The influence of temperament on long-term job strain and its components: The cardiovascular risk in Young Finns Study

We examined the relationship between Cloninger’s temperament in adulthood, job strain and its components. There were 613 participants (273 men) aged 30–45 years. Cloninger’s temperament scale (Cloninger, Svrakic, & Przybeck, 1993) was used to measure temperament traits of novelty seeking (NS), harm avoidance (HA), reward dependence (RD) and persistence (P) in 1997 and in 2001. Job demands, job control, education and occupation were reported in 2001 and 2007. The results showed that low NS and high HA predicted higher long-term job strain. Higher NS, lower HA and higher P predicted higher long-term job control, and higher HA and higher P predicted higher long-term job demands. High RD predicted job strain only in 2001. Although job demands and job control mainly reflect characteristics of work environment, temperament tendencies seem to contribute to job strain and its components.