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Biomedical subjects

M Frankenhaeuser

Publications and source records attributed to M Frankenhaeuser.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1999

Stress and workload of men and women in high-ranking positions.

Psychological and physiological stress responses related to work and family were investigated in 21 female and 21 male managers and professional specialists in high-ranking positions. The main result was that both women and men experienced their jobs as challenging and stimulating, although almost all data indicated a more favorable situation for men than for women. In addition, women were more stressed by their greater unpaid workload and by a greater responsibility for duties related to home and family. Women had higher norepinephrine levels than men did, both during and after work, which reflected their greater workload. Women with children at home had significantly higher norepinephrine levels after work than did the other participants. The possible long-term health consequences of women's higher stress levels are discussed.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1994

The total workload of male and female white collar workers as related to age, occupational level, and number of children.

A questionnaire assessing various aspects of paid as well as unpaid forms of productive activity was mailed to stratified samples of male and female white collar workers, approximately matched for educational and occupational level. Data from 501 men and 679 women employed full time revealed traditional gender differences in terms of main responsibility for household duties, child care etc. In keeping with this, women reported higher levels of work overload, stress and conflict than men, which increased significantly with the number of children at home. The various stress indices reached a peak between the ages of 35 and 39. Men reported more autonomy in their paid work whereas women reported more control at home. Men and women at the upper managerial levels reported more control over their total work situation and less conflict between demands.

Adult↗
PubMed1990

Steroid sex hormones and cardiovascular function in healthy males and females: a correlational study.

The relationship of serum estradiol and testosterone levels to systolic (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) and heart rate (HR) was examined in healthy nonsmoking males (n = 30) and females (n = 22), 30-50 years of age (mean age for men = 41.2, women = 39.9). Postmenopausal women and women taking oral contraceptives had been excluded. Testosterone levels in women were positively correlated with SBP, DBP and HR, after removing the effects of age and body mass. Positive correlations were also found between estradiol and SBP and HR in women. No systematic relationships were found between steroid sex hormones and cardiovascular measurements in men. The findings suggest a role of steroid sex hormones in cardiovascular function of women, whereas the relationship in men is less clear.

Adult↗
PubMed1990

Comparison of neuroendocrine measurements under laboratory and naturalistic conditions.

Urinary catecholamines and cortisol were measured in healthy nonsmoking white collar workers (14 male and 15 female managers, 15 male and 14 female clerical workers), aged 30-50 years, during a one-hour period of laboratory-induced stress comprising five tests and a Type A interview, and during a subsequent period of rest in the laboratory. Values were compared with data obtained four months earlier from the same subjects during a normal day at work (4 values) and during a work-free day at home (4 values). No significant group differences were found during rest in the laboratory. However, during laboratory-induced stress, female managers had the highest norepinephrine values, which contributed to significantly (p less than 0.01) higher values in women than in men. Correlations between absolute measurements from laboratory and naturalistic conditions were generally positive and reached significance in most cases. Correlations between reactivity measurements in the laboratory and at work (change from rest to stress and from home to work, respectively) were generally low, whereas correlations between reactivity at different times of the day were relatively high. The data suggest that generalizability of neuroendocrine reactivity from laboratory stress to real-life stress is low. However, in agreement with earlier experimental findings, absolute levels of catecholamine and cortisol excretion were consistent over conditions and time.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

Blood lipids as related to cardiovascular and neuroendocrine functions under different conditions in healthy males and females.

Correlations were calculated between, on the one hand, total serum cholesterol, low-density (LDL) and high-density (HDL) lipoprotein cholesterol, and triglycerides, and, on the other hand, systolic (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP), heart rate (HR), urinary epinephrine, norepinephrine, and cortisol in 30 healthy males and 30 healthy females, aged 30-50. The cardiovascular and neuroendocrine measurements were obtained under different real-life and laboratory conditions. The most striking finding was that, in men, but not in women, total serum cholesterol was significantly positively correlated with SBP in all conditions (LDL and HDL cholesterol followed the same pattern). In women, but not in men, epinephrine and norepinephrine during laboratory-induced mental stress were significantly positively correlated with total cholesterol, LDL and triglycerides.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

A biopsychosocial approach to work life issues.

This article is based on research carried out in the author's laboratory during the past decades. The central theme is the study of how environmental factors influence health and behavior. The approach is multidisciplinary, focusing on the dynamics of stressful person-environment interactions, viewed from social, psychological, and biomedical perspectives. A biopsychosocial framework for the study of stress and coping at the workplace is outlined. Key notions in the biopsychosocial approach are that endocrine responses to the psychosocial environment reflect its impact on the individual and serve as early warnings of long-term risks. Research on the release of the adrenal hormones, catecholamines and cortisol, in response to different work demands is interpreted in terms of the author's "effort and affect" model. The significance of personal control for achieving a state of effort and positive affect is underscored. Finally, a plea is made for dialogue between researchers in the biopsychosocial field and the employees, their organizations, and management. The dialogue is seen as a tool for translating research results into practical measures.

Burnout, Professional↗
PubMed1989

Females' emotionality as reflected in the excretion of the dopamine metabolite HVA during mental stress.

This paper describes the relationships between psychological assessments of emotionality and massfragmentographic measures of the dopamine metabolite homovanillic acid (HVA) in healthy boys and girls. Examination stress induced a significant rise in HVA excretion in both sexes. In girls, but not in boys, significant positive correlations were found between HVA excretion during stress and a set of measures of "negatively coloured" emotionality (distress, anxiety, lack of self-esteem, etc.) obtained at different points in time.

Arousal↗
PubMed1988

Urinary catecholamines: comparison between HPLC with electrochemical detection and fluorophotometric assay.

Comparisons between catecholamines determined by HPLC (with electrochemical detection) and fluorometry in urine samples from healthy adults and children, respectively, showed high correlations. In agreement with greater specificity for HPLC, mean values were higher for the fluorometric assay. However, it was concluded that fluorometric assays provide as valid and sensitive indices of stress-induced changes in catecholamine excretion in humans as HPLC.

Adult↗
PubMed1986

Urinary monoamine metabolites as indices of mental stress in healthy males and females.

Concentrations of the serotonin metabolite 5-hydroxyindole acetic acid (5-HIAA), the dopamine metabolite homovanillic acid (HVA) and the noradrenaline metabolite 4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl glycol (HMPG) were determined in urine samples from healthy male and female students by mass fragmentography. Urine samples were obtained after a demanding examination (mental stress) and a day of ordinary school work (control condition). Self-ratings were obtained of feelings induced by the examination, and of habitual psychosomatic symptoms. The results for both sexes showed that the examination stress induced a significant increase of HVA and HMPG excretion, but not of 5-HIAA. The males excreted significantly more of each of the metabolites than the females. The pattern of correlations between metabolite levels and psychological and psychosomatic variables were strikingly different for the two sexes.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1986

Pace variation and control of work pace as related to cardiovascular, neuroendocrine, and subjective responses.

Two studies of paced and self-paced arithmetic performance are reported. Heart rate and blood pressure were recorded and ratings of subjective arousal obtained. In one of the studies, plasma levels of catecholamines and cortisol were determined. Under externally paced experimental conditions pace variation was found to be quantitatively related to changes in systolic and diastolic blood pressure, as well as to ratings of stress and irritation. This was not the case for heart rate or positively evaluated aspects of subjective arousal. Performance was better and ratings of stress and irritation were lower during self-paced than during paced work at a comparable work pace. In one of the studies the diastolic blood pressure increased less when subjects controlled the pace. Plasma catecholamines did not increase significantly during either externally or self-paced work, but adrenaline tended to increase during paced work. Our findings give partial support to the suggestion that personal control may attenuate sympathoadrenal activation and cardiovascular reactivity.

Adrenal Glands↗
PubMed1986

Personal control over work pace--circulatory, neuroendocrine and subjective responses in borderline hypertension.

Cardiovascular and neuroendocrine reactivity during arithmetic task performance were studied in 24 patients with borderline hypertension and normotensive controls. Personal control (self-paced versus externally paced performance) resulted in an attenuated blood pressure (BP) response to task performance in normotensives but not in borderline hypertensives. In response to self-paced work, systolic blood blood pressure (SBP) reactivity was significantly greater in borderline hypertensives, but the heart rate (HR) reactivity was similar in borderline hypertensives and normotensives under the different pacing conditions. Task difficulty (pace variation during external pacing) did not differentially affect reactivity in borderline hypertensives and normotensives. Venous plasma noradrenaline and adrenaline were unaffected by task performance. At rest after the task performance plasma noradrenaline was elevated in both normotensives and borderline hypertensives. The latter group also showed a persistent elevation of diastolic blood pressure after task performance, suggesting a prolonged vasoconstrictor response. The present findings indicate that, in terms of circulatory responses, borderline hypertensives may profit less than normotensives from personal control over environmental demands.

Adult↗
PubMed1982

Psychophysiological stress responses in postmenopausal women before and after hormonal replacement therapy.

Seventeen females with a history of hot flushes, perspiration, and amenorrhea of at least 6 months' duration, and a serum FSH level exceeding 40 IU/l entered a cyclic treatment with 17 beta-estradiol and estriol combined with norethsterone (Trisekvens, Novo). Each patient took part in three experimental sessions, six weeks apart, in which stress was induced by mental performance tests. To permit separation of treatment and habituation effects the patients were randomly assigned to one of two groups, Group 1 starting therapy after the first, Group 2 after the second session. Treatment eliminated hot flushes and perspiration and reduced serum FSH levels without causing changes in blood pressure or heart rate. There was no correlation between hormonal treatment and excretion of catecholamines during stress. Testosterone and androstenedione serum levels remained unchanged during therapy. Self-reports showed that tiredness, headache, tension and anxiety were significantly reduced following treatment.

Adult↗
PubMed1981

Catecholamine and cortisol excretion patterns in three-year-old children and their parents.

Urinary catecholamine and cortisol excretion was studied in a group of three-year-olds, their mothers and fathers during night rest, one day at home and one day at hospital. The stay in the hospital, which was part of a longitudinal study of the families, induced a pronounced rise in adrenaline excretion and a moderate increase in noradrenaline excretion in relation to the at-home level. Although the catecholamine excretion in relation to body weight was much higher in the children, the magnitude of the increase at the hospital was about the same in all the family members. The adrenaline excretion was also affected by the diverse conditions at the hospital and showed, for example, a marked decrease during lunch hour. The cortisol excretion at the hospital tended to be elevated only in fathers. On the average, mothers excreted about the same amount of adrenaline as the fathers at the hospital, but significantly more noradrenaline. In earlier studies males have shown a greater adrenaline output than females during achievement-demanding situations. The findings of this study were interpreted within the context of the specific challenge that the situation represented to the mothers. The mothers also excreted more noradrenaline in the at-home condition. Catecholamine and cortisol excretion levels within family members tended to be positively correlated, but the correlations were generally low.

Adult↗
PubMed1981

Coping with stress at work.

This paper considers the quality-of-life concept from the point of view of harmony between fundamental human needs and environmental conditions. It is argued that the knowledge gained by research in psychobiology can aid in directing technological applications to suit human needs and abilities. Examples are given from a multidisciplinary research program concerned with the dynamics of stressful person-environment transactions, viewed from psychological and biological perspectives. Emphasis is placed on coping and adaptation in workers exposed to conditions characterized by underload, overload, and lack of control. On the basis of empirical results, it is argued that a moderately varied flow of stimuli and events, opportunities to engage in psychologically meaningful work, and to exercise personal control over situational factors, may be considered key components in the quality-of life concept.

Adaptation, Psychological↗