Psychosocial work conditions including high demands, lack of control and support have been linked to poor health. Yet, the influence of individual factors such as general mental ability (GMA) remains to be examined. The present study set out to investigate how childhood mental ability and psychosocial work characteristics relate to different health indicators in a cohort of working women (n= 271) and men (n=291). Specifically, childhood GMA and self-reports of job demands, job control and social support were linked to two positive health indicators (sense of coherence and self-rated health) and two negative health indicators (musculoskeletal problems and anxiety). In view of the gendered labor market and variations in health patterns between women and men, gender specific analyses were performed. Results revealed no linkages between childhood GMA and the health indicators included. Further, there were no significant interactions between GMA and the psychosocial factors. The overall impact of occupational level was low and controlling for occupational level did not change the results much. These findings are likely to result from the study cohort being fairly homogeneous and the women and men being in good health.
Abstracts from the 11th International Congress of Behavioral Medicine