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Environmental Health and Preventive Medicine logoLink to Environmental Health and Preventive Medicine
. 2001 Jan;5(4):144–149. doi: 10.1007/BF02918290

The relationship of lifestyle factors, personal character, and mental health status of employees of a major Japanese electrical manufacturer

Kunio Nakayama 1,, Kyohei Yamaguchi 1, Soichiro Maruyama 2, Kanehisa Morimoto 2,
PMCID: PMC2723279  PMID: 21432403

Summary

To examine the relationship lifestyle factors, personal character, mental health status, and job strain a self-administered questionnaire survey was conducted among employees of a leading electrical manufacturing company in Japan. A total of 2,327 workers (Male=1,668, Female=659) responded to the survey. We analyzed the relationships of health practices based on such factors as: Free child (FC) from the Egogram, the Working-life satisfaction, and the General Health Questionnaire-28 through Path-analysis techniques.

The following results were obtained: The mental health status was significantly affected by such factors as health practices, Working-life satisfaction, personal character (FC), life satisfaction, and age. Health practices and personal character (FC) showed a direct relationship to the mental health status and an indirect relationship to the Working-life satisfaction and life satisfaction. The variances accounting for mental health status were 41.8% in male workers and 43.8% in female workers.

Path-analysis data suggested that mental health status was affected about 40% by lifestyle, personal character, Working-life satisfaction, and life satisfaction. It was suggested that there might be important factors affecting mental health status but which are unknown to us by as much as 60% in the present day. These findings suggested the necessity of further investigation of the relationship among lifestyle factors, mental health status, and job strain among employees of a reputable company in the present day.

Key words: lifestyle, personal character, mental health status, Working-life satisfaction, path analysis summary

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