The perception of psychosocial risks and work-related stress in relation to job insecurity and gender differences: a cross-sectional study

Introduction.The perception of psychosocial risks exposesworkers to developwork-related stress. Recently the attention of scientific
research has focused on a psychosocial risk already identified as “job insecurity” that regards the “overall concern about the
continued existence of the job in the future” and that also depends onworker’s perception, different for each gender. Aimof the Study.
The aim of this cross sectional study is to show if job insecurity, in the formof temporary contracts, can influence the perception of
psychosocial risks and therefore increase worker’s vulnerability to work-related stress and how the magnitude of this effect differs
between genders. Materials and Methods. 338 administrative technical workers (113 males and 225 females) were administered a
questionnaire, enquiring contract typology (permanent or temporary contracts), and the Health Safety Executive questionnaire
to assess work-related stress. The Health Safety Executive Analysis Tool software was used to process collected questionnaires
and theWilcoxon rank-sum test was used to evaluate the statistical significance of the differences obtained. Results. Workers with
temporary contracts obtained lower scores than workers with permanent contracts in all the domains explored by theHealth Safety
Executive Analysis questionnaire, statistically significant (P<0,05). The female workers obtained lower scores than male workers in
all domains explored by the Health Safety Executive questionnaire. Conclusions. Authors conclude that perception of psychosocial
risks can be influenced by job insecurity, in the form of temporary contracts, and increases worker’s vulnerability to work-related
stress and differs between genders.