Occupational Stress versus Cortisol Associated with Psychological Variables and Gender Differences among Women and Men in Nursing

Virginia Dresch^1,2,3*, María del Pilar Sánchez-López^1,2,4, Ana Isabel Saavedra^1,2,5

¹EPSY-Research Group Psychological Styles, Gender, and Health, Madrid, Spain.
²Red Hygeia—Health & Gender International Alliance, Madrid, Spain.
³Universidade Federal Fluminense, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
⁴Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, Spain.
⁵Hospital Universitario de Getafe, Madrid, Spain.

DOI: 10.4236/health.2015.77099                

Abstract

The present research focused on a sample of Spanish male and female nurses to determine whether psychological variables are related to occupational stress and cortisol. Spanish male (n = 98) and female (n = 98) nurses, matched in diverse sociodemographic variables, completed measures of occupational stress, cortisol 8 am (8 h), and cortisol 8 pm (20 h), and psychological variables. Multivariable regression analyses revealed different patterns of association among the variables when analyzing subjective and (occupational stress) objective indicators (cortisol at 8 h and cortisol at 20 h). In male nurses, higher stress is related to worse self-perceived health, worse mental health, less cortisol measured at 8 h, and more morningness. For the female nurses, higher stress is related to being younger, worse self-perceived health, and less job satisfaction. The only similarities found in the target variables and the measures of stress studied in the groups of males and females are worse self-perceived health and worse mental health associated with more occupational stress.

Keywords

Occupational Stress, Cortisol, Health, Nursing, Spain

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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