Work stress and depressive symptoms in older employees: impact of national labour and social policies

BMC Public Health

Johannes Siegrist²  Nico Dragano³  Morten Wahrendorf¹  Thorsten Lunau³ 

[1] International Centre for Life Course Studies in Society and Health (ICLS), Research Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College, London, UK;Senior Professorship on Work Stress Research, University of Duesseldorf, 40225 Duesseldorf, Germany;Institute for Medical Sociology, Medical Faculty, Heinrich-Heine-University Düsseldorf, P.B.101007, 40001 Duesseldorf, Germany

关键词: Cross-national study;    Effort-reward imbalance;    Demand-control;    Work stress;    Labour and social policies;    Depressive symptoms;   

Others  :  1161541
DOI  :  10.1186/1471-2458-13-1086

 received in 2013-08-01, accepted in 2013-11-18,  发布年份 2013

【 摘 要 】

Background

Maintaining health and work ability among older employees is a primary target of national labour and social policies (NLSP) in Europe. Depression makes a significant contribution to early retirement, and chronic work-related stress is associated with elevated risks of depression. We test this latter association among older employees and explore to what extent indicators of distinct NLSP modify the association between work stress and depressive symptoms. We choose six indicators, classified in three categories: (1) investment in active labour market policies, (2) employment protection, (3) level of distributive justice.

Methods

We use data from three longitudinal ageing studies (SHARE, HRS, ELSA) including 5650 men and women in 13 countries. Information on work stress (effort-reward imbalance, low work control) and depressive symptoms (CES-D, EURO-D) was obtained. Six NLSP indicators were selected from OECD databases. Associations of work stress (2004) with depressive symptoms (2006) and their modification by policy indicators were analysed using logistic multilevel models.

Results

Risk of depressive symptoms at follow-up is higher among those experiencing effort-reward imbalance (OR: 1.55 95% CI 1.27-1.89) and low control (OR: 1.46 95% CI 1.19-1.79) at work. Interaction terms indicate a modifying effect of a majority of protective NLSP indicators on the strength of associations of effort - reward imbalance with depressive symptoms.

Conclusions

Work stress is associated with elevated risk of prospective depressive symptoms among older employees from 13 European countries. Protective labour and social policies modify the strength of these associations. If further supported findings may have important policy implications.

【 授权许可】

   
2013 Lunau et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

【 图 表 】

Figure 1.

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