TY - JOUR
T1 - Using social epidemiology and neuroscience to explore the relationship between job stress and frontotemporal cortex activity among workers
AU - Kawasaki, Shingo
AU - Nishimura, Yukika
AU - Takizawa, Ryu
AU - Koike, Shinsuke
AU - Kinoshita, Akihide
AU - Satomura, Yoshihiro
AU - Sakakibara, Eisuke
AU - Sakurada, Hanako
AU - Yamagishi, Mika
AU - Nishimura, Fumichika
AU - Yoshikawa, Akane
AU - Inai, Aya
AU - Nishioka, Masaki
AU - Eriguchi, Yosuke
AU - Kakiuchi, Chihiro
AU - Araki, Tsuyoshi
AU - Kan, Chiemi
AU - Umeda, Maki
AU - Shimazu, Akihito
AU - Hashimoto, Hideki
AU - Kawakami, Norito
AU - Kasai, Kiyoto
N1 - Funding Information:
This study was conducted as an interdisciplinary collaboration between the two Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Innovative Areas by MEXT, Japan: The “Elucidation of social stratification mechanism and control over health inequality in contemporary Japan: New interdisciplinary area of social and health sciences” project [grant number 21119003 to NK and TA], and “Adolescent Mind & Self-Regulation” project [grant number 23118001], [grant number 23118004] to KK. This study was also supported by grants from the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare [Health and Labour Science Research Grants for Comprehensive Research on Disability Health and Welfare, H23-seishin-ippan-002 and H25-seishin-ippan-002 to RT, YN, ES, and KK]; the JSPS/MEXT [Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Innovative Areas (Comprehensive Brain Science Network to KK), 23791309 and 26860914 to RT]; the Intramural Research Grant [23-10 and 26-3] for Neurological and Psychiatric Disorders of NCNP (to RT, YN, ES, and KK).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2015, © 2015 Taylor & Francis.
PY - 2015/5/4
Y1 - 2015/5/4
N2 - Mental health problems, such as depression, are increasingly common among workers. Job-related stresses, including psychological demands and a lack of discretion in controlling one’s own work environment, are important causal factors. However, the mechanisms through which job-related stress may affect brain function remain unknown. We sought to identify the relationship between job-related stress and frontotemporal cortex activation using near-infrared spectroscopy. Seventy-nine (45 females, 34 males) Japanese employees, aged 26–51 years, were recruited from respondents to the Japanese Study of Stratification, Health, Income, and Neighborhood survey. Job-related stress was measured using the Japanese version of Job Content Questionnaire, which can index “job demand” and “job control”. We found a significant correlation between higher “job demand” and smaller oxygenated hemoglobin [oxy-Hb] changes in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in female (r = −.54 to −.44). Significant correlations between higher “job control” and greater [oxy-Hb] changes in the right temporal cortex were observed among male, and in the combined sample (r = .46–.64). This initial cross-sectional observation suggests that elevated job-related stress is related to decrease frontotemporal cortex activation among workers. Integrating social epidemiology and neuroscience may be a powerful strategy for understanding how individuals’ brain functions may mediate between the job-related stress or psychosocial work characteristics and public mental health.
AB - Mental health problems, such as depression, are increasingly common among workers. Job-related stresses, including psychological demands and a lack of discretion in controlling one’s own work environment, are important causal factors. However, the mechanisms through which job-related stress may affect brain function remain unknown. We sought to identify the relationship between job-related stress and frontotemporal cortex activation using near-infrared spectroscopy. Seventy-nine (45 females, 34 males) Japanese employees, aged 26–51 years, were recruited from respondents to the Japanese Study of Stratification, Health, Income, and Neighborhood survey. Job-related stress was measured using the Japanese version of Job Content Questionnaire, which can index “job demand” and “job control”. We found a significant correlation between higher “job demand” and smaller oxygenated hemoglobin [oxy-Hb] changes in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in female (r = −.54 to −.44). Significant correlations between higher “job control” and greater [oxy-Hb] changes in the right temporal cortex were observed among male, and in the combined sample (r = .46–.64). This initial cross-sectional observation suggests that elevated job-related stress is related to decrease frontotemporal cortex activation among workers. Integrating social epidemiology and neuroscience may be a powerful strategy for understanding how individuals’ brain functions may mediate between the job-related stress or psychosocial work characteristics and public mental health.
KW - Frontotemporal cortex activation
KW - Job demand-control model
KW - Job-related stress
KW - Near-infrared spectroscopy
KW - Social epidemiolog
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U2 - 10.1080/17470919.2014.997370
DO - 10.1080/17470919.2014.997370
M3 - Article
C2 - 25580832
AN - SCOPUS:84928699207
VL - 10
SP - 230
EP - 242
JO - Social Neuroscience
JF - Social Neuroscience
SN - 1747-0919
IS - 3
ER -