TY - JOUR

T1 - Long-term associations of psychosocial working conditions with depressive symptoms and work-related emotional exhaustion

T2 - comparing effects in a 5-year prospective study of 1949 workers in Germany

AU - Conway, Paul Maurice

AU - Rose, Uwe

AU - Formazin, Maren

AU - Schoellgen, Ina

AU - d'Errico, Angelo

AU - Balducci, Cristian

AU - Burr, Hermann

PY - 2023/2/24

Y1 - 2023/2/24

N2 - Objective: To test the hypothesis that psychosocial working conditions are more strongly associated with subsequent work-related emotional exhaustion (core component of burnout) than with depressive symptoms at follow-up.Methods: A 5-year cohort study (2011/2012–2017), based on a random sample of persons in employment subject to pay-ment of social contributions aged 31–60 years (Study on Mental Health at Work; S-MGA; N = 1949), included self-reportedmeasures of organisational demands (organisational layoffs and restructuring), task-level demands (work pace and amount ofwork) and job resources (influence at work, possibilities for development, control over working time, role clarity), all takenfrom the COPSOQ, except the organisational demands that were single-item measures. Work-related emotional exhaustionand depressive symptoms were measured with the Oldenburg Burnout Inventory and the Patient Health Questionnaire-9,respectively.Results: Cochrane Q tests revealed stronger associations between psychosocial working conditions and work-related emo-tional exhaustion only for the amount of work (p = 0.013) and control over working time (p = 0.027). No differences wereobserved for the Demands and Resources Indexes, capturing overall exposure to psychosocial working conditions. The samedifferences were observed in a subsample including only participants who remained at the same employer from baseline tofollow-up, although more psychosocial working conditions were associated with work-related emotional exhaustion thanwith depressive symptoms. Supplementary analyses employing dichotomous measures of work-related emotional exhaustionand depressive symptoms confirmed these results.Conclusions: Overall, the findings provide limited evidence supporting the hypothesis that psychosocial working conditionsare more strongly associated with work-related emotional exhaustion than with depressive symptoms.

AB - Objective: To test the hypothesis that psychosocial working conditions are more strongly associated with subsequent work-related emotional exhaustion (core component of burnout) than with depressive symptoms at follow-up.Methods: A 5-year cohort study (2011/2012–2017), based on a random sample of persons in employment subject to pay-ment of social contributions aged 31–60 years (Study on Mental Health at Work; S-MGA; N = 1949), included self-reportedmeasures of organisational demands (organisational layoffs and restructuring), task-level demands (work pace and amount ofwork) and job resources (influence at work, possibilities for development, control over working time, role clarity), all takenfrom the COPSOQ, except the organisational demands that were single-item measures. Work-related emotional exhaustionand depressive symptoms were measured with the Oldenburg Burnout Inventory and the Patient Health Questionnaire-9,respectively.Results: Cochrane Q tests revealed stronger associations between psychosocial working conditions and work-related emo-tional exhaustion only for the amount of work (p = 0.013) and control over working time (p = 0.027). No differences wereobserved for the Demands and Resources Indexes, capturing overall exposure to psychosocial working conditions. The samedifferences were observed in a subsample including only participants who remained at the same employer from baseline tofollow-up, although more psychosocial working conditions were associated with work-related emotional exhaustion thanwith depressive symptoms. Supplementary analyses employing dichotomous measures of work-related emotional exhaustionand depressive symptoms confirmed these results.Conclusions: Overall, the findings provide limited evidence supporting the hypothesis that psychosocial working conditionsare more strongly associated with work-related emotional exhaustion than with depressive symptoms.

KW - Work-related emotional exhaustion

KW - Burnout

KW - Depressive symptoms

KW - Depression

KW - Psychosocial working conditions

U2 - 10.1007/s00420-023-01959-8

DO - 10.1007/s00420-023-01959-8

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 36826590

VL - 96

SP - 661

EP - 674

JO - International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health

JF - International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health

SN - 0340-0131

ER -