WARWICK, England, Apr 13, 2009 (UPI via COMTEX) -- A job promotion, on average,
produces 10 percent more mental strain and reduces trips to the doctor by 20
percent, British researchers said.
Chris Boyce and Andrew Oswald of the University of Warwick questioned why people
with higher job status seem to have better health. A long-held assumption by
researchers is that an improvement to a person's job status, through a
promotion, will directly result in better health due to an increased sense of
life control and self-worth, the researchers said.
The researchers used the British Household Panel Survey data, collected annually
between 1991 and 2005, with information on approximately 1,000 individual
promotions.
After a job promotion, there was on average a 10 percent decrease in people's
mental health measured in a standardized way across the British population.
Those promoted at work also reported on average a 20 percent fall-off in their
visits to a doctor. The drop in doctor visits does not match the lack of change
in the reported health of promoted individuals but it might be explained by
increased stress levels of promoted workers -- who may have more constraints on
their time and less time to visit a doctor, the researchers said.
"Getting a promotion at work is not as great as many people think," Boyce said.
The findings are scheduled to be presented at the will be presented at the Royal
Economic Society's conference this month.
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