Personal Characteristics Moderate Work Stress in Construction Professionals. 6

ABSTRACT ; Studies of work stress in the construction industry have largely considered work characteristics as cofounding factors of work - related psychological illnesses and have paid minimal attention to the characteristics of construction personnel. However, literature from the field of psychology suggests that characteristics of individuals are heavily associated with stress-induced psychological illnesses. This study using multiple correspondence analyses of data collected from 283 professionals in the Australian construction industry, investigated the simultaneous influence of six personal characteristics of construction professionals, such as gender, age , occupation, income, marital statusand personality with a status of separated, divorced, or widowed are at high risk of suffering severe anxiety, depression and acute stress, and female professionals at middle management levels reported mild to moderate anxiety and depression, whereas their male counterparts were largely within normal ranges. These findings imply that in order to reduce productivity losses and economic costs caused by work stress, construction organizations should have (1) specialized programs that identify and provide social and emotional support for employees who are suffering marital discord and (2) family-friendly and female-friendly employment policies and terms. 56

5

5