The importance of both workplace and private life factors in psychological distress: a large cross-sectional survey of French railway company employees

Is Gender an Antecedent to Workplace Stressors? A Systematic Review and an Empirical Study Using a Person-Centred Approach

OBJECTIVE

Work is a key domain of life in which gender inequality can manifest, yet gender is rarely the explicit focus of research seeking to understand exposure to stressors. We investigated this research gap in two studies.

METHODS

Study 1 was a systematic review of the relationship between gender and key stressors (e.g., high demands, poor support, lack of clarity and control). From a total of 13,376,130 papers met our inclusion criteria. Study 2 was a cross-sectional study that included 11,289 employees nested within 71 public organisations (50.6% men). Through a latent profile analysis, we investigated the profiles of stressors separately from men and women.

RESULTS

The systematic review revealed that, for all stressors, a significant proportion of studies found no significant gender differences, and the review found mixed evidence of greater exposure for both men and women. The results of Study 2 revealed that both genders could be optimally represented by three psychosocial risk profiles reflecting medium, low and high stressors. The results also showed that while the shape of profiles was similar for both genders, men had a higher probability than women of being in the virtuous (i.e., low stressors) profile, and the opposite pattern emerged for the average profile (i.e., medium levels of stressors). Men and women displayed the same likelihood of being classified in the at-risk profile (i.e., high levels of stressors).

CONCLUSION

Gender differences in exposure to stressors are inconsistent. Although the literature on gender role theory and the gendering of work suggests different exposures to stressors in men and women, we find little empirical support for this.

Psychological distress in the workplace: The indirect contribution of work organization conditions to work performance

BACKGROUND: Psychological distress affects between 5 and 27% of the general population [1]. Workers facing stressful work conditions are especially at high risk for experiencing psychological distress [1]. OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the association between work organization conditions and work performance via psychological distress. While the individual contribution of work organization conditions to psychological distress and work performance has been examined in the scientific literature, their combined influence on work performance remains relatively unknown. METHODS: To adjust for design effects, we relied on cluster sampling (employees working in organizations). MPlus was used to conduct path analyses [2]. RESULTS: While psychological demands, number of hours worked, and job insecurity were positively associated with psychological distress, job recognition was negatively associated with it. In the same vein, irregular work schedules and job insecurity seem to be negatively associated with work performance. On the one hand, skill utilization, decision latitude, recognition, and job promotion, all seemed to be positively associated with employee’s work performance. On the other hand, psychological demands, number of hours worked, and job insecurity were negatively and indirectly associated with work performance. CONCLUSIONS: Understanding the indirect association between work variables and workers’ psychological distress could promote their work performance. Understanding this association could help shed light on the difficulties employees with psychological distress face while meeting their job requirements. The results of this study should serve as a reminder to intervene on work organization conditions.

Effects of work-to-family enrichment on psychological distress and family satisfaction: A dyadic analysis in dual-earner parents

Resources that individuals acquire at work can have significant effects on their own well-being and family satisfaction, and on those of their closest family relations. Following the conservation of resources theory, this study examined the effects of work-to-family enrichment (WFE) on psychological distress (depression, anxiety, and stress) and family satisfaction (SWFaL) in different-gender dual-earner parents. The sample consisted of 473 couples - mother and father - from Temuco, Chile, who answered the Work-Family Interface scale, the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale, and the Satisfaction with Family Scale. The analysis was conducted using the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model (APIM). Results showed that WFE was positively associated with SWFaL for both mothers and fathers (actor effects), whereas higher WFE was linked to lower psychological distress only in fathers. For mothers and fathers, psychological distress was negatively associated with their own (actor effects) and the other parent's SWFAL (partner effects). The mediating role of psychological distress was found only for fathers' WFE and their SWFaL. These results indicate that resources from work can increase family satisfaction for both fathers and mothers in dual-earner couples with adolescent children. However, in these couples, fathers acquire affective resources (positive mood) that reduce their own psychological distress, while mothers acquire skills (managing time at home more efficiently) that they invest directly in the family domain.

A multilevel analysis of the role personality play between work organization conditions and psychological distress

BACKGROUND

Psychological distress in the workplace is usually attributed to work-related variables as well as non-work-related variables. Individuals working in the same organization can differ in terms of their appraisal of work-related stressors and coping strategies used to face them. The present study aims to evaluate the moderating role personality plays between work organizations conditions and psychological distress in a large sample of Canadian participants working in various occupations and workplaces.

METHODS

Multilevel regression analyses were conducted on a sample that followed a hierarchical structure with workers (N1 = 1958) nested in workplaces (N2 = 63). The direct contribution of workplace and personality was tested in a variance component model as a first step. Following this initial step, we introduced interaction variables by blocks of 11. Those interaction variables refer to each interaction combined with a specific personality variable.

RESULTS

Psychological demands, number of hours worked, job insecurity, neuroticism, and agreeableness were associated with higher levels of psychological distress. Inversely, decision authority, job recognition, self-esteem, locus of control were associated with lower levels of psychological distress. Lastly, agreeableness played a moderating role between low social support garnered from one's supervisor and psychological distress.

CONCLUSIONS

To intervene on work-related variables, organizations could reduce psychological demands, minimize the number of hours worked through job redesign, allow teleworking and encourage work schedule flexibility. To reduce job insecurity, organizations could explicitly communicate future organizational plans. In the same vein, decision authority could be targeted by reducing hierarchical steps and increasing autonomy. Lastly, the results pertaining to agreeableness stand in contrast with those of previous studies. We assumed that workers scoring high on agreeableness tend to put themselves last and please others first. These tendencies could make them more susceptible to health issues. With that said, work environments still need workers who are agreeable and nice to be around. To prevent high levels of agreeableness leading to psychological distress, training and information workshops are recommended. Those include stress management interventions and workshops pertaining to time management and relaxation techniques.

Specifics of corporate health programs for railway workers

Preventive workplace programs are one of the optimal organizational models for the prevention of noncommunicable diseases in the workingage population. Corporate health programs allow to effectively influence the lifestyle of employees, which makes it possible to reduce human resource risks due to morbidity and increase labor efficiency. First, programs for the prevention of cardiovascular diseases are being implemented. A number of researchers report that implementing prevention programs in the workplace can reduce the number of people with bad habits. The effectiveness of preventive workplace programs largely depends on the mechanisms of their implementation. A feature of railway companies is the presence of a large staff of employees of various specialties. Many factors affecting health are, in one way or another, related to the workflow, since most railway companies operate continuously. Low health literacy of railway workers on health protection and disease prevention was noted. Measures such as financial incentives, preventive counseling, the creation of personalized health profiles and the availability of healthy food in the workplace have been shown to be effective. The review also discusses Russian corporate preventive workplace programs.

Factors Associated with Psychological Distress of Online Drivers in Medan Regency, North Sumatera, Indonesia

Background: In developing countries, public health issues that are often discussed about psychological distress that can be characterized by anxiety, sadness, stress, depression, and confusing feelings. Online drivers have the potential to experience the stress of psychological distress. The individual is faced with various pressures from work or family such as competition between transportation to get passengers daily, long working time to achieve the target leads, the obligation to pay off the loan, and responsibilities to family needs often cause stress. Method: This study was a multivariate type of predictive analysis to finding out factors associated with GHQ-12 scores of the online drivers with 110 samples who have fulfilled inclusion and exclusion criteria. Results: Found the factors associated with psychological distress that is marital status, number of family members, length of education, working experience, age, length of work/day, daily target achievement, and total income/month of online drivers Conclusion: From the results of this study it was found that the most associated factors with psychological distress scores are total income/month.

The relative importance of work-related and non-work-related stressors and perceived social support on global perceived stress in a cross-sectional population-based sample

Background

High levels of perceived stress have a negative bearing on health and well-being, and stress is a major public health issue. According to the Stress Process Model, stressors are socially patterned and combine to produce strain. Despite this, most studies on stress have focused on work-related stressors leaving non-work determinants under-investigated. The aim of the present study was to determine the relative importance of work-related and non-work-related stressors and perceived social support for the overall perceived stress level.

Methods

Self-reported data were drawn from the 2017 population-based health survey “How are you?” conducted in the Central Denmark Region (N = 32,417). Data were linked with data drawn from national administrative registers. Work- and non-work-related stressors assessed included major life events, chronic stressors and daily hassles. Perceived social support was assessed using a single question. Overall perceived stress was assessed by the 10-item Perceived Stress Scale. We conducted dominance analyses based on a multiple linear regression model to determine the most important explanatory variables of overall perceived stress. Analyses were weighted and adjusted.

Results

Work- and non-work-related stressors along with perceived social support explained 42.5% of the total variance (R²) in overall perceived stress. The most important explanatory variables were disease, perceived social support and work situation. The stratified analyses produced slightly varying results (“dominance profiles”) of perceived stress between subgroups. Work situation was the most important explanatory variable in the employed group. However, adding non-work-related explanatory variables to the analysis tripled the explained variance.

Conclusions

The overall level of perceived stress can be statistically explained by a combination of work- and non-work-related stressors and perceived social support both at population level and in subgroups. The most important explanatory variables of overall perceived stress are disease, perceived social support and work situation. Results indicate that public health strategies aiming to reduce stress should take a comprehensive approach and address a variety of stressor domains rather than focus on a single domain.

Trial registration

The study was approved by the Danish Data Protection Agency (r. no. 2012-58-0006) and registered in the Central Denmark Region (r. no. 1-16-02-593-16).

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12889-021-10594-2.

Work, family, work-family conflict and psychological distress: A revisited look at the gendered vulnerability pathways

This paper revisited the vulnerability hypothesis to explain the greater level of psychological distress among working women compared to working men. A comprehensive vulnerability model was tested in which work and family stressors and psychosocial resources are directly related to psychological distress and indirectly through work-to-family (WFC) and family-to-work (FWC) conflicts. Data came from a random sample of 989 women and 1,037 men working in 63 Canadian establishments. Multilevel path analyses were performed separately for men and for women. The results show that many work/family stressors and resources are linked to men's or women's psychological distress directly and indirectly through WFC and FWC. However, the z-test used to assess whether the relationships differed significantly between women and men indicated that only two relationships differ significantly between the two groups: experimenting problems with children and a low self-esteem are associated positively to psychological distress through FWC only for women. In addition to showing the specific involvement of work-family conflict in the psychological distress inequality, this study contributes to revealing that testing the differences in the magnitude of the relation offer a more suitable appraisal of the vulnerability mechanism involved in the psychological distress inequality between men and women.

Health-Related Quality of Life and Associated Factors of Frontline Railway Workers: A Cross-Sectional Survey in the Ankang Area, Shaanxi Province, China

After validation of the widely used health-related quality of life (HRQOL) generic measure, the Short Form 36 version 2 (SF-36v2), we investigated the HRQOL and associated factors of frontline railway workers in China. Ground workers, conductors, and train drivers were selected from Ankang Precinct by using a stratified cluster sampling technique. A total of 784 frontline railway workers participated in the survey. The reliability and validity of SF-36v2 was satisfactory. The physical component summary (PCS) scores of three subgroups attained the average range for the USA general population, whereas the mental component summary (MCS) scores were well below the range. Most domains scored below the norm, except for the physical functioning (PF) domain. Among three subgroups, train drivers reported significantly lower scores on MCS and six health domains (excluding PF and bodily pain (BP)). After controlled confounders, conductors had significantly higher PCS and MCS scores than ground workers. There is heterogeneity on risk factors among three subgroups, but having long or irregular working schedules was negatively associated with HRQOL in all subgroups. SF-36v2 is a reliable and valid HRQOL measurement in railway workers in China. The frontline railway workers’ physical health was comparative to American norms, whilst mental health was relatively worse. Long or irregular working schedules were the most important factors.