Personality, mental distress, and subjective health complaints among persons with environmental annoyance.
(2007) In Human & Experimental Toxicology 26(3). p.231-241- Abstract
- The aim of this study was to assess possible early determinants of idiopathic environmental intolerance (IEI), contributing to an integrated model for the development of IEI. Questionnaires concerning personality traits, current mental distress, subjective health complaints, work load and satisfaction, and options for recovery, were given to 84 persons from the general population attributing annoyance to (i) chemicals/smells (smell-annoyed (SA) n=29); (ii) electrical equipment (electrically annoyed (EA) n=16); and (iii) both smells and electricity (generally annoyed [GA] n=39), but otherwise healthy and in active work. Compared to referents (n=54), the EA and GA groups showed strongly elevated scores on 5/6 scales within the trait anxiety/... (More)
- The aim of this study was to assess possible early determinants of idiopathic environmental intolerance (IEI), contributing to an integrated model for the development of IEI. Questionnaires concerning personality traits, current mental distress, subjective health complaints, work load and satisfaction, and options for recovery, were given to 84 persons from the general population attributing annoyance to (i) chemicals/smells (smell-annoyed (SA) n=29); (ii) electrical equipment (electrically annoyed (EA) n=16); and (iii) both smells and electricity (generally annoyed [GA] n=39), but otherwise healthy and in active work. Compared to referents (n=54), the EA and GA groups showed strongly elevated scores on 5/6 scales within the trait anxiety/ neuroticism personality dimension, while the SA group had a slight elevation on only one anxiety scale. Current mental distress and subjective health complaints scores were generally elevated in the EA and GA groups, but only partially in the SA group. Higher proportions of the EA, GA, and SA groups reported low satisfaction with their work situation, including more frequent fatigue after work and a higher, and often unfulfilled, need for recovery. The findings suggest that trait anxiety is prominent already at prodromal stages of IEI, possibly indicating that trait anxiety facilitates the acquisition of attribution of health complaints to environmental factors. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/167567
- author
- Österberg, Kai
LU
; Persson, Roger
LU
; Karlson, Björn LU ; Eek, Frida LU and Örbaek, Palle LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2007
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- diopathic environmental intolerance, electrical hypersensitivity, multiple chemical sensitivity
- in
- Human & Experimental Toxicology
- volume
- 26
- issue
- 3
- pages
- 231 - 241
- publisher
- SAGE Publications
- external identifiers
-
- wos:000245130400011
- scopus:33947433149
- ISSN
- 0960-3271
- DOI
- 10.1177/0960327107070575
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 0a28deec-4355-4a45-a0d9-3a8075b06a01 (old id 167567)
- alternative location
- http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=17439926&dopt=Abstract
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-01 15:21:09
- date last changed
- 2022-01-28 04:54:14
@article{0a28deec-4355-4a45-a0d9-3a8075b06a01, abstract = {{The aim of this study was to assess possible early determinants of idiopathic environmental intolerance (IEI), contributing to an integrated model for the development of IEI. Questionnaires concerning personality traits, current mental distress, subjective health complaints, work load and satisfaction, and options for recovery, were given to 84 persons from the general population attributing annoyance to (i) chemicals/smells (smell-annoyed (SA) n=29); (ii) electrical equipment (electrically annoyed (EA) n=16); and (iii) both smells and electricity (generally annoyed [GA] n=39), but otherwise healthy and in active work. Compared to referents (n=54), the EA and GA groups showed strongly elevated scores on 5/6 scales within the trait anxiety/ neuroticism personality dimension, while the SA group had a slight elevation on only one anxiety scale. Current mental distress and subjective health complaints scores were generally elevated in the EA and GA groups, but only partially in the SA group. Higher proportions of the EA, GA, and SA groups reported low satisfaction with their work situation, including more frequent fatigue after work and a higher, and often unfulfilled, need for recovery. The findings suggest that trait anxiety is prominent already at prodromal stages of IEI, possibly indicating that trait anxiety facilitates the acquisition of attribution of health complaints to environmental factors.}}, author = {{Österberg, Kai and Persson, Roger and Karlson, Björn and Eek, Frida and Örbaek, Palle}}, issn = {{0960-3271}}, keywords = {{diopathic environmental intolerance; electrical hypersensitivity; multiple chemical sensitivity}}, language = {{eng}}, number = {{3}}, pages = {{231--241}}, publisher = {{SAGE Publications}}, series = {{Human & Experimental Toxicology}}, title = {{Personality, mental distress, and subjective health complaints among persons with environmental annoyance.}}, url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0960327107070575}}, doi = {{10.1177/0960327107070575}}, volume = {{26}}, year = {{2007}}, }