ABSTRACT
The object of this study is to analyse job stress and insecurity and the perception of symptoms (health status) of 374 teachers (30 women and 74 men) with stable or temporary employment in schools in Pescara, a town in Central Italy. Job strain and job insecurity were analysed by an Italian version of the Karasek?s questionnaire, the perception of the health status by a 12 item test, and state and trait anxiety by STAI I and STAI II. There were no significant differences depending on the type of school. The young women with temporary contracts showed only higher levels of job insecurity than the women with stable employment, while those over 50 years old also showed more elevated values of job strain. Men with temporary contracts showed higher levels of both job insecurity and state and trait anxiety. The following highly significant correlations were observed: a) in women, job strain and perception of symptoms vs STAI I and STAI II (p<0.001); b) in men, job strain, job insecurity and perception of symptoms vs STAI II; job strain vs perception of symptoms as well as a negative correlation of decision latitude vs job insecurity, STAI I and STAI II (p<0.01). These results highlight differences in the perception of job insecurity between men and women. In particular, the decision latitude (skill decision + decision authority) plays an important role in men; temporary employment is mainly related to anxiety in men, while anxiety enhances the perception of poor health status mainly in women.
