Mental health among Norwegian priests: associations with effort-reward imbalance and overcommitment

Abstract

Purpose: The aim of the study was to determine the prevalence of anxiety and depression symptoms among Norwegian priests and to examine their associations with effort-reward imbalance (ERI) and overcommitment.

Methods: Eight hundred four priests in the Norwegian Church completed the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), the Effort-Reward Imbalance Questionnaire (ERI-Q), and the Intrinsic Effort Scale, measuring overcommitment.

Results: A significant proportion of the priests (23.4%) had HADS scores indicating a possible anxiety problem. Somewhat fewer had depression problems (9.3%). Both anxiety and depression difficulties were associated with an imbalance between effort given and rewards received at work. Priests characterized by a combination of this imbalance and high scores on overcommitment had more anxiety and depression symptoms.

Conclusions: There is a higher occurrence of mental health challenges among priests than among the regular population. This applies in particular to anxiety symptoms measured by the HADS. These findings also indicate that it may be fruitful to explore mental health conditions among priests who report different combinations of effort-reward and overcommitment.

Keywords: Clergy; Effort–reward imbalance; Mental health; Priests.