Universal association between depressive symptoms and social-network structures in the workplace

Abstract

An unhealthy communication structure at a workplace can adversely affect the mental health of employees. However, little is known about the relationship between communication structures in the workplace and the mental health of employees. Here, we evaluated the face-to-face interaction network among employees (N = 449) in a variety of real-world working environments by using wearable devices and investigated the relationship between social network characteristics and depressive symptoms. We found that the cohesive interaction structure surrounding each individual was negatively correlated with depressive symptoms: a universal relationship regardless of occupation type. This correlation was evident at the group scale and was strongly related to active interactions with abundant body movement. Our findings provide a quantitative and collective perspective on taking a systematic approach to workplace depression, and they suggest that the mental health of employees needs to be addressed systematically, not only individually.

Behavioral Interventions in Face-to-face Communication to Decrease Group Stress Levels

“…Notably, the conversations between pairs of individuals within the group reduced their group stress level. There is extensive empirical evidence that stress is in uenced by interpersonal relationships [1][2][3][4][5] , this study is the rst to suggest that interventions in interpersonal relationships can be effective in reducing group stress levels.…”

“…Further, Lee et al analyzed the network structure of employees using face-to-face communication data from Japanese workplaces obtained with name-tag wearable sensors similar to those used in this study as well as the results of the CES-D 4 . The ndings revealed that the employees with a higher clustering coe cient, which is a measure of the degree to which an individual's immediate contacts are themselves connected, tended to have lower stress levels.…”

“…Also, the type of leadership exhibited by superiors can affect subordinates' well-being 2,3 , and psychological states are in uenced by interactions with others, as network analyses have demonstrated 4,5 . In particular, individuals who experience low network cohesion with their colleagues are at a relatively high risk of depression 4 . Thus, workplace stress is not merely an individual issue but a collective problem arising from interpersonal relationships and group dynamics.…”

“…However, it is widely known that organizational culture and relationships with colleagues are strongly linked to stress and that job strain, a bullying organizational culture, and lack of autonomy in decision-making are associated with the onset of depression 1 . Also, the type of leadership exhibited by superiors can affect subordinates' well-being 2,3 , and psychological states are in uenced by interactions with others, as network analyses have demonstrated 4,5 . In particular, individuals who experience low network cohesion with their colleagues are at a relatively high risk of depression 4 .…”

Emodiversity evaluation of remote workers through health monitoring based on intra-day emotion sampling

“…One potential solution to address employees’ declining mental health is the use of emotion-based health assessments, as proposed in the field of affective computing ( 10 , 11 ). Decreased mental health during remote work may be caused partly by a change in the quality of social communication ( 12 , 13 ). In conventional face-to-face communication, managers can realize emotional depression, as a sign of mental health deterioration, through non-verbal information such as tone of voice and facial expression ( 14 ).…”