Communication, support and psychosocial work environment affecting psychological distress among working women aged 20 to 39 years in Japan

Abstract

When compared with their older counterparts, younger women are more likely to have depressive symptoms because they more often experience interrupted work history and a heavy childrearing burden. The purposes of the present study were 1) to investigate the possible association of psychosocial work environment with psychological distress and 2) to examine the way by which communication and support in the workplace affect to psychological distress among young women. We studied 198 women aged 20 to 39 yr in a cross-sectional study. The Kessler Scale-10 (K10 Scale) was used to examine psychological distress. In employees who experienced interpersonal conflict, those who had little or no conversations with their supervisor and/or co-workers had a significantly increased risk of psychological distress (OR, 4.2), and those who received little or no support from their supervisor and/or co-workers had a significantly increased risk of psychological distress (OR, 3.8) compared to those who had more frequent communication and received more support. Harmonious communication in the workplace can help prevent psychological distress among employees, which in turn may enable them to be satisfied with their work.

The Role of Work-Related Factors in the Development of Psychological Distress and Associated Mental Disorders: Differential Views of Human Resource Managers, Occupational Physicians, Primary Care Physicians and Psychotherapists in Germany

“…The ranking of factors across all four groups (together with the individual rankings of each group) thereby supports the idea of the social or rather interpersonal and interactional dimension of work-place realities as the most important category in the development of psychological stress and stress associated mental disorders in employees. Hence, the “human dimension” of interpersonal/interactional competencies can be supported by the results of this study as a potentially important target within primary, secondary and tertiary prevention measures for employees and patients suffering from stress-related mental disorders [ 13 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 ]. Current reviews of the related literature seem to confirm the influence of social aspects in the workplace on stress-levels and associated disorders in employees, although the effects of “missing social support” or “bad leadership quality” e.g., on the development of symptoms of depression or 'burnout' is in some studies were found to be rather small or moderate [ 46 , 47 , 48 ].…”

“…Multiple studies have reported dimensions that may entail work related stress factors for employees. Findings of the current literature include stress inducing dimensions such as: quantitative job requirements [ 8 , 9 , 10 ], qualitative job requirements [ 8 , 11 , 12 ], work environment [ 13 ], organization of work processes [ 14 , 15 ], organization of working time [ 16 ], emotional demands in the work place [ 17 , 18 , 19 ], influence and development potential on the job [ 20 , 21 ], compatibility of family and work requirements [ 22 ], social relationships in the workplace [ 13 , 23 , 24 ], communication culture of the team/in the enterprise [ 23 , 25 ], managerial structure, superior’s leadership style [ 13 , 23 , 26 ] and the individual risk of employees [ 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 ].…”

The association between effective workplace communication with superiors and lower psychological distress among workers in the evacuation area after the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident

“…According to previous studies, frequent and interpersonal communication in a workplace or well‐managed workplace communication could promote well‐mental health status among workers . Conversely, lack of workplace communication was significantly associated with high‐psychological distress and was a related factor for mental health problems after the Great East Japan earthquake .…”

“…According to several studies, an optimal environment for workplace communication involving frequent and interpersonal communication or well‐managed workplace communication could consequently promote well‐mental health status among workers under regular work conditions . Conversely, the opposite could happen, for example, the lack of workplace communication among local welfare workers after the Great East Japan earthquake was significantly associated with high‐psychological distress .…”

Association between Psychosocial Working Conditions and Perceived Physical Exertion among Eldercare Workers: A Cross-Sectional Multilevel Analysis of Nursing Homes, Wards and Workers

“…In this study, we use aggregated data from the workers into higher workplace levels [29,30], which provides estimates for each level independent of the others and reduces the risk of bias due to individual factors [31]. In addition, we used data collected from the team managers and upper managers, as this could yield better estimates concerning the higher levels [28]; for example, communication among the managers and how work tasks are distributed across workers within a team [22,32].…”