The Relationship Between Work Stress and Leisure Style: British and German Managers

Abstract

In a study involving 255 management and executive personnel from Great Britain and West Germany, information was collated regarding occupational stress and leisure pursuits. Managers who exercised regularly were not significantly different in their occupational stress profiles compared to non-exercisers. Furthermore, physical exercise did not serve as a buffer in the stress-health linkage. There was some indication that the work-leisure balance may be moderated by culture. Discriminant analysis revealed that British managers tend to exhibit negative job carryover between their "job" and "off-work" domains, in contrast to the Germans who demonstrated "compensation."