Perceived sources of occupational stress among Chinese off-shore oil installation workers

To explore the perceived sources of occupational stress and their relative importance among Chinese off-shore oil installation workers, we used a self-administered questionnaire to study 51 stressors associated with off-shore oil work among S61 Chinese workers in a state-owned oil company. The mean scores of 51 individual stressors were calculated and ranked. Factor analysis was used to identify nine sources of stress which were also ranked according to their standard mean scores. The top four sources of stress were, in descending order of importance: 'physical environment of the workplace', 'safety', 'interface between job and family/social life' and 'career and achievement'. The perceived sources of work stress in Chinese workers were different from those reported in earlier studies on UK off-shore oil workers. These differences might be attributable to socio-cultural factors or possibly, changes in perception to stress over time. A better understanding of the sources of stress is essential to promote the physical and mental health of off-shore oil workers. More cross-cultural comparative studies would be useful in elucidating the influence of socio-cultural and environmental factors on stress perception. Copyright (C) 2002 John Wiley Sons, Ltd.