Effects of Emotional Labor Factors and Working Environment on the Risk of Depression in Pink-Collar Workers

Background: Emotional demand (ED) at work is related to mental health in the general workforce, not just emotional workers. We investigated the relationships between ED and mental health outcomes, including distress, depressive symptoms (DS), experience of depression (DE), and suicidal ideation (SI) on the entire general workforce using nationally representative data. Methods: 5787 full-time employees were analyzed using cross-sectional design with the fourth Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (K-NHANES IV). Work-related psychosocial factors and mental health status were measured through face-to-face interviews. Multi-stage and stratified survey designs were considered in the analysis, and the mental health effects of ED were analyzed using multivariable logistic analysis. The Cochran–Armitage trend test was conducted to investigate increases in the relationship between the severity of ED and mental health outcomes. Results: The subjects comprised 3089 men and 2698 women. ED was reported by 36.7% of men and 39.3% of women. The estimated prevalence of distress was 27.5% in men and 34.6% in women. Adjusted odds ratios (ORs) of ED for distress were 2.62 (95% confidence interval (CI) = 2.10–3.28) for men and 2.57 (95% CI = 1.92–3.45) for women. DS was significantly related to ED (men: OR = 1.72, 95% CI = 1.18–2.50; women: OR = 1.91, 95% CI = 1.33–2.74). ED was also significant psychosocial risk factor for DE (men: OR = 1.88, 95% CI = 1.07–3.29; women: OR = 1.77, 95% CI = 1.15–2.75) and SI (men: OR = 1.64, 95% CI = 1.11–2.41; women: OR = 2.31, 95% CI = 1.63–3.28). Conclusions: ED was a risk factor for distress, DS, DE, and SI in the general workforce. Legal and social safety networks should be constructed for workers whose emotions may be hidden at work, as well as workers in emotion-related fields.

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Emotional Demand and Mental Health in Korean Employees

Kwon

Kim

2021

“…First, they may raise a misclassification bias because the information on the occupation could not fully obtain specific workplace exposure. However, as there are typical workplace exposures for each job type (e.g., non-intellectual demand, low income, and neurotoxic materials at work in blue-collar [ 4 , 36 , 37 ]; bullying from aggressive customers and emotional fatigue, and mental illness in pink-collar [ 38 ]), this study defined the occupational type as approximate workplace exposure. Further studies need to demonstrate the specific occupational exposures that affect cognitive deficits in later life.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The occupational history dataset included profession-related details over the lifetime, right from the participants’ first job in life: Calendar period at hire, calendar period at the exit for each job, and calendar time for unemployment. Occupation generally presents workplace exposure [ 4 , 36 , 37 , 38 ] and the longest-held occupation reflects the worker’s accumulated lifetime working conditions and work-related risk exposures [ 21 ]. Longest-held occupation in a lifetime was determined by the occupation in which an individual was employed for the longest duration in adulthood.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…White-collar refers to clerical and kindred work and included assistant to executives, officials, business, and professional workers [ 39 ]. Pink-collar was generally defined as retail and service industry work [ 38 ], and blue-collar refers to the industry with manual labor [ 40 ]. We also categorized managers, professionals, and clerks as white-collar workers; service and sales workers as pink-collar workers; and skilled agricultural, forestry and fishery workers, craft and trades workers, equipment and machine operation and assembly workers, elementary workers, and armed forces as blue-collar workers [ 41 ].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Association between Longest-Held Lifetime Occupation and Late-Life Cognitive Impairment: Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging (2006–2016)

Kim

Min

2020

The association between longest-held lifetime occupation and late-life cognitive impairment: Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging (2006–2016). Backgrounds: Our study hypothesized that occupation in adulthood may be one of the modifiable factors in cognitive performance. This follow-up study aimed to examine whether there was an association between the longest-held occupation in a lifetime and cognitive impairment. Methods: This study used data from the 2006, 2012, and 2016 waves of the Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging, and a total of 1733 subjects aged over 65 were included. Longest-held occupation in a lifetime was classified into blue-collar, pink-collar, and white-collar. Cognitive function was evaluated using the Korean version of the Mini-Mental State Examination. Results: In males, no significant associations were observed. In females, on the contrary, risk of cognitive impairment in the blue-collar occupation was consistently higher than in the white-collar occupation over the 10-year follow-up (2006, OR = 2.49, 95% CI 1.05–5.88; 2016, OR = 2.17, 95% CI 1.02−4.65). Conclusions: Lifetime occupation should be taken into consideration in the process of screening for cognitive decline in the elderly, especially females. This study needs to be interpreted cautiously in view of inherent data and methodological limitations.

“…In this process, hiding one’s feelings is an emotional regulation process [ 3 ] that affects a range of outcomes such as burnout [ 4 ], depressive mood [ 5 ], and mental health [ 6 , 7 ]. Two previous Korean studies have reported the combined effects of handling angry clients and hiding one’s feelings of depression or anxiety, with some moderation by other job features [ 8 , 9 ]. The detrimental effects of emotional demands on employee well-being [ 10 ] negatively affected work engagement, including vitality at work [ 11 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

High Emotional Demands at Work and Poor Mental Health in Client-Facing Workers

Suh

Punnett

2022

This study investigated the association between emotional demands and depression or anxiety in a wide range of jobs. We used data from the third Korean Working Conditions Survey (n = 50,032) for all occupational classifications, with no limitations placed on job title or employment type. Among the full set of regular paid workers in addition to self-employed, unpaid family workers, and informal employees such as independent contractors, 23,989 respondents worked with “customers, passengers, students, or patients” (i.e., clients). Emotional demands were evaluated using two questions: handling angry clients and needing to hide feelings for work performance. Any depression or anxiety over the last 12 months was taken to indicate poor mental health. Multivariable logistic regression modeling was performed to calculate adjusted ORs with 95% confidence intervals for the influence of emotional demands on mental health, adjusting for demographic factors (age, gender, education, income), occupational psychological demands, decision latitude, social support, weekly work hours and job insecurity. The prevalence of emotional demands was higher in self-employed and informal employees than in regular paid employees. The more frequent the exposure to the two emotional demands combined was, the higher the risk of depression or anxiety. High psychological demands, low social support, and low job security each further increased the risk of poor mental health. Emotional demands turned out to be widespread in the entire economy, were not limited to service or sales occupations, and were more evident in precarious work. The contribution of emotional demands and other preventable job stressors to the burden of depression or anxiety in society may be substantial.