Sattler, Sebastian ORCID: 0000-0002-6491-0754 and von dem Knesebeck, Olaf
(2022).
Effort-Reward Imbalance at Work and Prescription Drug Misuse-Prospective Evidence from Germany.
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health, 19 (13).
BASEL:
MDPI.
ISSN 1660-4601
Abstract
This study examines how work stress affects the misuse of prescription drugs to augment mental performance without medical necessity (i.e., cognitive enhancement). Based on the effort-reward imbalance model, it can be assumed that a misalignment of effort exerted and rewards received increases prescription drug misuse, especially if employees overcommit. To test these assumptions, we conducted a prospective study using a nationwide web-based sample of the working population in Germany (N = 11,197). Effort, reward, and overcommitment were measured at t(1) and the 12 month frequency of prescription drug misuse for enhancing cognitive performance was measured at a one-year follow-up (t(2)). The results show that 2.6% of the respondents engaged in such drug misuse, of which 22.7% reported frequent misuse. While we found no overall association between misuse frequency and effort, reward, or their imbalance, overcommitment was significantly associated with a higher misuse frequency. Moreover, at low levels of overcommitment, more effort and an effort-reward imbalance discouraged future prescription drug misuse, while higher overcommitment, more effort, and an imbalance increased it. These findings suggest that a stressful work environment is a risk factor for health-endangering behavior, and thereby underlines the importance of identifying groups at risk of misusing drugs.
Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||||||||||
Creators: |
|
||||||||||||
URN: | urn:nbn:de:hbz:38-682542 | ||||||||||||
DOI: | 10.3390/ijerph19137632 | ||||||||||||
Journal or Publication Title: | Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health | ||||||||||||
Volume: | 19 | ||||||||||||
Number: | 13 | ||||||||||||
Date: | 2022 | ||||||||||||
Publisher: | MDPI | ||||||||||||
Place of Publication: | BASEL | ||||||||||||
ISSN: | 1660-4601 | ||||||||||||
Language: | English | ||||||||||||
Faculty: | Unspecified | ||||||||||||
Divisions: | Unspecified | ||||||||||||
Subjects: | no entry | ||||||||||||
Uncontrolled Keywords: |
|
||||||||||||
URI: | http://kups.ub.uni-koeln.de/id/eprint/68254 |
Downloads
Downloads per month over past year
Altmetric
Export
Actions (login required)
![]() |
View Item |