Leadership position and physician visits - results of a nationally representative longitudinal study in Germany

TY - JOUR

T1 - Leadership position and physician visits - results of a nationally representative longitudinal study in Germany

AU - Reber, Katrin Christiane

AU - König, Hans-Helmut

AU - Hajek, André

PY - 2018

Y1 - 2018

N2 - Background: So far, studies within the occupational field have largely concentrated on working conditions and job stressors and staff members' or subordinate health. Only a few have focused on managers in this context, but studies are missing that explicitly look at the relation between leadership position and health care use (HCU). Thus, the purpose of this study was to examine the potential effects of a change in leadership position on HCU in women and men longitudinally.Methods: Data were drawn from a nationally representative longitudinal study in Germany (German Socio-Economic Panel, GSOEP). Data from 2009 and 2013 were used. Leadership position was divided into (i) top management, (ii) middle management, (iii) lower management, and (iv) a highly qualified specialist position. The number of physician visits in the preceding 3 months were used to quantify HCU (n = 2140 observations in regression analysis; 69% male).Results: Adjusting for various potential confounders (e.g., age, self-rated health, chronic conditions, and personality factors), Poisson FE regression analysis revealed that changes from a highly qualified specialist position to the top management were associated with a decrease in the number of physician visits in men (β = .47, p < .05), but not in women. Gender differences (gender x leadership position) were significant.Conclusions: Findings of this study emphasize the impact of leadership positions on the number of physician visits in men. Further study is required to elucidate the underlying mechanisms.

AB - Background: So far, studies within the occupational field have largely concentrated on working conditions and job stressors and staff members' or subordinate health. Only a few have focused on managers in this context, but studies are missing that explicitly look at the relation between leadership position and health care use (HCU). Thus, the purpose of this study was to examine the potential effects of a change in leadership position on HCU in women and men longitudinally.Methods: Data were drawn from a nationally representative longitudinal study in Germany (German Socio-Economic Panel, GSOEP). Data from 2009 and 2013 were used. Leadership position was divided into (i) top management, (ii) middle management, (iii) lower management, and (iv) a highly qualified specialist position. The number of physician visits in the preceding 3 months were used to quantify HCU (n = 2140 observations in regression analysis; 69% male).Results: Adjusting for various potential confounders (e.g., age, self-rated health, chronic conditions, and personality factors), Poisson FE regression analysis revealed that changes from a highly qualified specialist position to the top management were associated with a decrease in the number of physician visits in men (β = .47, p < .05), but not in women. Gender differences (gender x leadership position) were significant.Conclusions: Findings of this study emphasize the impact of leadership positions on the number of physician visits in men. Further study is required to elucidate the underlying mechanisms.

KW - Journal Article

U2 - 10.1186/s12995-018-0216-7

DO - 10.1186/s12995-018-0216-7

M3 - SCORING: Journal article

C2 - 30386409

VL - 13

SP - 33

JO - J OCCUP MED TOXICOL

JF - J OCCUP MED TOXICOL

SN - 1745-6673

ER -