The association of psychosocial work quality with changes in the mental health of young adults starting career work

TL;DR

This study shows that poor psychosocial work quality in first jobs can worsen mental health in young adults, while good quality does not.

Contribution

The study reveals that psychosocial work quality in first career jobs affects mental health changes in young adults.

Findings

Mental health problems increased in young adults with poor psychosocial work quality in their first job.

No significant mental health changes were found for those with moderate-to-good psychosocial work quality.

Adolescent mental health did not moderate the effect of psychosocial work quality on mental health changes.

Abstract

This study investigated whether (i) young adults’ mental health problems change when starting career work, (ii) potential changes in mental health problems differ by psychosocial work quality, and (iii) mental health problems during adolescence moderate potential changes in mental health by psychosocial work quality.

We used data from the Tracking Adolescents’ Individual Lives Survey (TRAILS) cohort. Follow-up time was 2–4 years. Mental health was measured with the youth and adult self-report scales. Longitudinal fixed-effects regression analyses were applied to estimate within-person changes in mental health of young adults entering career work with good, moderate, or poor psychosocial work quality (N=850) and model adolescent mental health as effect modifier of this change (N=766).

When psychosocial job quality of the first career job was ignored, mental health problems did not significantly change among young adults after having entered career work compared with not having career work. Taking psychosocial job quality into account, mental health problems increased among young adults starting career work in poor psychosocial quality compared with not having career work (adjusted mean score increase 0.12, 95% confidence interval 0.03−0.21). No significant changes in mental health problems were found for young adults entering work with moderate-to-good psychosocial work quality. We found no evidence for adolescent mental health problems as moderator.

Psychosocial work quality potentially plays a role for young workers’ mental health. Improving poor psychosocial work quality of young adults might contribute to a mentally healthier start of one’s working life.

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