SMOKING - Blog

Men who work more than 50 hours weekly smoke at twice the rate of those who work normal full-time hours, Science Daily reported Aug. 23. Researchers at the University of Melbourne in Australia also found that those who characterized their work as demanding and had a low level of control over their jobs also were more likely to smoke. Among female workers, smoking risk was tied primarily to having a physically demanding job. “Workplace health promotion programs that encourage employees to give up smoking without reducing job stress would be missing an important opportunity to promote healthy working conditions as well as healthy behaviors,” noted Todd Harper, CEO of the Victorian Health Promotion Foundation. The study was published in the August 2007 issue of the American Journal of Industrial Medicine. Reference:
Radi, S., Ostry, A., LaMontagne, A.D. (2007) Job stress and other working conditions: Relationships with smoking behaviors in a representative sample of working Australians. American Journal of Industrial Medicine, 50(8): 584-596.   This article summarizes a mainstream media report of research published in a scientific journal. It is not an original analysis of the source material, which is cited in the reference above.