Investigation of the relationship between job stress, eating attitude, anxiety and depression levels in male heavy industrial workers

The Statement of the Problem: The main aim of this study was to measure and to investigate the relationships between the job stress, eating attitude, body mass index, anxiety and depression levels in a group of males working in a heavy industrial, iron and steel factory. Method: The research was conducted with 285 male, blue- and white-collar workers in an iron and steel factory in Iskenderun. All participants were applied the Job Stress Questionnaire (JSQ), the Eating Attitude Test (EAT), the Beck Anxiety Scale (BAS) and the CES Depression Scale (CES-D). Data analyses were performed by using the Pearson correlation analysis, independent t test and variance analysis (one-way ANOVA), and p<0,05 was considered as statistical significance. Results: The mean age of the sample was 36,75 ± 6,52. Of all the participants, 180 (63,4%) were blue- and 104 (36,6%) were white-collar employees. The job stress score of the sample was 28,21±5,43, in the range where the physical and psychological stress symptoms might be prominent. Positive and significant correlations existed between the job stress levels and the deterioration in eating attitudes as well as anxiety and depression levels. A significantly positive correlation was observed between the depression levels measured by CES-D and both the EAT and the BAS scores. The blue-collar workers had significantly higher body mass index and EAT scores compared to white-collar employees. No significant difference was observed between the white- and blue-collar workers in terms of job stress or anxiety levels, whereas depression levels were significantly higher in blue-collar employees. Likewise, only the depression levels were significantly higher among those employees who work on shifts. Conclusion: Considering the relatively small number of studies on eating attitudes among males, despite its limitations of a cross-sectional design and a limited number of male workers from a single center alone, this study may contribute much and guide future research with larger samples from different working settings. Key words: Male worker, job stress, eating attitude, anxiety, depression.