1 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1.0 Overview Over ... - DSpace@UM

(e.g. Work overload, role conflict/ambiguity, poor working conditions) associated withthat particular job.“Hours of work” has long been recognized to have a marked effect on the way stressreflects on an individual. Tytherligh, M.Y., Jacobs, P.A., Webb, C., Ricketts, C., &Cooper, C (2007), revealed that when differences in age and job exposure (i.e. type ofUniversity; category of employee; salary level; hours worked per week; and additionalresponsibilities) were accounted for, men and women reported similar levels of stress forwork relationship, work-life balance, overload, job security, control, resources andcommunication, and job overall. In contrast, they quickly added that men, however, weretroubled by pay and benefits while women reported higher levels pf physical andpsychological ill-health outcomes of stress. Thus, they indirectly supported previousresearches (Roxburgh, 1996; Verbrugge,1985; Verbrugge & Wingard, 1987) , thatshowed women’s higher levels of vulnerability to the negative health-related outcomes ofstress which, according to Gerdes (2003), may reflect some of the difficulties faced bywomen who work in male-dominated work environments such as universities. Womenare likely to be more susceptible to distress and illness due to conflict in values and lackof recognition for the reality in which they exist (Lluminari, 2004). Not surprisingly,earlier study by Starrin et al. (1990) supports the above statements as they found thatdifferences in gender; i.e., increases in overtime were associated with increases incardiovascular mortality in women, but no such relationship was found in men.28