary to the guidelines, even patients with substance dependence are not excluded. A positive association was found for BDZ use and patients' self-reported symptoms and health complaints, the number of other medications prescribed and age. In a discussion of therapist non-compliance it is proposed that this may be a consequence of a symptom-based treatment model, individual health concepts, the doctor-patient relationship and physician's cost-benefit analysis. Thus, psychiatrists' non-compliance may reflect to some extent a case-oriented treatment rationale.

Ethylene oxide sterilizer use and short-term symptoms amongst workers.

We surveyed training, the use of protective devices, personal and environmental exposure levels and self-reported short-term health complaints amongst 165 health care workers (response = 76 per cent) using ethylene oxide (EtO) sterilizers in 27 hospitals in the province of Alberta, Canada. Data were collected via self-administered questionnaires. Personal and environmental sampling was carried out during site visits to 18 hospitals. Although no detectable levels of EtO were found in environmental samples, over half of the respondents stated they could smell EtO at work. While sampling results never revealed concentrations above the provincial 15 min time weighted average short-term exposure limit (STEL; = 50 p.p.m.), personal exposure concentrations and the use of portable sterilizers were positively associated with short-term symptoms such as irritations of the mucous membranes and skins (P less than 0.05).

Health and safety consequences of shift work in the food processing industry.

Both a questionnaire survey and an evaluation of health and safety records were used to characterize the health and safety consequences of day versus afternoon, night and rotating shifts for approximately 1000 food processing workers. Relative to the day workers, the results indicated that those on shift work, particularly rotating and night shifts, showed greater adverse effects. These included poorer sleep, altered eating habits, greater alcohol consumption, greater incidence of sick absence and greater incidence of work-related injuries. Shift work was not related to self-reported health complaints or self-reported chronic disease states. The impact of shift work on sick absence and work-related injuries differed depending on worker sex, age and work tenure.