Psychosomatic symptoms in child and youth welfare employees: the role of workload, resilience, and affective stress responses -results of a survey in Germany

Employees in child and youth welfare services are exposed to high occupational demands, which may contribute to psychosomatic symptoms and reduced well-being. However, underlying mechanisms remain insufficiently understood. For a better understanding, a cross-sectional survey was conducted among 317 employees in child and youth welfare services. Overall, 58.7% reported psychosomatic symptoms within the preceding eight weeks. A probit path model showed that workload was associated with nervousness (β = .29), conflict (β = .13), and psychosomatic symptoms (β = .18), while nervousness was predictive of psychosomatic symptoms (β = .38). Resilience was linked to higher self-fulfilment (β = .36) and lower nervousness (β = −.25), but not with psychosomatic symptoms (β = −.06). Mediation analysis confirmed that workload was partially mediated by nervousness and that resilience was fully mediated by nervousness. Our findings highlight the role of affective stress processes in explaining how job demands relate to health.