Abstract
Recent theorizing about the relationship between environmental stress and psychophysiological strain has suggested that the simple direct relationship between the two may be moderated by two other variables. Karasek and various co-authors (Karasek 1979; Karasek et al. 1982) have demonstrated that the degree of control the person has over his environment affects the degree to which he may experience strain. The most stressful occupational environments are those that have high demands combined with low ability to control the situation. In a study of cases of coronary heart disease carefully matched with controls, Alfredsson et al. (1982) showed that CHD was higher among those who had been employed in jobs with these sorts of characteristics. Other investigators have demonstrated that the level of social support available to the person can buffer the person from experiencing the worst effects of environmental stressors (Pinneau 1975; La Rocco et al. 1980). Payne (1979) has proposed that the degree of environmental stress can only be estimated when the three variables od demands, supports and constraints (i. e. control) are measured simultaneously. It is possible to construe support as a means of increasing control: the more help one has, the more one can control both the situational demands and therefore one’s own reactions to them. The advantage of making this assumption for present purposes is that it reduces the model to two variables — demands and control — and permits us to utilize the theorizing of Karasek et al. (1982), who have most thoroughly related environmental stress situations to physiological responses.
Keywords
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Alfredsson L, Karasek R, Theorell T (1982) Myocardial infarction risk and psychosocial work environment: an analysis of the male Swedish working force. Soc Sci Med 16: 463–467
Baker GH, Byrom NA, Irani MS et al (1984) Stress, Cortisol and lymphocyte sub-populations. Lancet I: 574
Bates E (1982) Doctors and their spouses speak: stress in medical practice. Soc Health Illness 4: 25–39
Becker WGE, Ellis H, Goldsmith R, et al (1983) Heart rates of surgeons in theatre. Ergonomics 26: 803–808
Branton P, Oborne DJ (1979) A behavioural study of anaesthetists at work. In: Oborne DJ, Gruneberg MM, Eiser JR (eds) Research in psychology and medicine, vol 1. Academic, London
Caplan RD, Cobb S, French JRP Ur (1979) White collar work load and Cortisol: disruption of a circadian rhythm by job stress. J Psychosom Res 23: 181–192
Dimsdale JE, Moss J (1980) Short-term catecholamine response to psychological stress. Psychosom Med 42 (5): 493–497
Doll R, Peto R (1979) Mortality among doctors in different occupations. Br Med J1: 1433–1436
Foster GE, Evans DF, Hardcastle J (1978) Heart rates of surgeons during operations and other clinical activities and their modification by oxprenolol. Lancet 1: 1323–1325
Frankenhaeuser M, Johansson G (1982) Stress at work: psychobiological and psychosocial aspects. 20th International Congress of Applied Psychology, Edinburgh 1982
Friedman EH (1982) Stress and intensive care nursing: a ten year reappraisal. Heart Lung 11: 26–29
Gentry DW, Parkes KR (1982) Psychological stress in intensive care unit and non–intensive care unit nursing. A review of the past decade. Heart Lung 11: 43–47
Gough RM, Ellis G (1981) The radioimmunassay of Cortisol in urine: difficulties experienced in the development of an assay, and problems of specificity observed with commercial reagents as supplied as kits. Clin Biochem 14 (2): 74–81
Hennigan JK, Wortham AW (1975) Analysis of workday stresses on industrial managers using heart rate as a criterion. Ergonomics 18 (6): 675–681
Hunt TJ, Marcus P (1966) The investigation of habitual activity in bus crews using SAMI heart-rate integrator. J Physiol 189: 36–37
Ira GH, Bogdonoff MD, Durham NC (1962) Application of radiotelemetry in man for continuous recording of heart rate. JAMA 180 (11): 976–977
Karasek RA (1979) Job demands, job decision latitude and mental strain: implications for job redesign. Admin Sci Q 24: 285–308
Karasek RA, Russell RS, Theorell T (1982) Physiology of stress and regeneration in job related cardiovascular illness. J Human Stress 8: 29–42
Kaupinnen–Toropainen K, Kandolin I, Mutanen P (1983) Job dissatisfaction and work–related exhaustion in male and female work. J Occup Behav 4 (3): 193–207
Krakowski AJ (1982 a) Stress and the practice of medicine. J Psychosom Res 26: 91–98
Krakowski AJ (1982 b) Stress and the practice of medicine II. Stressors, stresses and strains. Psychother Psychosom 38: 11–23
La Rocco JM, House JS, French JRP Jr (1980) Social support, occupational stress and health. J Health Soc Behav 21: 202–218
Leonard RA (1983) A psychological study of stress in London school-teachers. PhD Thesis, University of London, London
Nakamura J, Yakata M (1983) Clinical evaluation of the liquid-chromatographic determination of urinary free Cortisol. Clin Chem 29 /5: 847–851
Norman JC (1980) Histrionics, vignettes and quartets: a syndrome of stress in heart surgeons. Cardiovasc Dis 7: 339–343
Payne RL (1979) Demands, supports, constraints and psychological health. In: Mackay CJ, Cox T (eds) Response to stress: occupational aspects. International Publishing Corporation, London
Pinneau SR Jr (1975) Effects of social support on psychological and physiological stress. PhD Thesis, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Pisano JI, Crout RJ, Abraham D (1962) Determination of 3-methoxy-4-hydroxymandelic acid in urine. Clin Chim Acta 7: 285–291
Rodahl K, Vokac Z (1977) Work stress in Norwegian trawler fishermen. Ergonomics 20 (6): 633–642
Schwertner HA, Troxler EG, Uhl GS, Jackson WG (1984) Relationship between Cortisol and cholesterol in men with coronary artery disease and Type A behaviour. Arteriosclerosis 4: 59–64
Selye H (1956) The stress of life. McGraw Hill, New York
Taggart P, Gibbons D, Sommerville W (1969) Some effects of motor–car driving on the normal and abnormal heart. Br Med J 4: 130–134
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1986 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Payne, R.L., Rick, J.T. (1986). Psychobiological Markers of Stress in Surgeons and Anaesthetists. In: Schmidt, T.H., Dembroski, T.M., Blümchen, G. (eds) Biological and Psychological Factors in Cardiovascular Disease. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-71234-0_20
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-71234-0_20
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-71236-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-71234-0
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive