Social relationships in the workplace and depressive symptoms. Results from the population-based LIFE-Adult-Study

Background:

The working environment and job characteristics have a crucial influence on mental health and well-being. Past investigations have focused primarily on factors like demand/control or effort/reward in the workplace. However, only few studies have investigated links between work-related social relationships and mental health. Based on a large population-based sample, we sought to investigate the association between job-related social relationships, using objective measures of job features, and depressive symptomatology.

Methods:

Hierarchical linear models with individuals and occupations as levels of analysis were used to analyze data from the population-based LIFE-Adult-Study from Leipzig, Germany. Primary outcome was depressive symptomatology as assessed by the Centre for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D). Job characteristics (e.g. dealing with external customers; frequency of conflictual contact) were drawn from the Occupational Information Network (O*NET) database.

Results:

Our analyses were based on n = 4,211 persons nested in k = 471 occupations (mean age: 49.2 years; 53.9% female). When controlling for individual-level covariates, objectively assessed social relationships at work were not associated with depressive symptoms.

Discussion:

We found no link between interpersonal relationships at work and depressive symptoms; subjective individual evaluations of social relationships at work might yield different results. However, depressive symptomatology varied between occupations. Other psychosocial features of working environments like e.g. perceived fairness might show stronger associations with depressive symptomatology. Our study is among the first investigations on mental health and work in Germany to use objective assessments of job features; further research on associations between psychosocial working environments and depressive symptoms is warranted.