Work and health: concepts and findings in occupational stress research

To present an overview of research on occupational stress, we first discuss some basic concepts concerning work and health. Relevant characteristics of work concerning task related, social, and organizational aspects are summarized, and methods to measure them are discussed. A summary of findings with regard to general relationships of stress at work with health and well-being, to constellations of stressors and resources, and to differential effects is then presented, followed by findings on coping with a special emphasis on health related behaviors. It is concluded that effects of stress at work on health and well-being are well documented, although they are not very strong. At the same time, knowledge about specific processes and their interplay in the development of stress-symptoms in the long term still is quite limited. In the last section, we refer to the necessity to extend the perspective beyond the work domain and to new developments in working life that need to be studied. We sketch some methodological (e.g., the need for more process oriented studies) and theoretical points (such as the role of equity and legitimacy considerations) that, in our view, deserve more attention.