A boss’ support helps keep stress down at work

If jobs were ranked according to stress potential, being a traffic cop in New York City would be near the top of the list. But the high stress level makes the officers good subjects on which to study job-related tension.

“How your boss treats you really matters,” says Elizabeth Brondolo, associate professor of psychology at St. John’s University in Jamaica, N.Y.

She and coauthor William Karlin, a psychologist, analyzed the stress responses of 70 traffic agents. They compared blood pressures and heart rates when the agents were relaxed in a quiet room and those tracked by monitors worn during the workday. Interviews and questionnaires revealed the level of support the agents received from supervisors and co-workers.

Traffic cops who turned to co-workers for support had less of an increase in blood pressure and heart rate than those who didn’t, but the biggest effects were seen in those who had supervisor backing. “Those who felt most supported by their supervisors had smaller increases in blood pressure during high-stress periods compared to those who felt low levels of support,” says Brondolo.

That could be bad news for the rest of us. “People who felt most supported wrote more tickets,” she says.

The study was published in the March/April issue of Psychosomatic Medicine.

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-- Dianne Partie Lange