Background

Mental, emotional and physical exhaustion has been increasing in humans due to work related stress. Many studies have been conducted on various variables contributing to and counteracting job stress. In our study, we aimed to examine the effect of different demographic and personal variables on job stress and its correlation with self-control in a hospital setting.

Method

Our cross-sectional study involved 220 healthy staff members from Beijing hospital. Job stress and self-control were measured via the Chinese versions of the House and Rizzo Work Scale and the Self-Control Scale, respectively.

Result

Participants with male gender and those with leading positions of authority reported higher job stress and poorer self-control (P<0.01). Smokers also showed poorer self-control (P<0.05, Bonferroni corrected P>0.05). Poor physical and mental health conditions were observed to be significantly related to poor self-control (Bonferroni corrected P<0.01) and higher job stress (Bonferroni corrected P<0.05). Moreover, negative correlation was found between job stress and self-control and its dimensions (P<0.001). Furthermore, job stress group and leadership position could interact to influence self-control, healthy habit, and resistance to temptation.

Conclusion

We concluded that gender difference, leadership position, physical and mental health conditions all can affect work stress and an individual's self-control. Moreover, self-control dimensions like impulse control and attention to work correlated to job stress. Furthermore, the interaction between job stress and leadership could affect self-control and its dimensions. Future studies can be focused on using these variables to cope up with the ever increasing work related stress in the modern world.