91吃瓜

Work stress, job satisfaction and health problems due to high stress have more to do with genes than you might think, according to research by , professor of management at the University of 91吃瓜鈥檚 Mendoza College of Business.

The lead author of 鈥溾�� published in Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Judge studied nearly 600 twins 鈥� some identical, some fraternal 鈥� who were raised together and reared apart. He found that being raised in the same environment had very little effect on personality, stress and health. Shared genes turned out to be about four times as important as shared environment.

鈥淎ssume James and Sandy both work in the same organization,鈥� Judge says. 鈥淛ames reports more stress than Sandy. Does it mean that James鈥� job is objectively more stressful than Sandy鈥檚? Not necessarily. Our study suggests strong heritabilities to work stress and the outcomes of stress. This means that stress may have less to do with the objective features of the environment than to the genetic 鈥榗ode鈥� of the individual.鈥�

The battle of nature vs. nurture shows that even at work, nature wins. Changing a job to free yourself of stress is probably not going to do the trick unless you appreciate your own predispositions toward stress.

鈥淭his doesn鈥檛 mean we shouldn鈥檛 do things as employers or individuals to avoid stressful jobs,鈥� Judge says. 鈥淗owever, we also shouldn鈥檛 assume that we鈥檙e 鈥榓 blank slate鈥� and therefore be overly optimistic about what the work environment can and can鈥檛 do as far as stress is concerned. More of it has to do with what鈥檚 inside of us than what we encounter outside in the work environment.鈥�

Specializing in personality, leadership, moods, emotions and career and life success, Judge has published more than 130 articles in refereed journals, including more than 80 in top-tier journals. His studies 鈥溾�� and 鈥�,鈥� both published last year, were widely cited in the media.

Contact: Timothy Judge, 574-631-4802, tjudge@nd.edu