Journal article
The association between drought conditions and increased occupational psychosocial stress among U.S. farmers: An occupational cohort study
The Science of the total environment, Vol.798, pp.149245-149245
12/01/2021
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.149245
PMCID: PMC9940133
PMID: 34320456
Abstract
Drought represents a globally relevant natural disaster linked to adverse health. Evidence has shown agricultural communities to be particularly susceptible to drought, but there is a limited understanding of how drought may impact occupational stress in farmers.
We used repeated measures data collected in the Musculoskeletal Symptoms among Agricultural Workers Cohort study, including 498 Midwestern U.S. farmers surveyed with a Job Content Questionnaire (JCQ) at six-month intervals in 312 counties from 2012 through 2015. A longitudinal linear mixed effects model was used to estimate the change in job strain ratio, a continuous metric of occupational psychosocial stress, during drought conditions measured with a 12-month standardized precipitation index. We further evaluated associations between drought and psychological job demand and job decision latitude, the job strain components, and applied a stratified analysis to evaluate differences by participant sex, age, and geography.
During the growing season, the job strain ratio increased by 0.031 (95% CI: 0.012, 0.05) during drought conditions, an amount equivalent to a one-half standard deviation change (Cohen's D = 0.5), compared to non-drought conditions. The association between drought and the job strain ratio was driven mostly by increases in the psychological job demand (2.09; 95% CI: 0.94, 3.24). No risk differences were observed by sex, age group, or geographic region.
Our results suggest a previously unidentified association between drought and increased occupational psychosocial stress among farmers. With North American climate anticipated to become hotter and drier, these findings could provide important health effects data for federal drought early warning systems and mitigation plans.
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•Drought risk for farmer occupational psychosocial stress is unknown.•Farmers are a vulnerable population to extreme weather events.•A linear mixed effects longitudinal model evaluated farmer job strain.•Growing season drought increased farmers occupational psychosocial stress.•Drought planning should consider occupational psychosocial stress effects.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- The association between drought conditions and increased occupational psychosocial stress among U.S. farmers: An occupational cohort study
- Creators
- Jesse D Berman - University of MinnesotaMarizen R Ramirez - University of MinnesotaJesse E Bell - University of Nebraska Medical CenterRocky Bilotta - NOAA National Centers for Environmental InformationFredric Gerr - University of IowaNathan B Fethke - University of Iowa
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- The Science of the total environment, Vol.798, pp.149245-149245
- DOI
- 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.149245
- PMID
- 34320456
- PMCID
- PMC9940133
- NLM abbreviation
- Sci Total Environ
- ISSN
- 0048-9697
- eISSN
- 1879-1026
- Publisher
- Elsevier B.V
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 12/01/2021
- Academic Unit
- Roy J. Carver Department of Biomedical Engineering; Occupational and Environmental Health; Epidemiology; Industrial and Systems Engineering; Injury Prevention Research Center
- Record Identifier
- 9984227054602771
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