Psychosocial Job Stressors and Mental Health: The Potential Moderating Role of Emotion Regulation.

Abstract

This study examines whether emotion regulation moderates the association between psychosocial job stressors and psychological distress. We used data from the Work and Wellbeing Survey of 1044 Australian working adults. An adjusted linear regression model was used to estimate the moderating effect of emotion regulation. The impact of low fairness and low control at work on distress was stronger in individuals with low (rather than high) cognitive reappraisal [β = 2.42, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) = 0.07 to 4.76; β = 2.58, 95% CI = 0.04 to 5.12, respectively], whereas the impact of high demands on distress was stronger in those with high (rather than low) expressive suppression (β = 2.94, 95% CI = 0.78 to 5.10). Individual differences in emotion regulation in response to adverse job conditions should be considered in the management of workplace mental health.