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Encyclopedia of Behavioral Medicine pp 1–4Cite as

Job Demand/Control/Strain

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Synonyms

Decision authority; Decision latitude; Mental workload

Definition

The job demand/control model is used for studying psychosocial stressors in the work environment.

Description

The demand/control model was created for the study of psychosocial working conditions. It was published by Robert Karasek in his Ph.D. thesis in 1976 (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) and as a scientific article (Karasek 1979). While Karasek had already mentioned social support as a potentially important additional dimension, this part of the model – adding up to the demand/control/support model – was first published in 1986 (Johns Hopkins University) by Jeffrey V. Johnson in his Ph.D. thesis (Johnson 1989). Sociopsychological and biological theory underlying the model was further developed in 1990 by Karasek and Theorell (Karasek and Theorell 1990).

The basic underlying idea behind the creation of the model was that crucial psychosocial stressors (factors inducing adverse long-lasting stress...

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References and Further Reading

  • Collins, S., Karasek, R. A., & Costas, K. (2005). Job strain and autonomic indices of cardiovascular disease risk. American Journal of Industrial Medicine, 48, 182–193.

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  • Hintsanen M., Elovainio M., Puttonen S., Kivimäki M., Lehtimäki T., Kähönen M., Juonala M., Rontu R., Viikari J.S., Raitakari O.T., & Keltikangas-Järvinen L. (2008). Val/Met polymorphism of the COMT gene moderates the association between job strain and early atherosclerosis in young men. Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 50, 647–57. https://doi.org/10.1097/JOM.0b013e318165c7ec.

  • Johnson, J. V. (1989). Control, collectivity and the psychosocial work environment. In S. Sauter, J. J. Hurrell, & C. L. Cooper (Eds.), Job control and worker health. London: Wiley.

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  • Karasek, R. A. (1979). Job demands, job decision latitude and mental strain: Implications for job redesign. Administrative Science Quarterly, 24, 285–308.

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  • Karasek, R. A. (2008). Low social control and physiological deregulation – The stress-disequilibrium theory, towards a new demand-control model. Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health, 34(6), 117–135.

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  • Karasek, R. A., & Theorell, T. (1990). Healthy work: Stress, productivity and the reconstruction of working life. New York: Basic Books.

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  • Karasek, R. A., Brisson, C., Kawakami, N., Houtman, I., Bongers, P. M., & Amick, B. (1998). The job content questionnaire (JCQ): An instrument for internationally comparative assessments of psychosocial job characteristics. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 3, 322–355.

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  • Kivimäki, M., Nyberg, S. T., Batty, G. D., Fransson, E. I., Heikkilä, K., Alfredsson, L., et al. (2012). IPD-Work Consortium. Job strain as a risk factor for coronary heart disease: A collaborative meta-analysis of individual participant data. Lancet, 380, 1491–1497. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(12)60994-5.

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  • Theorell, T. (2009). Anabolism and catabolism. In S. Sonnentag, P. L. Perrewé, & D. C. Ganster (Eds.), Research in occupational stress and well-being (Current perspectives on job-stress recovery, Vol. 7, pp. 249–276). Bingley: Emerald/JAI Press.

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  • Theorell, T. (2014). Commentary triggered by the Individual Participant Data Meta Analysis Consortium of job strain and myocardial infarction risk. Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment and Health, 40, 89–95.

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  • Theorell, T., Hammarström, A., Aronsson, G., Träskman Bendz, L., Grape, T., Hogstedt, C., et al. (2015). A systematic review including meta-analysis of work environment and depressive symptoms. BMC Public Health, 15, 738. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-015-1954-4.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Stress Research Institute, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden

    Töres Theorell

Authors
  1. Töres Theorell
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Töres Theorell .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Miami School of Medicine, Miami, Florida, USA

    Marc Gellman

Section Editor information

  1. Department of Physical Therapy, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada

    Douglas P. Gross

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Theorell, T. (2018). Job Demand/Control/Strain. In: Gellman, M. (eds) Encyclopedia of Behavioral Medicine. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6439-6_902-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6439-6_902-2

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-6439-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-6439-6

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference MedicineReference Module Medicine

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