Work,Age and the Perception of Age among Workers in Five Nations

Abstract

Health care workers from five nations (Brazil, Croatia, Poland, Ukraine, USA) completed the Survey of Health Care Professionals, which includes measures of on-the-job and off-the-job conditions/concerns, as well as self-ratings of work demands, work skills and performance, work-related stress and measures of chronological and personal age. Consistent with previous research, feeling old relative to one's chronological age was positively associated with several indicators of experienced job-related stress; the magnitude of the relationships differed among national samples. Findings support further investigation of this operationalization of personal age as an indicator of unrelieved stress. Levels of concern about stressful workplace conditions and stressful off-the-job conditions (survival needs, home environment, and societal stressors) also differed among nations. In addition, our analyses revealed interesting similarities and differences among nations in the patterns of relationships between stressful workplace/off-the-job conditions and personal age.

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