Researchers from the Jaume I University have proven the usefulness of DUWAS, a new scale for measuring addiction to work, a disorder that affects around 12% of all working people in Spain. The experts say that 8% of the working population in Spain devotes more than 12 hours per day to their job.
"Addiction to work is a kind of psychosocial problem that is characterised by two primary features working excessively and working compulsively", Mario Del Lbano, lead author of the paper and a researcher at the Faculty of Human and Social Sciences of the Jaume I University in Castelln de la Plana, tells SINC.
The results, published in the Spanish journal Psicothema, not only confirm the bifactorial structure of workaholism, in other words its two dimensions, but also relate the results with psychosocial wellbeing (perceived health and happiness), in order to highlight the negative features of addiction to work in Spain.
"People are only workaholics if, on top of working excessively, they work compulsively in order to reduce anxiety and the feelings of guilt that they get when they're not working", Del Lbano explains.
"This study helps to evaluate addiction along with other phenomena that affect the psychosocial health of workers, without the time taken to fill in the questionnaire having any impact on their motivation", he adds.
The new scale, called DUWAS (Dutch Work Addiction Scale), has been validated as a result of the criticisms about its validity and reliability made by two evaluation tools that have been most used to date the WorkBAT (Workaholism Battery) and the WART (Work Addiction Risk Test).
The cut-off point 50 hours per week
Data on the worldwide prevalence of addiction to work vary from one study to another. It is placed at around 20% in countries such as Japan, while in Spain the figures are between 11.3% and 12%, according to research carried out in 2004 by Snchez Pardo
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