The psychosocial work environment and young workers’ mental health

Abstract Background While mental health problems for young workers appear to be rising, little research exists on the relationship between the psychosocial work environment and mental health of young workers. This abstract is based on Malte van Veen's doctoral research. Methods With five studies we assessed different aspects of the topic. Results First, a systematic review showed a lack of robust evidence concerning the association between the psychosocial work environment and mental health problems among young workers. Second, using latent class analysis we identified subgroups of young workers and show that doing interpersonal work (eg healthcare and education jobs) is linked to higher levels of emotional exhaustion. Third, in a longitudinal study, we show that starting career work in jobs with poor psychosocial work quality is associated with a within-person increase in mental health problems. Fourth, having interviewed young workers on how the psychosocial work environment affects their mental health we found much overlap with factors known from the general working population. We also identified stress caused by increased responsibility for others and a need for clear work procedures as novel relevant factors for young workers. Fifth, we analyzed psychosocial work adversities as a necessary condition for experiencing emotional exhaustion at work. We found that young workers who report few psychosocial work adversities do not report very high levels of emotional exhaustion, suggesting a necessary condition. Conclusions Our methods preclude a causal interpretation, but show a robust association between the psychosocial work environment and mental health of young workers. Young workers should not be viewed as an entirely distinct group, but they face specific challenges related to the psychosocial work environment and their mental health. Young workers in a poor psychosocial work environment deserves attention as these are the ones reporting most mental health problems.