An examination of the long-term impact of job strain on mental health and wellbeing over a 12-year period

Abstract

Objectives: Job strain has been implicated in a range of employee health outcomes including psychiatric health. Much of the literature is drawn from studies that utilise cross-sectional designs, whilst the long-term follow-up of participants is limited. We examine the short and long-term risks of job strain for depression and wellbeing over a 12-year period. In particular, we utilise measures of wellbeing to emphasise the importance of discriminating between indices of subjective and psychological wellbeing that complement measures of mental health.

Methods: Participants (n = 2530) were aged between 40 and 44 years at baseline and were drawn from the Personality and Total Health (PATH) Through Life Project. Participants were observed once every 4 years for 12 years.

Results: A high strain job was associated with an increased risk of reporting sub-syndromal [RRR = 1.66 (95 % CI 1.23; 2.25), p < 0.001], minor [RRR = 1.92 (95 % CI 1.19; 3.10), p < 0.001] and major depression [RRR = 2.19 (95 % CI 1.30; 3.67), p < 0.001], but strain was not a long-term risk for depression 4 years later. In contrast, strain was a risk for both cross-sectional and longitudinal wellbeing outcomes. Moving into a high strain job was a risk for developing depression [RRR = 1.81 (95 % CI 1.26; 2.59), p < 0.001], but the cumulative exposure to a high strain job was not associated with poorer outcomes in adjusted models.

Conclusions: Overall, our results emphasise the importance of current job strain, and the risk of moving into a high strain job, on adverse mental health and wellbeing outcomes. Effects were not consistent between indices of mental health, subjective or psychological wellbeing, supporting the need to dedifferentiate between wellbeing and mental health.

Keywords: Job strain; Mental health; Wellbeing.