Psychological and Social Work Factors as Predictors of Mental Distress and Positive Affect: A Prospective, Multilevel Study

<div><p>Occupational health research has mainly addressed determinants of negative health effects, typically employing individual-level self-report data. The present study investigated individual- <i>and</i> department-level (means of each work unit) effects of psychological/social work factors on <i>mental distress</i> and <i>positive affect</i>. Employees were recruited from 63 Norwegian organizations, representing a wide variety of job types. A total of 4158 employees, in 918 departments, responded at baseline and at follow-up two years later. Multilevel linear regressions estimated individual- and department-level effects simultaneously, and accounted for clustering of data. Baseline exposures <i>and</i> average exposures over time ([T1+T2]/2) were tested. <i>All</i> work factors; <i>decision control</i>, <i>role conflict</i>, <i>positive challenge</i>, <i>support from immediate superior</i>, <i>fair leadership</i>, <i>predictability during the next month</i>, <i>commitment to organization</i>, <i>rumors of change</i>, <i>human resource primacy</i>, and <i>social climate</i>, were related to mental distress <i>and</i> positive affect at the <i>individual</i> and <i>department level</i>. However, analyses of baseline exposures adjusted for baseline outcome, demonstrated significant associations at the <i>individual</i> level only. Baseline “rumors of change” was related to mental distress only and baseline “predictability during the next month” was not a statistical significant predictor of either outcome when adjusted for outcome at baseline. Psychological and social work factors were generally related to mental distress and positive affect in a mirrored way. Impact of exposures seemed most pervasive at the individual level. However, department-level relations were also discovered. Supplementing individual-level measures with aggregated measures may increase understanding of working conditions influence on employees`health and well-being. Organizational improvements focusing on the work factors in the current study should be able to reduce distress <i>and</i> enhance positive affect. Furthermore, both targeting individual employees <i>and</i> redesigning working conditions at the work unit level seems important.</p>