The role of employee psychological well‐being in cardiovascular health: when the twain shall meet

Summary Consistent with the emerging positive agenda in organizations, the present research examines the role of psychological well-being (PWB) in predicting employee cardiovascular health. We tested this possibility in a sample of 113 supervisory level personnel employed by a mediumsized (500 employees) public sector organization in California. More specifically, while neither diastolic blood pressure (DBP) (r ¼ .09, ns, 95%CI ¼� 0.11 to 0.28) or systolic blood pressure (SBP) (r ¼� .11, ns, 95%CI ¼� 0.30 to 0.09) were related to PWB, two composite cardiovascular measures, pulse pressure (r ¼� .21, p < .05, 95%CI ¼� 0.39 to � 0.02) and pulse product (r ¼� .27, p < .01, 95%CI ¼� 0.44 to � 0.08) were related to PWB. In addition, regression analysis found PWB to be predictive of the composite cardiovascular health measure of pulse product (DR 2 ¼ 0.04, p < .05), but not pulse pressure, after controlling for age, gender, employee smoking behavior, education level, ethnicity, weight, job satisfaction, and anxiety. Research implications and further suggestions for organizational scholars interested in employee health and betterment are introduced. Copyright # 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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