Qualitative job stress and ego aptitude in male scientific researchers.

BACKGROUND: Job environments have been fundamentally changed by globalization and modern technological innovation. Qualitative workload is expected to increase more than quantitative workload through this rapid technological innovation. Especially, in developed countries, qualitative workload is expected to become a primary job-related stress factor in the near future. Therefore, it is essential to clarify the characteristics of qualitative workload and to determine how to cope with it effectively.

OBJECTIVES: Since job stress level and ego aptitude are correlated and qualitative overload increases stress, we examined qualitative overload and ego aptitude among male Japanese cutting-edge science researchers.

METHODS: The Brief Job Stress Questionnaire and the Tokyo University Ego-gram New Version II were distributed to all workers at two Japanese academic institutions.

RESULTS: Qualitative overload and adult ego aptitude, representing rationalism, were higher in male researchers than in the Japanese male general sample. In addition, adapted child aptitude, representing obedience, was lower in male researchers. Lack of supervisor support was positively associated with qualitative overload, and nurturing parent ego aptitude was negatively associated with it.

CONCLUSIONS: Male researchers had higher levels of qualitative overload. Increasing supervisor support is essential in decreasing this qualitative overload. Furthermore, enhancement of nurturing parent ego aptitude (i.e., careful consideration for others) is also important for qualitative overload management.