Psychosocial job characteristics and mental health: Do associations differ by migrant status in an Australian working population sample?

Abstract

Migrant workers may experience higher burdens of occupational injury and illness compared to native-born workers, which may be due to the differential exposure to occupational hazards, differential vulnerability to exposure-associated health impacts, or both. This study aims to assess if the relationships between psychosocial job characteristics and mental health vary by migrant status in Australia (differential vulnerability). A total of 8969 persons from wave 14 (2014–2015) of the Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey were included in the analysis. Psychosocial job characteristics included skill discretion, decision authority and job insecurity. Mental health was assessed via a Mental Health Inventory-5 score (MHI-5), with a higher score indicating better mental health. Migrant status was defined by (i) country of birth (COB), (ii) the combination of COB and English/Non-English dominant language of COB and (iii) the combination of COB and years since arrival in Australia. Data were analysed using linear regression, adjusting for gender, age and educational attainment. Migrant status was analysed as an effect modifier of the relationships between psychosocial job characteristics and mental health. Skill discretion and decision authority were positively associated with the MHI-5 score while job insecurity was negatively associated with the MHI-5 score. We found no statistical evidence of migrant status acting as an effect modifier of the psychosocial job characteristic―MHI-5 relationships. With respect to psychosocial job characteristic―mental health relationships, these results suggest that differential exposure to job stressors is a more important mechanism than differential vulnerability for generating occupational health inequities between migrants and native-born workers in Australia.

Prevalence of common mental health issues among migrant workers: A systematic review and meta-analysis

“…Five of the studies were conducted in Australia [ 38 – 42 ]. Two studies were conducted in each of these countries: Singapore [ 43 , 44 ], Hong Kong [ 45 , 46 ], Italy [ 47 , 48 ], The United States of America [ 49 , 50 ], Spain [ 51 , 52 ] and United Kingdom [ 53 , 54 ].…”

“…Daly et al [ 39 ] reported that higher psychological distress among migrant workers in Australia was associated with workplace psychosocial stressors including complex/demanding jobs (OR = 2.6, p < .0001), jobs with low control (OR = 1.8, p < .0001), jobs with low security (OR = 3.4, p < .0001) and overall job adversity (OR = 2.7, p < .0001). In a similar study, they found that higher mental well-being was associated with higher skill discretion (OR = 0.40, p < .001), higher decision authority (OR = 0.36, p < .001) and lower job insecurity (OR = -1.08, p < .001) [ 42 ].…”

Migrant workers occupational health research: an OMEGA-NET working group position paper

“…Recent research has highlighted the mental health and social well-being problems of migrant workers and shows that migrant workers are more likely to suffer from psychosocial problems and mental disorders than the native workers (Bretones et al 2020 ; Daly et al 2019 ; Liu et al 2020 ). These mental health problems include depression, anxiety, stress, burnout, daytime sleepiness, insomnia, chronic fatigue, and violence (Capasso et al 2018 ; Font et al 2012 ; Sole et al 2013 ).…”

“…A study in Australia identified that migrants and native workers had largely the same psychosocial job characteristics; but the severity of the job stressors was higher for migrants (Liu et al 2020 ). Moreover, migrant and ethnic minority employees have been shown to be more exposed to workplace bullying and social exclusion than native and ethnic majority employees (Bergbom and Vartia 2021 ; Rosander and Blomberg 2021 ).…”

Submission to the Australian Senate Select Committee on Job Security on the Impact of Insecure or Precarious Employment on the Economy, Wages, Social Cohesion, and Workplace Rights and Conditions

“…16 In another more recent study, we showed that migrant workers in Australia experience higher exposure to job insecurity (i.e., they are differentially exposed) 17 but do not differ from Australian-born workers in terms of the job insecurity-to-mental health relationship (i.e., they were not differentially vulnerable). 18 Some groups are likely to be both differentially exposed and differentially vulnerable to the effects of job insecurity—thus compounding their disadvantage. Few previous studies have examined this important distinction with respect to job insecurity and its consequent impacts on health and health inequalities, but one area in which there has been research is that of economic shocks—discussed in detail in the next section.…”