Lakhasly

r, we did observe differences in the direct effects of job insecurity, job control, and job strain on life stress between men and women.This may be due to the abbreviated measure used in our study, although previous studies using this abbreviated measure (albeit in different samples) have found that low job con- trol does have a stronger impact on psychological distress (measured cross-sectionally) (Vermuelen and Mustard, 2000) and future incidence of hypertension (P. M. Smith et al., 2013) among men compared with women.Our findings of the absence of the effects of job con- trol on work stress levels and protective effect of low job control on life stress levels among men (but not among women) contradict other studies on this topic (Vermuelen and Mustard, 2000; Griffin et al., 2002; Steptoe and Willemsen, 2004; De Bruin and Taylor, 2006; Riverra- Torres, 2013; Hattori and Munakata, 2015).

r, we did observe differences in the direct effects of job insecurity, job control, and job strain on life stress between men and women. Higher job insecurity and higher job control were associated with higher life stress among men compared with women, while higher job strain was associated with higher life stress among women but not among men.
Our findings of male/female differences of the rela- tionships between supervisor support and work stress levels are in line with earlier studies (Vermuelen and Mustard, 2000; Rivera-Torres et al., 2013). The absence of male/female differences between co-worker support and work stress was unexpected, given that women were previously found to be more psychologically reactive to social relationships than men. Our results to some extent contradict the study by Jiang and Hu (2015) who found that the beneficial effect of colleague relationships on life satisfaction was significantly stronger among females
compared with males. Exploring contextual factors such as sources and types of social support in future studies is needed to better understand the differences in the impor- tance of social support at work for stress levels among men and women.
Our findings of the absence of the effects of job con- trol on work stress levels and protective effect of low job control on life stress levels among men (but not among women) contradict other studies on this topic (Vermuelen and Mustard, 2000; Griffin et al., 2002; Steptoe and Willemsen, 2004; De Bruin and Taylor, 2006; Riverra- Torres, 2013; Hattori and Munakata, 2015). This may be due to the abbreviated measure used in our study, although previous studies using this abbreviated measure (albeit in different samples) have found that low job con- trol does have a stronger impact on psychological distress (measured cross-sectionally) (Vermuelen and Mustard, 2000) and future incidence of hypertension (P. M. Smith et al., 2013) among men compared with women.