Association between workplace psychosocial factors and mental health in Black, Hispanic, and White women: Cross-sectional findings from the National Health Interview Survey

Miriam Mutambudzi

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

7 Scopus citations

Abstract

Research evaluating the relation of workplace psychosocial factors to mental health among U.S. women of different racial/ethnic backgrounds is limited. This study investigated the relationship between work-related psychosocial factors and mental health among non-Hispanic Black, Hispanic, and non-Hispanic White women using data from the 2010 National Health Interview Survey. Independent variables of interest included job insecurity, workplace harassment, and work-family conflict (WFC). Multiple Poisson regression models were used to examine the associations between the outcome and independent variables. The prevalence of unfavorable mental health was highest among non-Hispanic Black women (36%) compared to Hispanic (34%) and non-Hispanic White (30%) women. A higher proportion of non-Hispanic Black women reported WFC compared to Hispanics and non-Hispanic Whites (χ2 = 15.50, p <.01), while more Hispanics reported job insecurity (χ2 = 116.81, p <.01). Prevalence of workplace harassment did not differ significantly by race/ethnicity. Odds of unfavorable mental health were significantly higher for women reporting psychosocial work factors. Unexpectedly, a greater association between psychosocial work factors and unfavorable mental health was observed among non-Hispanic White women compared to non-White women; however, caution should be taken in interpreting these cross-sectional results. Future studies should investigate temporal associations and additional psychosocial variables that were not available for use in the current study.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)1129-1144
Number of pages16
JournalWomen and Health
Volume57
Issue number10
DOIs
StatePublished - Nov 26 2017
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Job insecurity
  • mental health
  • psychosocial
  • race
  • work-life conflict
  • work-related stress
  • workplace harassment

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Medicine

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