Table 1.
Respondent Characteristics by Strata of Job Strain, the Health and Retirement Study 2004/2006
| Overall | Job strain |
χ2 or F value | ||||
| Stress below median |
Stress above median |
|||||
| Satisfaction above | Satisfaction below | Satisfaction above | Satisfaction below | |||
| N | 2,902 | 858 | 621 | 386 | 1,037 | |
| Age (M, SD) | 60.42 (7.14) | 61.96 (7.28) | 61.9 (7.43) | 59.06 (6.49) | 58.76 (6.59) | 47.86*** |
| Race | 2.54 | |||||
| White | 2,374 (81.81) | 708 (82.52) | 496 (79.87) | 315 (81.61) | 855 (82.45) | |
| Black | 307 (10.58) | 88 (10.26) | 75 (12.08) | 41 (10.62) | 103 (9.93) | |
| Hispanic | 221 (7.62) | 62 (7.23) | 50 (8.05) | 30 (7.77) | 79 (7.62) | |
| Women | 1,553 (53.51) | 455 (53.03) | 360 (57.97) | 204 (52.85) | 534 (51.49) | 6.81 |
| Marital status | 20.77* | |||||
| Married/partnered | 2,190 (75.47) | 665 (77.51) | 444 (71.50) | 302 (78.24) | 779 (75.12) | |
| Separated/divorced | 394 (13.58) | 96 (11.19) | 92 (14.81) | 47 (12.18) | 159 (15.33) | |
| Widowed | 225 (7.75) | 67 (7.81) | 66 (10.63) | 28 (7.25) | 64 (6.17) | |
| Never married | 93 (3.20) | 30 (3.50) | 19 (3.06) | 9 (2.33) | 35 (3.38) | |
| Educational attainment | 20.20*** | |||||
| High school or less | 1,251 (43.11) | 329 (38.34) | 292 (47.02) | 148 (38.34) | 482 (46.48) | |
| At least some college | 1,651 (56.89) | 529 (61.66) | 329 (52.98) | 238 (61.66) | 555 (53.52) | |
| Labor force status | 189.08*** | |||||
| Full time | 1,950 (67.20) | 511 (59.56) | 338 (54.43) | 296 (76.68) | 805 (77.63) | |
| Part time | 375 (12.92) | 94 (10.96) | 102 (16.43) | 48 (12.44) | 131 (12.63) | |
| Partly retired | 577 (19.88) | 253 (29.49) | 181 (29.15) | 42 (10.88) | 101 (9.74) | |
| Type of work | 65.08*** | |||||
| Blue collar | 603 (20.78) | 136 (15.85) | 96 (15.46) | 81 (20.98) | 290 (27.97) | |
| Service related | 465 (16.02) | 128 (14.92) | 118 (19.00) | 51 (13.21) | 168 (16.20) | |
| White collar | 1,834 (63.20) | 594 (69.23) | 407 (65.54) | 254 (65.80) | 579 (55.83) | |
| Net worth (M, SD) | 553,384.59 (2,300,000) | 765,914.83 (3,130,000) | 549,741.88 (3,090,000) | 548,497.25 (1,150,000) | 381,540.51 (695,000) | 4.37** |
| Smoking status | 9.94 | |||||
| Never | 1,287 (44.35) | 378 (44.06) | 267 (43.00) | 181 (46.89) | 461 (44.46) | |
| Former | 1,167 (40.21) | 369 (43.01) | 253 (40.74) | 148 (38.34) | 397 (38.28) | |
| Current | 448 (15.44) | 111 (12.94) | 101 (16.26) | 57 (14.77) | 179 (17.26) | |
| Average number of alcoholic drinks consumed per week | 16.56* | |||||
| None | 1,703 (58.68) | 462 (53.85) | 375 (60.39) | 229 (59.33) | 637 (61.43) | |
| 1–7 | 835 (28.77) | 281 (32.75) | 158 (25.44) | 113 (29.27) | 283 (27.29) | |
| 8+ | 364 (12.54) | 115 (13.40) | 88 (14.17) | 44 (11.40) | 117 (11.28) | |
| Moderate alcohol consumption | 215 (7.41) | 65 (7.58) | 52 (8.37) | 23 (5.96) | 75 (7.23) | 2.11 |
| Heavy alcohol consumption | 77 (2.65) | 18 (2.10) | 17 (2.74) | 11 (2.85) | 31 (2.99) | 1.55 |
| Depressive symptoms | 123.40*** | |||||
| None | 1,575 (54.27) | 577 (67.25) | 347 (55.88) | 201 (52.07) | 450 (43.39) | |
| 1–3 symptoms | 1,072 (36.94) | 247 (28.79) | 221 (35.59) | 153 (39.64) | 451 (43.49) | |
| 4 or more symptoms | 255 (8.79) | 34 (3.96) | 53 (8.53) | 32 (8.29) | 136 (13.11) | |
| Job strain indices (M, SD) | ||||||
| Job satisfaction | 2.87 (0.48) | 3.34 (0.29) | 2.65 (0.27) | 3.22 (0.23) | 2.50 (0.35) | 1,462.52*** |
| Job stress | 2.07 (0.55) | 1.58 (0.32) | 1.73 (0.29) | 2.45 (0.30) | 2.54 (0.35) | 1,827.66*** |
Notes: Values are N (%) unless otherwise noted. Job strain refers to the four-level indicator of imbalance of job stress and job satisfaction. Moderate alcohol use is defined as consuming an average of two or more drinks per day for men, and an average of 1one or more drinks per day for women. Heavy alcohol use defined as five or more drinks on a single occasion for both men and women.
*p < .05; **p < .01; ***p < .001.