A Study of Stress among Tabriz Oil Refinery Employees and its Relationship with their Physical and Psychological Disorders

Stress has been investigated from different points of view. One of the most important approaches to stress is Person- Environment fit. The purpose of this study was to evaluate Person- Environment fit model to stress and its reflection to physical and psychological disorders. Subjects were 985 oil petroleum workers with an average age and experience, of 42.5 and 19 years respectively, who were selected from eight working groups. They filled out a self-administered questionnaire concerning Person-Environment and job stress. Besides the self-administered questionnaire 111 principals completed a questionnaire about these workers. All subjects completed SCL-90-R questionnaire too. Results indicated that, there was no conformity between Person and Environment in two dimensions of Values- Supplies (V-S) fit and Demands- Abilities (D-A) fit. Moreover, results showed significant differences between the view of principals and workers concerning evaluation of their fitness to the environment. Also, the result of stepwise regression indicated that personal abilities, environmental demands and environmental supplies had negative relation with job stress, where as personal values had a positive relation with it. Finally, another stepwise regression showed that from D-A and V-S; only the latter entered the regression model and had significant effect on job stress. Therefore results suggested that person- Environment fit model is an appropriate model for formulating stress.