Occupation Is Related to Weight and Lifestyle Factors Among Employees at Worksites Involved in a Weight Gain Prevention Study.

Objective: To examine the relationship between job type, weight status, and lifestyle factors that are potential contributors to obesity including, diet, physical activity (PA), and perceived stress among employees enrolled in the Working on Wellness project.

Methods: Randomly selected employees at 24 worksites completed a baseline survey (n = 1700); some also an in-person survey and anthropometric measures (n = 1568). Employees were classified by US labor standards as white collar (n = 1297), blue collar (n = 303), or service worker (n = 92), and 8 unknown. Associations were analyzed using chi-square and general linear model procedures and adjusted for demographics using logistic regression.

Results: In unadjusted models, body mass index of service workers was higher than white collar workers; fruit and vegetable intake was higher for service and blue collar than white collar; white collar workers reported highest stress levels in job and life. Nevertheless, in models adjusted for demographics, the only significant difference was for PA (ie, metabolic equivalent [MET]/min/wk), with blue collar workers reporting higher levels of PA than service workers, who reported higher levels than the white collar workers.

Conclusions: Future research should further examine the relationship between health and job status to corroborate the results of the current study and to consider designing future worksite health promotion interventions that are tailored by job category.