Social support as a mediator between job control and psychological strain

Abstract

Rationale: Social support is a key influencing factor on health, and one of the main dimensions of the Demand - Control - Support (DCS) model within the occupational health field. The buffer hypothesis of the DCS determines that job control and social support relieve the effects of a high job demand on health. This hypothesis has been evaluated in several studies to predict worker's health, even though it has yielded ambiguous and inconclusive results.

Objective: This study evaluated whether social support mediated the effect of job demand or job control on job strain. This mediation mechanism might represent a plausible and coherent alternative to the buffer hypothesis deserving to be analyzed within this field.

Method: Two models considering support as the mediator variable in the explanation of job strain were assessed with a group of administrative and technical workers (N = 281).

Results: While there was no evidence for support behaving as a mediator variable between demand and job strain, social support was a consistent mediator in the association of job control with job strain. The effect of job control on job strain was fully mediated by social support from supervisors and coworkers.

Conclusion: The role of social support as a mediator implicates that the prevention of psychosocial stressors in the job place should place a stronger emphasis on improving social relationships at work.

Keywords: Control; Demand; Job strain; Mediation; Social support.