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Person-Environment (P-E) Fit Model

All references are from the article: Schnall PL, Landsbergis PA, Baker D. Job Strain and Cardiovascular Disease. Ann. Rev. Public Health 1994, 15:381-411.


The “job strain” model was not designed to replace the earlier more complex person-environment model of occupational stress originating from the University of Michigan (16, 42) or the recent refinement of the Michigan model by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) (44). The Michigan model incorporates: both perceived and objective stressors; the potential moderating effects of social support, personality factors, non-work factors, and demographic measures; feedback loops; and a wide variety of outcome measures. Issues of self-reported vs. objective job characteristics and effect modification are, of course, also important issues for the “job strain” model. However, the “job strain” model, in contrast to the Michigan model, emphasizes the need to distinguish features of the work environment that can be categorized as demands or control (and does not simply list all job factors as potential stressors), examines the interaction between demands and control, and emphasizes the stress-producing properties of these objective factors, and not solely individual perceptions, or person-environment fit. Baker (9, p. 376) evaluated the evidence and concluded that the “job strain” model has “impressive predictive power”, greater than that of the P-E fit model.

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