Kazumi Kubota

Validation of the Japanese version of the recovery experience questionnaire.

Validation of the Japanese Version of the Recovery Experience Questionnaire: Akihito SHIMAZU, et al. Department of Mental Health, The University of Tokyo, Graduate School of Medicine—

Work-to-family Conflict and Family-to-work Conflict among Japanese Dual-earner Couples with Preschool Children: A Spillover-Crossover Perspective

Work‐to‐family Conflict and Family‐towork Conflict among Japanese Dual‐earner Couples with Preschool Children: A Spillover‐Crossover Perspective: Akihito SHIMAZU, et al. Department of Mental Health, The University of Tokyo Graduate School of Medicine, Japan—

Workaholism and Sleep Quality Among Japanese Employees: A Prospective Cohort Study

BackgroundThis study focused on workaholism as a personal attitude toward work and examined its effects on sleep quality among Japanese employees from various occupations.PurposeThe present study aimed to demonstrate the prospective association of workaholism (i.e., working excessively hard in a compulsive fashion) with sleep quality among Japanese employees.MethodsA Web-based prospective survey was conducted in October 2010 and May 2011 among registered monitors of a survey company. The questionnaire included workaholism, sleep quality, job characteristics, and demographics. Overall, 13,564 monitors were randomly invited to complete the first wave of the survey. The first 2,520 respondents were included in this study. The respondents who completed the first wave were invited to complete the second wave of the survey; 2,061 answered. A total of 364 respondents who changed their working conditions during the follow-up period were excluded. In addition, due to missing values, data from 14 respondents were excluded. Thus, the responses from 1,683 respondents were included in the analysis (859 males and 824 females). An analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was conducted to compare adjusted sleep quality at follow-up among workaholism groups (low, middle, and high). To conduct the ANCOVA, we adjusted for demographics, sleep quality at baseline, and job characteristics.ResultsThe high-workaholic group had significantly longer sleep latency at follow-up compared with the low- and middle-workaholic groups after adjusting for demographics, sleep latency at baseline, and job characteristics. In addition, the high-workaholic group demonstrated significantly higher levels of daytime dysfunction compared with the low-workaholic group. However, no significant differences were found among workaholic groups in terms of overall sleep quality, sleep duration, habitual sleep efficiency, sleep disturbance, and use of sleep medication.ConclusionWorkaholism was associated with poor sleep quality at the 7-month follow-up in terms of sleep latency and daytime dysfunction.

Psychological detachment from work during off-job time : predictive role of work and non-work factors in Japanese employees

Psychological detachment from work, an off-job experience of “switching off” mentally, seems to be crucial for promoting employee’s well-being. Previous studies on predictors of psychological detachment mainly focused on job-related factors, and only a few studies focused on family-related and personal factors. This study focuses not only on job-related factors (job demands, job control, workplace support) but also on family-related (family/friend support) and personal factors (workaholism), and examines the relation of these three factors with psychological detachment. Data of 2,520 Japanese employees was randomly split into two groups and then analyzed using cross-validation. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses revealed that family/friend support had a positive association with psychological detachment, whereas a subscale of workaholism (i.e. working compulsively) had negative associations with it across the two groups. Results suggest that family/friend support would facilitate psychological detachment whereas workaholism would inhibit it.

Psychosocial Mechanisms of Psychological Health Disparity in Japanese Workers

Recent epidemiologic research has shown that people with higher socioeconomic status (SES) (e.g., educational attainment) have better psychological health than those with lower SES. However, the psychosocial mechanisms of underlying this relationship remain unclear. To fill this gap, the current study examines the mediating effects of job demands and job resources in the relationship between educational attainment and psychological distress. The hypothesized model was tested using large data sets from two different studies: a cross-sectional study of 9,652 Japanese employees from 12 workplaces (Study 1), and a longitudinal study of 1,957 Japanese employees (Study 2). Structural equation modeling revealed that (1) educational attainment was positively related to psychological distress through job demands, (2) educational attainment was negatively related to psychological distress through job resources, and (3) educational attainment was not directly related to psychological distress. These results suggest that educational attainment has an indirect effect, rather than a direct one, on psychological distress among workers; educational attainment had both a positive and a negative relationship to psychological distress through job demands and job resources, respectively.

Health-Related Problems after the Great East Japan Earthquake: An Evaluation Based on the Annual Health Examination

Background: Study on the medium- to long-term effect of a great earthquake on health among the victims is limited. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the medium-term (i.e., three months) effect of the Great East Japan Earthquake (occurred on March 11, 2011) on health conditions (i.e., blood pressure, hemoglobin A1c [HbA1c], blood sugar, triglyceride, and total cholesterol) among the victims, by comparing with the control population. Methods: In June 2011, taking blood pressure and blood tests were conducted for a total of 159 victims who had stayed in the shelter located in the Tohoku region since the Great East Japan Earthquake. The same tests were conducted for a total of 1,048 control participants in Tokyo from October 2010 to December 2011. Analyses of covariance and multiple logistic regression analyses were conducted. Results: Compared with the control group, the victim group had significantly higher systolic and diastolic blood pressure; lower HbA1c, blood sugar, triglyceride, and total cholesterol, after adjusting for age and sex. In a similar way, the victim group had a significantly higher prevalence odds ratio of hypertension; lower prevalence odds ratios of diabetes mellitus, high blood sugar, high triglyceride, and high total cholesterol than control group. Conclusions: The present study revealed that the prevalence of hypertension is higher among the victims of the Great East Japan Earthquake. Lower prevalence of diabetes mellitus, high blood sugar, high triglyceride, and high total cholesterol among the victims may be explained by the continued inadequate diet issues after the earthquake.