Relationship Between Emotional Labor and Perceived Health Status Among Service and Sales Workers

OBJECTIVES: This study examined the relationship between emotional labor and general health status in a nationally representative sample of South Korean service and sales workers. METHODS: Data were obtained from the 2007 to 2009 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. A total of 1907 subjects were included in the analysis. Multiple logistic regression was performed to determine the relationship between emotional labor and perceived health status (PHS). RESULTS: The adjusted odds ratio (95% confidence interval) of poor PHS was 1.869 (1.464 to 2.391) among high emotional labor group, compared with the low emotional labor group as the reference. Perceived stress accounted for 35.57% of the variance in the relationship between high emotional labor and poor PHS. CONCLUSIONS: Emotional labor was associated with increased risk of poor PHS.