The mediation role of work-life balance stress and chronic fatigue in the relationship between workaholism and depression among Chinese male workers in Hong Kong

Abstract

Background and aimsFew studies have tested the underlying mechanisms in the association between workaholism and depression. This study aims to investigate the potential mediation effects of work-life balance stress and chronic fatigue and depression among Chinese male workers in Hong Kong.MethodsA population-based study among male workers in Hong Kong (n = 1,352) was conducted. The self-reported scales of assessing workaholism, work-life balance stress, chronic fatigue and depressive symptoms were included in the questionnaire. Path analysis was conducted to test the proposed mediation model.ResultsWorkaholism was directly and indirectly associated with depression through work-life balance stress and chronic fatigue, respectively. The association between work-life balance stress and chronic fatigue was statistically significant in the correlation analysis but not in the path analysis. As high as 30.5% of the participants were classified as having probable chronic fatigue, while 8.4% of the participants were classified as having probable depression.DiscussionWorkaholism is a stressor that may induce negative consequences on well-being and health among male workers in Hong Kong. Interventions to help workers with time and stress management and fatigue reduction may be beneficial for their mental health. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Job Dissatisfaction Mediated the Associations Between Work Stress and Mental Health Problems

“…Descriptive statistics were computed for the independent (work stress and job dissatisfaction) and dependent variables (anxiety symptoms and depressive symptoms). Continuous variables of anxiety symptoms and depressive symptoms were used in our analyses ( 26 ). To test the associations between background variables and anxiety symptoms or depressive symptoms, univariate linear regression analyses were conducted.…”

“…Standardized path coefficients were reported. Cohen's (1988) conventions to interpret effect size for the test were used ( 28 ), and Cohen's f 2 was reported; values of 0.02, 0.15, and 0.35 represent small, medium, and large effects, respectively ( 26 ). To identify the mediation effects of job dissatisfaction for the relationships between work stress and mental health problems, bootstrap procedure was used to test the mediation effect ( 29 , 30 ).…”

Quality of Life in Employee with Workaholism

“…Studies show that the negative life outcomes due to workaholism can be seen in all parts of life. These negative outcomes are perceived high stress [63][64][65][66][67], low selfesteem, low self-efficacy, low life-satisfaction, sleeping problems (e.g., insomnia or weak sleep) [64,[68][69][70], psychological distress [28], career dissatisfaction, poor job performance [51,71], burnout [25,72,73], and higher amount of work-family conflict [74]. Additionally, a study conducted in Spain has supported the negative consequences discussed above.…”

Hidden costs of anticipated workload for individuals and partners: Exploring the role of daily fluctuations in workaholism.

“…Daily fluctuations in workaholism are also expected to positively relate to fatigue through the spillover process. Prior studies have found links between workaholism and strain-based outcomes of fatigue and emotional exhaustion (Clark et al, 2016;Yang et al, 2020), and these links are thought to occur because of high-effort expenditure in one's work and a lack of recovery experiences that are particularly necessary for workaholics (e.g., Balducci et al, 2020;ten Brummelhuis et al, 2017). On a daily basis, compulsive feelings, thoughts, and behaviors toward one's work are expected to spillover from the work domain to the home domain, preventing individuals from physically and mentally disengaging from work.…”