Ann-Christine Andersson Arntén, Bengt Jansson and Trevor Archer
Two hundred and twelve participants, 135 male and 77 female, derived from several different occupations, responded to questionnaires based upon several self-report instruments including the Subjective Stress Experience Questionnaire (psychological and somatic), the Stress and Energy Scale, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression (HAD) Scale, the Job Stress Survey (JSS), Partnership Relations Quality (PRQ) Test, and the Positive and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS). It was found that self-reported high levels of work stress (the JSS “High work stress” group) induced more anxiety, stress (SE), psychological and somatic subjective stress, and negative affect than selfreported low levels of work stress (the JSS “Low work stress” group), with intermediate levels of work stress (the JSS “Medium work stress” group) in between. Self-reported high levels of partnership relations quality (the “High PRQ” group) was associated with less depression, anxiety, stress (SE) and negative affect than self-reported low levels of partnership relations quality (the “High PRQ” group), with intermediate levels (the “Medium PRQ” group) in between. Regression analysis indicated that depressive, anxiety, stress (SE), psychological stress and somatic stress were each significantly predicted by work stress (JSS), whereas partnership relations quality was counter-predictive for depression, anxiety, stress (SE) and psychological stress. Female participants expressed higher levels of stress and energy (SE), anxiety and psychological stress (SSE) than the male participants. The present findings tentatively suggest the health-promoting advantages of positive partnership, and/or familial, relations in counteracting the illhealth accruing from various types of general stress (SE, psychological and somatic) and the particular stresses of work occupation.