Psychosocial working environment and mental distress
Abstract
Increased demands within the work force pose new challenges for the mental health of employees causing a significantly higher rate of disabilities. Therefore, there is a need for more study in the field of employee mental health. The aim of the study was to examine the association between mental distress and psychosocial work characteristics, such as job demands, job control, relational and prcKedural justice, as well as social support and negative life events. The data used comes from the 2001 baseline survey of the Helsinki Health Study, including 40- 60 years old employees of the City of Helsinki (N = 3065, response rate 68 %). The results show that psychosocial factors such as high job demands and low procedural justice were strongly associated with a high risk of mental distress in women, and high job demands and low relational justice in men. Low social support and negative life events were associated with the high risk of mental distress in both women and men. The results of the study suggest that psychosocial factors are related to mental distress both at work and outside of work, making it imperative to develop a working environment supportive of employees' mental health.
