Relationship between the Career Selection Process and Happiness among Japanese School Teachers, Office Workers, and Nurses ()
1. Introduction
Japan has one of the highest life expectancies among advanced economies, [1] and life expectancy in Japan is expected to continue to increase. Human life currently lasts about 100 years, with improvements in health, nutrition, medical care, sanitation, education, and other aspects of life expected to further increase longevity [2]. A study reported that half of the children born in Japan 10 years ago will live to be 107 years old [1]. As life expectancy increases, so does the proportion of life spent engaged in employment (working life expectancy). Japan is known for its traditional social structures, with predetermined life courses and career paths [3]. While the government of Japan has been working toward a society in which all citizens are engaged and has made investments in human resources to reform work styles, workers in many fields are regularly expected to work overtime, and overtime work is associated with psychological stress [4]. Job stress has been linked to adverse mental health outcomes in various fields, including among social workers, eldercare workers, and public employees [5] [6] [7]. Indeed, several studies have noted greater job dissatisfaction in Japan compared with other countries [8] [9] [10].
Substantial differences in subjective well-being exist from country to country, and Japan is less happy than other countries, ranking below most other industrialized nations [11] [12]. Happiness differs across the life course, and studies report a U-shaped association of happiness with age, with the trough in the middle of the working years [13] [14]. research suggests that gains in life expectancy in Japan since 1995 have been large gains in years of poor self-rated health. Understanding the relationship between career factors and happiness is important for improving overall well-being among Japanese.
Career satisfaction is also known to differ by occupation, with employees gaining more satisfaction from jobs that involve providing experiences to customers instead of objects [15]. While nursing is an arduous occupation, requiring long working hours and the completion of complex tasks in often unhealthy work environments, nurses report job satisfaction in contributing to others’ wellbeing and saving lives [16]. Likewise, schoolteachers may derive job satisfaction from how they contribute to their students’ futures and well-being, and teachers’ happiness and self-esteem are mediated by their job satisfaction [17]. As professions that provide experiences to clients, nursing and teaching may afford greater happiness than the product-centered occupations of office workers.
To clarify the relationship between the career-selection process and happiness, we surveyed subjects from an available marketing database using an ad hoc questionnaire.
2. Methods
2.1. Participants
We analyzed the relationship between the career selection process and happiness for each of the occupations of a school teacher, office worker, and nurse. Participants were recruited from a database that is administered by a Japanese survey company (Cross Marketing Inc., Tokyo, Japan). From a total of 4,200,000 people listed in a database administered by this company, a subsample of 805 subjects was drawn using random sampling stratified by age and place of residence. All participants used a web-based questionnaire-answering system provided by the survey company. All 805 subjects who accessed the survey web page responded and gave us informed consent before starting the questionnaire. This study was approved by the Medical Ethics Committee of Ibaraki Prefectural University of Health Sciences (Ibaraki, Japan, e136-h300104).
2.2. Happiness Score
In this study, we measured self-perceived happiness using the following single question: “How would you rate your overall happiness level on an 11-point scale of zero (very unhappy) to ten (very happy)?” This single-item scale is reliable, valid, and correlated with self-rated physical and mental health [18].
2.3. Type of Career Selection Process
We also explored characteristics of the career-selection process in medical sciences students examined in terms of psychological traits relating to important decision-making. The career selection process was evaluated using the following single question: “How did you decide on your profession?” Participants chose among five types of career selection, as shown in Table 1. Career-selection types were modeled on course-selection types that were previously verified via factor analysis. [19] The full questionnaire is also available in the Appendix.
2.4. Statistical Analysis
The cross-sectional comparison began with a performance of the Levene test to determine the equality of variance among the groups. Based on the results, the means of the parameters of the groups were compared using either one-way ANOVA or Welch’s test, as appropriate. To correct for the level of significance, the Games-Howell test was performed to compare the mean values among the groups. We used Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) ver.27.0 (SPSS, Inc., Chicago, IL, USA) for all statistical analysis. The statistical significance level was set at p < 0.05.
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Table 1. Career selection types able types.
3. Results
3.1. The Average Happiness Level of School Teachers, Office Workers, and Nurses
We compared the average happiness level of schoolteachers, office workers, and nurses (Table 2 and Figure 1). We found that the average happiness level of office workers (mean 5.6; standard deviation [SD], 2.3) was significantly lower than that of schoolteachers (mean 6.4; SD, 2.2) and nurses (mean 6.7; SD, 2.3) (both p < 0.001). Happiness did not significantly differ between teachers and nurses (p = 0.527).
3.2. Career Selection Process Types and Happiness Level
We also compared career selection process types and average happiness levels for each occupation (Table 3). The happiness levels of office workers (Figure 2(a)) and schoolteachers (Figure 2(b)) were significantly lower for the evasion type than for other types of career selection (ANOVA p < 0.001; individual comparison p values ranged from p < 0.001 to p = 0.046). However, no such relationship was observed among nurses (Figure 2(c)), for whom happiness level did not differ significantly between types (ANOVA p = 0.138).
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Table 2. Comparison of mean self-reported happiness rating among occupations.
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Figure 1. Happiness rating among occupations. The average happiness level of office workers was significantly lower than school teachers and nurses. Happiness did not significantly differ between teachers and nurses.
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Table 3. Mean self-reported happiness ratings stratified by career-selection type of mean self-reported happiness rating among occupations.
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Figure 2. Happiness rating score among occupations. The happiness levels of office workers (a) and schoolteachers (b) were significantly lower for the evasion type than for other types of career selection. However, no such relationship was observed among nurses (c).
4. Discussion
We found that happiness was significantly greater among schoolteachers and nurses than among office workers in Japan. Among schoolteachers and office workers, an evasive/avoidance type of career-selection process had an unfavorable effect on happiness. However, among nurses, no such association was observed.
Happiness varies across the life course and may be influenced by many factors, and individuals make trade-offs in levels of happiness with levels of income, physical health, family, career success, and education [20].
Career satisfaction is also known to differ by occupation. Nurses report job satisfaction related to the meaningfulness of their work to the lives and wellbeing of their patients [21]. Likewise, schoolteachers may derive job satisfaction from how they contribute to their students’ futures and well-being, and teachers’ happiness and self-esteem are mediated by their job satisfaction [22]. As professions that provide experiences to clients, nursing and teaching can afford greater happiness than the product-centered occupations of office workers.
Career satisfaction is further influenced by motivating career factors, including task identity, skill variety, task significance, autonomy, and feedback [22]. Nursing and teaching are occupations requiring a range of skills and ownership of autonomous tasks, and the work contributes to patients/students’ health and wellbeing throughout the life course. These motivating factors may contribute to happiness among nurses and schoolteachers.
Career decision-making across the life span is influenced by a wide spectrum of external factors, [23] including family influence, academic satisfaction, and self-efficacy [24]. Self-efficacy related to career planning is itself influenced by other personality traits, including neuroticism, agreeableness, and conscientiousness [25]. Gender differences have been shown in career self-efficacy, with the perception of barriers in career development leading to less career planning among girls [26].
An evasive/avoidance career-selection type was associated with less happiness among schoolteachers and office workers. Neglecting to actively choose an occupation may lead to a perceived lack of autonomy and task significance in their occupations. Self-determination is a stronger determinant of perceived wellbeing than income or educational background [14]. An evasive career selection type may also reflect personality traits associated with less career satisfaction. The lack of an observed association between the evasion career-selection type and happiness among nurses may also be related to personality traits or other external factors, but could also be due to the small group size for that category (n = 9). Indeed, the point estimate for happiness among nurses reporting an evasive/avoidance career-selection type was lower than that for other career-selection types (5.0 vs. 6.2 - 6.9). It is possible that a significant association would be clear in a larger sample.
Career education programs have been shown to increase self-efficacy and encourage active career exploration in re-cent graduates, [27] as well as improving career self-efficacy, career adaptability, and career stress in nursing students [28]. Given the negative association of an evasive/avoidance career-selection type with happiness, interventions to improve career-related self-efficacy are warranted.
5. Conclusion
We found that Japanese nurses and schoolteachers reported greater happiness than office workers and that an evasive career-selection strategy is detrimental to happiness among schoolteachers and office workers. Paying attention to the career-selection process may be helpful to improve happiness.
Acknowledgements
We thank all volunteers who participated in this study.
Ethics Approval
This study was approved by the Medical Ethics Committee of Ibaraki Prefectural University of Health Sciences (Ibaraki, Japan, e136-h300104).
Appendix (Questionnaire)
· Age (years)
Age (years)
Q What is your age group?
☐ 20 - 29 ☐ 30 - 39 ☐ 40 - 49 ☐ 50 - 59
· Gender
Q Your gender
☐ male ☐ female
· Job
Q Please select your profession.
☐ school teacher ☐ office worker ☐ nurse
· Decision-Making
Q How did you decide on your profession? Please select an applicable answer.
☐ early-selection type: Since I was a child, I vaguely thought about my current profession, imagined myself in that profession, and told others around me, so my intentions strengthened and I decided almost as I wanted.
☐ midway change type: There was a profession that I had decided on, but there was a big conflict due to grades, opposition from others, or other factors, so I changed it.
☐ just-prior selection type: It was not clear what kind of profession I would take until just before the course was decided, and I decided just before that, but I accept the decided course.
☐ evasive type: I went with the flow of life that happened at that time, without knowing which profession to take. The vision for the future was not very clear.
☐ encounter type: One day when I was in high school, I learned about this profession and have been thinking about taking up this profession ever since.
· Happiness
Q How would you rate your overall happiness level of zero (very unhappy) to ten (very happy)?
☐ 0 ☐ 1 ☐ 2 ☐ 3 ☐ 4 ☐ 5 ☐ 6 ☐ 7 ☐ 8 ☐ 9 ☐ 10