Reciprocal relationship between psychosocial work stress and quality of life: the role of gender and education from the longitudinal study of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the reciprocal relationship between psychosocial work stress and quality of life (QoL) and to examine whether the relationship can be moderated by gender or education. DESIGN: Longitudinal, population-based study. SETTING: The Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). PARTICIPANTS: The study population was derived from the SHARE, and there were 2006 participants with good QoL at baseline, 1109 with high job control and 1072 with high job reward, respectively, who were followed up for 2 years to detect incidence of poor QoL, low job control and low job reward. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Logistic regression models were employed to explore the reciprocal relationship between psychological work stress and QoL. Stratification analyses by gender and education were performed. RESULTS: Participants with low reward (OR=1.53, 95% CI 1.26 to 1.88) and low control (OR=1.40, 95% CI 1.14 to 1.71) at baseline were at higher risk of poor QoL over the 2-year follow-up. The combination of low reward and low control further increased the risk (OR=1.90, 95% CI 1.46 to 2.48). Stratified analyses revealed that these associations were more pronounced among those who had high levels of education. Further, individuals with poor QoL were at significantly higher risk of having low reward (OR=2.14, 95% CI 1.55 to 2.96) but not low control (OR=1.33, 95% CI0.98 to 1.79) at the 2-year follow-up, especially among those who had medium levels of education. No gender differences were found. CONCLUSIONS: There is a reciprocal relationship between psychological work stress and poor QoL. Education may play an important role in the relationship.