JOB STRAIN AND HEALTH BEHAVIORS - RESULTS OF A PROSPECTIVE-STUDY

Purpose. To assess the association between job demands, job decision l atitude, and job strain (defined by Karasek as a combination of high d emands and low decision latitude) and cardiovascular disease-related h ealth behaviors such as cigarette smoking, alcohol use, lack of exerci se, and overweight. Design. Cross-sectional and prospective. Setting N ine New York City public and private sector worksites. Subjects. Two h undred eighty-five male employees, aged 30 to GO, in a wide variety of white-collar and blue-collar job titles. Measures. Medical examinatio ns and surveys, which included demographic, health behaviour, and job characteristics data. Results. Prospectively, among 189 men, increase in job decision latitude over 3 years was associated with decrease in cigarette smoking, by analysis of covariance, controlling for age, rac e, education, marital status, and number of children at home (F (8, 18 0) = 4.37, p =.005). The largest increase in latitude occurred among t he 13 men who quit smoking: However, change in job characteristics was not associated with change in overweight or alcohol use. Cross-sectio nal analyses did not produce consistent associations. Conclusions. The effectiveness of smoking cessation may be aided by modification of st ructural features of the work environment, such as job decision latitu de. This study is limited by the small number of subjects who were eng aged in high risk behaviors.