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Item The Effect of Job Status on Stressors and Stress Coping Strategies in the New Zealand Construction Sector(Taylor and Francis Group on behalf of the Associated Schools of Construction, 2025-04-11) van Heerden A; Flemmer C; Boulic M; McDonald BWThe construction sector is a substantial employer but has a reputation for having stressful jobs. This study investigates whether stress is affected by job status within the hierarchical structure of construction teams from highest status executives to managers with intermediate status to tradespersons (both skilled and unskilled) with the lowest status. Statistical analysis of survey responses from 300 New Zealand construction workers explores the effect of job status on significant stressors and identifies key stress coping strategies for the different roles. Tradespersons are primarily stressed by physical job demands and are most likely to turn to maladaptive stress responses. They would benefit from site safety and stress reduction training. Relationship-based stressors are problematic for managers, and this could be addressed in communication and role-specific skills training. Both managers and tradespersons would benefit from an organization culture that fosters supportive management, career development, flexible work hours, and counseling services. Executives face stress from long hours, operational problems and managing contractors. If they prioritize financial success, then they may be reluctant to implement costly training programs and flexible work schedules. However, reducing job stress amongst all team members can improve job satisfaction, reduce employee turnover and increase productivity of the whole team.Item Time in Bed, Sleeping Difficulties, and Nutrition in Pregnant New Zealand Women.(MDPI (Basel, Switzerland), 2023-02-23) McDonald BW; Watson PE; Trakada GWe consider the relationship between time in bed (TIB) and sleeping difficulties with demographic variables and nutrient intakes in the second (T2) and third (T3) trimester of pregnancy. Data were acquired from a volunteer sample of New Zealand pregnant women. In T2 and T3, questionnaires were administered, diets were obtained from one 24 h recall and three weighed food records, and physical activity was measured with the use of three 24 h diaries. In total, 370 women had complete information in T2 and 310 in T3. In both trimesters, TIB was associated with welfare or disability status, marital status and age. In T2, TIB was associated with work, childcare, education and pre-pregnancy alcohol consumption. There were fewer significant lifestyle covariates in T3. In both trimesters, TIB declined with increasing dietary intake, especially water, protein, biotin, potassium, magnesium, calcium, phosphorus and manganese. Adjusted for weight of dietary intake and welfare/disability, TIB declined with increasing nutrient density of B vitamins, saturated fats, potassium, fructose and lactose; and TIB increased with carbohydrate, sucrose and vitamin E. Subjective sleeping difficulties increased with the week of gestation, morning sickness severity, anxiety, dairy and saturated fat intake, and they decreased with fruit, vegetable and monounsaturated fat intake. The study highlights the changing influence of covariates throughout the pregnancy and corroborates several published findings on the relationship of diet and sleep.