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Job Stress and Agentic–Communal Personality Traits Related to Serum Cortisol Levels of Male Workers in a Japanese Medium-Sized Company: A Cross-Sectional Study

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Abstract

Background

Although serum cortisol is a widely accepted index of stress levels, associations between job stress and cortisol levels have been inconsistent. Individual differences in personality traits were discussed as one compelling explanation for this discrepancy. Agentic-communal personality traits have been examined as possible predictive factors for psychological stress.

Purpose

This study investigated correlations among agentic–communal personality traits and serum cortisol levels. It was also investigated whether job stress levels modified correlations between agentic–communal personality and cortisol levels.

Methods

Participants were 198 male workers (mean age = 52.2 years) employed by a shipbuilding company in Japan. Questionnaire data and blood samples were collected during an annual health checkup. Participants completed a self-report questionnaire that included the Job Content Questionnaire (JCQ) that assesses job control as job stress levels the Communion-Agency scale (CAS) and questions regarding health behaviors.

Results

Communion positively correlated with serum cortisol levels and unmitigated agency negatively correlated with serum cortisol levels. Stratified by job control, communion positively correlated with serum cortisol levels and agency negatively correlated with serum cortisol levels in participants with low levels of job control. Unmitigated agency negatively correlated with serum cortisol levels in participants with high levels of job control.

Conclusion

Levels of job control may modify correlations of gender-related personality with serum cortisol levels. Especially with exposure to high job stress, male workers with high femininity (i.e., high communion and low agency) were more likely to have a high stress response as measured by serum cortisol levels.

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Acknowledgments

The study was supported by a grant-in-aid from the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology (Grant No. 21700681).

Informed Consent

All procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000. Informed consent was obtained from all participants for being included in the study.

Conflict of Interest

Author Kumi Hirokawa, Author Toshiyo Taniguchi, and Author Yasuhito Fujii declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Nursing, Baika Women’s University, 2-19-5 Shukunosho, Ibaraki, Osaka, 567-8578, Japan

    Kumi Hirokawa

  2. Department of Welfare System and Health Science, Okayama Prefectural University, 111 Kuboki, Soja City, Okayama, 719-1197, Japan

    Toshiyo Taniguchi & Yasuhito Fujii

Authors
  1. Kumi Hirokawa
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  2. Toshiyo Taniguchi
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  3. Yasuhito Fujii
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kumi Hirokawa.

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Hirokawa, K., Taniguchi, T. & Fujii, Y. Job Stress and Agentic–Communal Personality Traits Related to Serum Cortisol Levels of Male Workers in a Japanese Medium-Sized Company: A Cross-Sectional Study. Int.J. Behav. Med. 22, 11–17 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12529-014-9403-9

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