Subjective health complaints: is coping more important than control?

The influence of psychological demands in a work situation on subjective he alth complaints has been investigated. A demand/coping model has been devel oped and compared with the traditional demand/control model. The new model is based on the notion that all stressors (loads) are filtered by coping (p ositive response outcome expectancies) and defence mechanisms (stimulus dis tortion) before they gain access to the response system. A total of 1060 em ployees (401 men mid 659 women) working in the Norwegian postal service fil led out questionnaires on psychological demands, control, coping (Utrecht C oping List), job stress, and subjective health complaints (Subjective Healt h Complaint Inventory). Subjective health complaints were found to depend m ore on combinations of demands and coping than on demands and control. Indi viduals with high demands/low coping had most health problems, and chose wi th low demands/high coping had the lowest level. Individuals with high dema nds/high coping had high reports of job stress, but not high levels of heal th problems. Individual coping mechanisms were more important for subjectiv e health than were organizational factors.