Home Life Can Also Stress You Out In The Workplace

Keeping your personal life separate from the work place can be difficult sometimes. Now, new findings published in the journal Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology show that these two aspects are inevitably linked to mental health.

Researchers at Concordia University and the University of Montreal in Canada discovered that the home setting can ultimately influence people's mental health at work.

For the study, researchers took into account certain job stressors, including bosses and deadlines, unpaid overtime and bad coworkers. However, instead of focusing on just these factors, they also examined how variables arising from personal life can also affect one's own ability to work.

"To maintain a truly healthy workforce, we need to look outside the office or home in simple terms to combat mental health issues in the workplace," said lead study author Alain Marchand, professor at the University of Montreal's School of Industrial Relations, in a news release.

Researchers examined 1,954 employees from 63 organizations who were surveyed for factors including prenatal status, household income, physical health and self-esteem levels. They examined these factors alongside factors associated with the workplace, including high psychological demands and job security. Researchers found that people's mental health often depended on a combination of the factors.

They found that employees who lived with a partner and who had young children and reported high household income were likely to report fewer mental health problems at work. Employees who received work support and recognition and who also felt secure in their position also had fewer mental health issues.

"This is a call to action," concluded senior author Steve Harvey, professor of management and dean of Concordia's John Molson School of Business. "Researchers need to expand their perspective so that they get a full picture of the complexity of factors that determine individuals' mental health."