In recent years, science, the public debate and politics have increasingly focused their
attention on the associations between working conditions on the one hand, and mental
disorders on the other. In the current discussion, it is assumed that more and more
workers experience stress and psychological trouble due to intensified demands and
an increasing workload; and thus suffer from mental disorders. The ‘Stress report Germany‘
investigates the extent to which employees in Germany currently are exposed
to psychological stress and psychological demands at work. It also describes the
occurrence of those working conditions, which – as resources – have been shown
to have positive effects. Moreover, it deals with a) changes in experienced stress,
b) the extent to which people have the feeling that they are able to fulfil requirements
and c) the impact of stress and strain at work. In addition, comparisons over time and
with neighbouring European countries are being made, which allow the creation of
time trend evaluations and benchmarks. Also, associations between demands and
resources on the one hand, and stress and stressrelated outcomes on the other have
been investigated. In special focus chapters, recent data and results from research on
important workrelated issues (speed and amount of work, working hours, leadership,
multitasking, restructuring) and their effects (presenteeism, cardiovascular diseases)
are presented. The results of the ‘Stress report Germany’ are based on the sixth wave
of the BIBB/BAuA employee survey, which has been carried out regularly since 1979,
with the added participation of the Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
from 1998/99. Thus, between October 2011 and March 2012, a total of 20,036 workers
were interviewed by phone. Of the sample, 17,562 employees were included in the
analyses. The report shows hardly any changes regarding the demands and resources
since the last survey, in 2005/2006. But this does not mean that there is now an ‘all
clear‘, as demands on the content of work and organisation have stabilised at a fairly
high level. Furthermore, the level of perceived stress as well as the number of health
complaints has increased. In addition, there are large differences between specific
groups, which can be seen in the patterns of demands, resources, stress, and the effects
of strain by age, sex, industry and occupation. On the basis of such differentiated
analyses, needs for action and work place design should be formulated. Psychological
stress and negative health consequences are not always, nor automatically, a result of
exposure to stressors. Rather, the level and the sum of demands, as well as the extent
of available resources and their interaction, play a meaningful role. For the purposes
of prevention, the development of such groupspecific profiles regarding demands and
resources is therefore of great importance.