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Associations of Work-Related Factors and Work Engagement with Mental and Physical Health: A 1-Year Follow-up Study Among Older Workers

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Abstract

Purpose The goals of this study were to determine whether, among older employees, unfavourable physical and psychosocial work-related factors were associated with poorer mental and physical health and whether high work engagement buffered the associations between unfavourable work-related factors and poorer health. Methods A 1-year longitudinal study with employed persons aged 45–64 was conducted within the Study on Transitions in Employment, Ability and Motivation (n = 8,837). Using an online questionnaire, work-related factors (physical: physical load; psychosocial: psychological job demands, autonomy, and support) and work engagement were measured at baseline and health at baseline and 1-year follow-up. General linear models were used to assess associations of work-related factors and work engagement with health. Tests of interaction terms assessed whether work engagement buffered the work-related factor-health associations. Results Unfavourable psychosocial work-related factors at baseline were associated with poorer mental health at follow-up. Higher physical load, higher psychological job demands, and lower autonomy at baseline were associated with poorer physical health at follow-up. Higher work engagement at baseline was related to better physical and especially better mental health during the 1-year follow-up. Work engagement had a small effect on the associations between work-related factors and health. Conclusions Among older employees, especially the promotion of a high work engagement and, to a lesser extent, favourable work-related factors can be beneficial for mental health in particular.

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Conflict of interests

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest. STREAM is being carried out with financial support from the Dutch Ministry for Social Affairs and Employment.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Public Health, Erasmus MC, University Medical Center, PO Box 2040, 3000 CA, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

    Fenna R. M. Leijten, Suzan J. W. Robroek & Alex Burdorf

  2. Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research TNO, Hoofddorp, The Netherlands

    Fenna R. M. Leijten, Swenne G. van den Heuvel & Jan Fekke Ybema

  3. Department of Public and Occupational Health, The EMGO+ Institute for Health and Care Research, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Allard J. van der Beek

  4. Body@Work, Research Center on Physical Activity, Work and Health, TNO-VU/VUmc, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Allard J. van der Beek

Authors
  1. Fenna R. M. Leijten
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  2. Swenne G. van den Heuvel
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  3. Allard J. van der Beek
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  4. Jan Fekke Ybema
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  6. Alex Burdorf
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Correspondence to Alex Burdorf.

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Leijten, F.R.M., van den Heuvel, S.G., van der Beek, A.J. et al. Associations of Work-Related Factors and Work Engagement with Mental and Physical Health: A 1-Year Follow-up Study Among Older Workers. J Occup Rehabil 25, 86–95 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10926-014-9525-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10926-014-9525-6

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