Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Job strain, long work hours, and suicidal ideation in US workers: a longitudinal study

  • Original Article
  • Published:
International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

To investigate whether chronic psychosocial work stressors (low job control, high job demands, job strain, low supervisor and coworker support, job insecurity, and long work hours) are longitudinally associated with suicidal ideation in a working population.

Methods

Five-hundred seventy-eight workers (aged 34–69) were chosen for this analysis from those who participated in both project 1 (2004–2006 at baseline) and project 4 (2004–2009 at follow-up) of the Midlife Development in the United States II study. The median time interval between the two projects was 26 months (range 2–62 months).

Results

About 11% of the workers reported suicidal ideation at follow-up, while 3% of them reported moderate/severe suicidal ideation at follow-up. After controlling for age, marital status, race, family history of suicide, and suicidal ideation at baseline, low skill discretion and job strain (a combination of low job control and high job demands) were associated with total suicidal ideation. After excluding those with suicidal ideation at baseline from analysis and further controlling for other work stressors, job strain was strongly associated with moderate/severe suicidal ideation: ORs, 4.29 (1.30–14.15) for quartile-based job strain and 3.77 (1.21–11.70) for median-based job strain. Long work hours (> 40 h/week vs. ≤ 40 h/week) also increased the likelihood for moderate/severe suicidal ideation: OR 4.06 (1.08–15.19).

Conclusions

Job strain and long work hours were longitudinally associated with moderate/severe suicidal ideation. Increasing job control and ensuring optimal level of work demands, including 40 h or less of work per week may be an important strategy for the prevention of suicide in working populations.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Amagasa T, Nakayama T, Takahashi Y (2005) Karojisatsu in Japan: characteristics of 22 cases of work-related suicide. J Occup Health 47(2):157–164

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baumert J, Schneider B, Lukaschek K et al (2014) Adverse conditions at the workplace are associated with increased suicide risk. J Psychiatr Res 57:90–95

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bond FW, Bunce D (2001) Job control mediates change in a work reorganization intervention for stress reduction. J Occup Health Psychol 6(4):290–302

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (2013) Suicide among adults aged 35–64 years—United States, 1999–2010. Mortal Morb Wkly Rep 62(17):321–325

    Google Scholar 

  • Choi B, Kawakami N, Chang S et al (2008) A cross-national study on the multidimensional characteristics of the five-item psychological demands scale of the job content questionnaire. Int J Behav Med 15(2):120–132

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Choi B, Schnall PL, Yang H et al (2010a) Sedentary work, low physical job demand, and obesity in US workers. Am J Ind Med 53(11):1088–1101

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Choi B, Schnall PL, Yang H et al (2010b) Psychosocial working conditions and active leisure-time physical activity in middle-aged us workers. Int J Occup Med Environ Health 23(3):239–253

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Choi B, Kurowski A, Bond M et al (2012) Occupation-differential construct validity of the job content questionnaire (JCQ) psychological job demands scale with physical job demands items: a mixed methods research. Ergonomics 55(4):425–439

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Choi B, Schnall P, Landsbergis P et al (2015) Recommendations for individual participant data meta-analyses on work stressors and health outcomes: comments on IPD-Work Consortium papers. Scand J Work Environ Health 41(3):299–311

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Crandall M, Sridharan L, Schermer C (2010) Depression and thoughts of death among disadvantaged mothers: risk factors and impact on maternal and child health. Arch Suicide Res 14(3):248–260

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Curtin SC, Warner M, Hedegaard H (2016) Increase in suicide in the United States, 1999–2014. US Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db241.htm

  • Dienberg Love G, Seeman TE, Weinstein M et al (2010) Bioindicators in the MIDUS national study: protocol, measures, sample, and comparative context. J Aging Health 22(8):1059–1080

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Evans GW, Johansson G, Rydstedt L (1999) Hassles on the job: a study of a job intervention with urban bus drivers. J Organ Behav 20(2):199–208

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Garcia-Rojas IJ, Choi B, Krause N (2015) Psychosocial job factors and biological cardiovascular risk factors in Mexican workers. Am J Ind Med 58(3):331–351

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Karasek RA (1979) Job demands, job decision latitude, and mental strain: implications for job redesign. Adm Sci Q 24(2):285–308

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Karasek RA, Gordon G, Pietrokovsky C et al (1985) Job Content Questionnaire and User’s Guide. Los Angeles (CA). University of Southern California/University of Massachusetts, Lowell (MA)

  • Karasek R, Choi B, Ostergren PO et al (2007) Testing two methods to create comparable scale scores between the Job Content Questionnaire (JCQ) and JCQ-like questionnaires in the European JACE Study. Int J Behav Med 14(4):189–201

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kessler RC, Andrews G, Mroczek D et al (1998) The world health organization composite international diagnostic interview short form (CIDI-SF). Int J Meth Psych Res 7(4):171–185

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kim MS, Hong YC, Yook JH et al (2017) Effects of perceived job insecurity on depression, suicide ideation, and decline in self-rated health in Korea: a population-based panel study. Int Arch Occup Environ Health 90(7):663–671

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kivimäki M, Head J, Ferrie JE et al (2006) Why is evidence on job strain and coronary heart disease mixed? An illustration of measurement challenges in the Whitehall II study. Psychosom Med 68(3):398–401

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kroenke K, Spitzer RL, Williams JB (2001) The PHQ-9: validity of a brief depression severity measure. J Gen Intern Med 16(9):606–613

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lee J, Kim I, Roh S (2016) Descriptive study of claims for occupational mental disorders or suicide. Ann Occup Environ Med 28:61

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Loerbroks A, Cho SI, Dollard MF et al (2016) Associations between work stress and suicidal ideation: Individual-participant data from six cross-sectional studies. J Psychosom Res 90:62–69

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Milner A, Page K, Spencer-Thomas S et al (2015) Workplace suicide prevention: a systematic review of published and unpublished activities. Health Promot Int 30(1):29–37

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Milner A, Page K, Witt K et al (2016) Psychosocial working conditions and suicide ideation: evidence from a cross-sectional survey of working Australians. J Occup Environ Med 58(6):584–587

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Milner A, Witt K, LaMontagne AD et al (2017) Psychosocial job stressors and suicidality: a meta-analysis and systematic review. Occup Environ Med. https://doi.org/10.1136/oemed-2017-104531. (Epub ahead of print)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Milos G, Spindler A, Hepp U et al (2004) Suicide attempts and suicidal ideation: links with psychiatric comorbidity in eating disorder subjects. Gen Hosp Psychiatry 26(2):129–135

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Neeleman J, de Graaf R, Vollebergh W (2004) The suicidal process; prospective comparison between early and later stages. J Affect Disord 82(1):43–52

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nock MK, Borges G, Bromet EJ et al (2008) Cross-national prevalence and risk factors for suicidal ideation, plans and attempts. Br J Psychiatry 192(2):98–105

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Olson LM, Wahab S (2006) American Indians and suicide: a neglected area of research. Trauma Violence Abuse 7(1):19–33

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Orpen C (1979) The effects of job enrichment on employee satisfaction, motivation, involvement, and performance: a field experiment. Hum Relat 32(3):189–217

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ostry A, Maggi S, Tansey J et al (2007) The impact of psychosocial work conditions on attempted and completed suicide among western Canadian sawmill workers. Scand J Soc Med 35:265–271

    Google Scholar 

  • Phillips JA, Nugent CN (2014) Suicide and the Great Recession of 2007–2009: the role of economic factors in the 50 US states. Soc Sci Med 116:22–31

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rockett IR, Regier MD, Kapusta ND et al (2012) Leading causes of unintentional and intentional injury mortality: United States, 2000–2009. Am J Public Health 102(11):e84–e92

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ryff C, Almeida DM, Ayanian JS et al (2007) Midlife Development in the United States (MIDUS II), 2004–2006 [computer file]. ICPSR04652-v1. Ann Arbor (MI): Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2007-03-22. https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR04652

  • Ryff C, Seeman T, Weinstein M (2013) National Survey of Midlife Development in the United States (MIDUS II): Biomarker Bibliographic Citation. Project, ICPSR29282-v6. Ann Arbor. https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR29282.v6 (distributor, 2013-12–20)

  • Schiller H, Lekander M, Rajaleid K et al (2017) The impact of reduced work time on sleep and perceived stress—a group randomized intervention study using diary data. Scand J Work Environ Health 43(2):109–116

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schneider B, Grebner K, Schnabel A et al (2011) Impact of employment status and work-related factors on risk of completed suicide. A case-control psychological autopsy study. Psychiatry Res 190(2–3):265–270

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Simon GE, Rutter CM, Peterson D et al (2013) Does response on the PHQ-9 Depression Questionnaire predict subsequent suicide attempt or suicide death? Psychiatr Serv 64(12):1195–1202

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ten Have M, de Graaf R, van Dorsselaer S et al (2009) Incidence and course of suicidal ideation and suicide attempts in the general population. Can J Psychiatry 54(12):824–833

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tiesman HM, Konda S, Hartley D et al (2015) Suicide in U.S. Workplaces, 2003–2010: a comparison with non-workplace suicides. Am J Prev Med 48(6):674–682

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tsutsumi A, Kayaba K, Ojima T et al (2007) Low control at work and the risk of suicide in Japanese men: a prospective cohort study. Psychother Psychosom 76(3):177–185

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Walker J, Hansen CH, Hodges L et al (2010) Screening for suicidality in cancer patients using Item 9 of the nine-item patient health questionnaire; does the item score predict who requires further assessment? Gen Hosp Psychiatry 32(2):218–220

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang YG, Chen S, Xu ZM et al (2017) Family history of suicide and high motor impulsivity distinguish suicide attempters from suicide ideators among college students. J Psychiatr Res 90:21–25

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Watson D, Clark LA, Weber K et al (1995) Testing a tripartite model: II. Exploring the symptom structure of anxiety and depression in student, adult, and patient samples. J Abnorm Psychol 104(1):15–25

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • World Health Organization (WHO) (2006) Preventing Suicide: a resource at work. World Health Organization. http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/43502/1/9241594381_eng.pdf

  • World Health Organization (WHO) (2014) Preventing Suicide: a global imperative. WHO. http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/131056/8/9789241564878_eng.pdf?ua=1&ua=1

  • World Health Organization (WHO) (2017) Suicide. http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs398/en

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Occupational and Environmental Health, Department of Medicine, University of California Irvine, 100 Theory, Suite 100, Irvine, CA, 92617, USA

    BongKyoo Choi

  2. Enviromental Health Sciences Graduate Program, University of California Irvine, Irvine, USA

    BongKyoo Choi

  3. Program in Public Health, University of California Irvine, Irvine, USA

    BongKyoo Choi

Authors
  1. BongKyoo Choi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to BongKyoo Choi.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The author declares that he has no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

For this type of study formal consent is not required.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Choi, B. Job strain, long work hours, and suicidal ideation in US workers: a longitudinal study. Int Arch Occup Environ Health 91, 865–875 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00420-018-1330-7

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00420-018-1330-7

Keywords

Search

Navigation