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Psychiatric symptoms and related factors in a sample of Japanese workers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

Noboru Iwata ,
Yuko Okuyama ,
Yoshikazu Kawakami  and
Kazuo Saito
Noboru Iwata*
Affiliation:
Department of Hygiene and Preventive Medicine, Division of Social Environment, Graduate School of Environmental Science, the First Department of Internal Medicine and the Department of Hygiene and Preventive Medicine, School of Medicine, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan
Yuko Okuyama
Affiliation:
Department of Hygiene and Preventive Medicine, Division of Social Environment, Graduate School of Environmental Science, the First Department of Internal Medicine and the Department of Hygiene and Preventive Medicine, School of Medicine, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan
Yoshikazu Kawakami
Affiliation:
Department of Hygiene and Preventive Medicine, Division of Social Environment, Graduate School of Environmental Science, the First Department of Internal Medicine and the Department of Hygiene and Preventive Medicine, School of Medicine, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan
Kazuo Saito
Affiliation:
Department of Hygiene and Preventive Medicine, Division of Social Environment, Graduate School of Environmental Science, the First Department of Internal Medicine and the Department of Hygiene and Preventive Medicine, School of Medicine, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan
*
1Address for correspondence: Dr Noboru Iwata, Department of Ergonomics, Institute of Industrial Ecological Sciences, University of Occupational and Environmental Health, Japan 1–1, Iseigaoka Yahatanishi-ku, Kitakyushu, 807 Japan.
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Synopsis

A survey was conducted to investigate the presence of psychiatric symptoms and associated factors affecting psychiatric impairment among 2190 Japanese tax workers. The Japanese translated version of the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) was used as a measure of psychiatric symptomatology. Several sociodemographic and psychosocial factors (interpersonal factors and perceived stress) were examined as being related to psychiatric impairment. As with all other language versions, the percentage distribution of the GHQ scores was considerably skewed. Females exhibited more psychiatric symptoms than males. No significant differences were found among four age-groups for both sexes. Perceived stress related to the workplace was correlated more with psychiatric impairment than with other psychosocial factors. It was also observed that the ‘long-distance marriage’ (‘business bachelorhood’) peculiar to Japanese occupations had little influence on the impairment levels.

Type
Research Article
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 18 , Issue 3 , August 1988 , pp. 659 - 663
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1988

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