Intrinsic job stress and diastolic blood pressure among female hospital workers.

The present study of 375 female hospital workers assesses the impact of two specific dimensions of vocational stress on standing diastolic blood pressure. Both intrinsic (pertaining to job content) and extrinsic (associated with job context) stressors were examined in this study. Diastolic blood pressure was found to be significantly related to scores on an intrinsic stress measure, but not with the extrinsic one, even after the contribution of obesity and age levels were controlled. However, the effect of intrinsic stress was only found to be significant among women younger than 35. We believe this to be preliminary evidence that perceived dimensions of chronic intrinsic role stressors can be significant psychosocial correlates of diastolic blood pressure.