SpringerLink
Log in

Persistent inequality: evolution of psychosocial exposures at work among the salaried population in Spain between 2005 and 2016

  • Original Article
  • Published:
International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

To assess the prevalence of poor mental health and of exposure to psychosocial risks among the working population in Spain in 2005, 2010 and 2016; to analyse the associations between workplace psychosocial exposures and mental health problems according to gender and occupation.

Methods

Three representative samples of the Spanish working population were analysed, in 2005 (n = 7,023), 2010 (n = 4,979), and 2016 (n = 1,807). Prevalence ratios between mental health and the five dimensions – job demands, job control, social support, employment insecurity and insecurity over working conditions—were estimated using multilevel mixed-effects Poisson regressions. All the analyses were separated by gender and occupation.

Results

In 2016, there were improvements in job control, job demands and social support, and deteriorations in employment insecurity and insecurity over working conditions. The risk of poor mental health among manual workers rose if they were exposed to high demands, low social support and high employment insecurity; among non-manual workers, the risk increased if they were exposed to high demands, low control, low social support and high insecurity over working conditions. There were no differences according to gender.

Conclusion

The new findings shed light on the evolution of the working conditions and health of the wage-earning population in Spain over the last 11 years. The stratification by gender and occupational group is relevant, since it allows a detailed analysis of the social disparities in the associations between psychosocial risks and mental health. The most vulnerable groups can be identified and preventive measures developed at source.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
EUR 32.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or Ebook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Price includes VAT (United Kingdom)

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Availability of data and materials

Under request.

Code availability

Under request.

References

  • Arrighi HM, Hertz-Picciotto I (1994) The evolving concept of the healthy worker survivor effect. Epidemiology 5(2): 189–96. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8172994. Accessed July 2019

  • Benach J, Vives A, Amable M, Vanroelen C, Tarafa G, Muntaner C (2014) Precarious employment: understanding an emerging social determinant of health. Annu Rev Public Health 35(1):229–253. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-publhealth-032013-182500

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Buchholz S, Hofäcker D, Mills M, Blossfeld HP, Kurz K, Hofmeister H (2009) Life courses in the globalization process: the development of social inequalities in modern societies. Eur Sociol Rev 25(1):53–71. https://doi.org/10.1093/esr/jcn033

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Burr H, Albertsen K, Rugulies R, Hannerz H (2010) Do dimensions from the copenhagen psychosocial questionnaire predict vitality and mental health over and above the job strain and effort-reward imbalance models? Scand J Public Health 38(3 Suppl):59–68. https://doi.org/10.1177/1403494809353436

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Burr H, Berthelsen H, Moncada S et al (2019) The third version of the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire. Safely and Health at Work. Saf Health Work 10(4):482–503

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Campos-Serna J, Ronda-Pérez E, Artazcoz L, Moen B, Benavides F (2013) Gender inequalities in occupational health related to the unequal distribution of working and employment conditions: a systematic review. Int J Equity Health 12:57

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chandola T, Marmot M (2010) Socioeconomic status and stress. In: The handbook of stress science: Biology, psychology, and health (pp. 185–193).

  • De Witte H, Pienaar J, De Cuyper N (2016) Review of 30 years of longitudinal studies on the association between job insecurity and health and well-being: is there causal evidence? Aust Psychol 51(1):18–31. https://doi.org/10.1111/ap.12176

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Esteban-Gonzalo S, Aparicio M, Estaban-Gonzalo L (2018) Employment status, gender and health in Spanish women. Women Health 58(7):744–758. https://doi.org/10.1080/03630242.2017.1353574

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eurofound (2012). Fifth European Working Conditions Survey. Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg. Retrieved from http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/pubdocs/2011/82/en/1/EF1182EN.pdf. Accessed Nov 2019

  • Eurofound (2017) Sixth European Working Conditions Survey: overview report. Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.2806/784968

  • Eurofound (2019) Working conditions and workers’ health. Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg. Retrieved from https://www.eurofound.europa.eu/publications/report/2019/working-conditions-and-workers-health. Accessed Nov 2019

  • Fernandes C, Pereira A (2016) Exposure to psychosocial risk factors in the context of work: a systematic review. Revista de Saúde Pública 50:24. https://doi.org/10.1590/S1518-8787.2016050006129

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hämmig O, Bauer GF (2013) The social gradient in work and health: a cross-sectional study exploring the relationship between working conditions and health inequalities. BMC Public Health 13:1170. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-13-1170

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harvey SB, Modini M, Joyce S et al (2017) Can work make you mentally ill? A systematic meta-review of work-related risk factors for common mental health problems. Occup Environ Med 74(4):301–310. https://doi.org/10.1136/oemed-2016-104015

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Häusser JA, Mojzisch A, Niesel M, Schulz-Hardt S (2010) Ten years on: a review of recent research on the job demand-control (-support) model and psychological well-being. Work Stress 24:1–35

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Heggebø K, Tøge AG, Dahl E, Berg JE (2019) Socioeconomic inequalities in health during the Great Recession: a sco** review of the research literature. Scand J Pub Health 47(6):635–654. https://doi.org/10.1177/1403494818801637

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • INE (2019) Encuesta de población activa.

  • ISTAS (2019) Exposiciones psicosociales laborales en España: una mirada de clase y de género. Valencia.

  • Johnson JV, Hall EM (1988) Job strain, work place social support, and cardiovascular disease: a cross-sectional study of a random sample of the Swedish working population. Am J Public Health 78(10):1336–1342

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Karasek R (1979) Job demands, job decision latitude, and mental strain: implications for job redesign. Adm Sci Q 24(2):285. https://doi.org/10.2307/2392498

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Keim AC, Landis RS, Pierce CA, Earnest DR (2014) Why do employees worry about their jobs? A meta-analytic review of predictors of job insecurity. J Occup Health Psychol 19(3):269–290. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0036743

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kim TJ, von dem Knesebeck O (2016) Perceived job insecurity, unemployment and depressive symptoms: a systematic review and meta-analysis of prospective observational studies. Int Arch Occup Environ Health 89(4):561–573. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00420-015-1107-1

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lahera Sánchez A (2004) La participación de los trabajadores en la calidad total: nuevos dispositivos disciplinarios de organización del trabajo. Reis: Revista Española de Investigaciones Sociológicas 106: 63–102. Retrieved from http://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/extart?codigo=970294 Accessed July 2019

  • Leupp K (2017) Depression, work and family roles, and the gendered life course. J Health Soc Behav 58(4):422–441. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022146517737309

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Magnusson Hanson L, Rod N, Vahtera J et al (2019) Multicohort study of change in job strain, poor mental health and incident cardiometabolic disease. Occup Environ Med 76(11):785–792. https://doi.org/10.1136/OEMED-2018-105595

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marmot M (2006) Status syndrome. JAMA 295(11):1304. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.295.11.1304

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Marmot M, Wilkinson RG (2006) Social determinants of health. Oxford Univeristy Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Moncada S, Llorens C, Navarro A, Kristensen T (2005) ISTAS21 COPSOQ: Versión en lengua castellana del cuestionario psicosocial de Copenhague. Archivos de Prevención de Riesgos Laborales 8(1):18–29

    Google Scholar 

  • Moncada S, Utzet M, Molinero E, Llorens C, Moreno N, Galtes A, Navarro A (2014) The copenhagen psychosocial questionnaire II (COPSOQ II) in Spain-A tool for psychosocial risk assessment at the workplace. Am J Ind Med 57(1):97–107. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajim.22238

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Navarro A, Utzet M, Salas S, Llorens C, Molinero-Ruiz E, Moncada S (2017) Specific psychosocial exposures for workers’ mental health: a population-based study. Am J Ind Med 60(8):747–752. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajim.22733

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Niedhammer I, Lesuffleur T, Labarthe G, Chastang JF (2018) Role of working conditions in the explanation of occupational inequalities in work injury: findings from the national French SUMER survey. BMC Public Health 18(1):344. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-018-5254-7

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rocha F, Aragón J (2012) La crisis económica y sus efectos sobre el empleo. Fundación 1° Mayo. Colección Informes 19:67–90

    Google Scholar 

  • Salas-Nicás S, Moncada S, Llorens C, Navarro A (2018) Cognitive and affective insecurity related to remaining employed and working conditions. J Occup Environ Med 60(11):e589–e594

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schnall PL, Dobson M, Landsbergis P (2016) Globalization, work, and cardiovascular disease. Int J Health Serv 46(4):656–692. https://doi.org/10.1177/0020731416664687

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Siegrist J, Marmot M (2004) Health inequalities and the psychosocial environment-two scientific challenges. Soc Sci Med 58(8):1463–1473. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0277-9536(03)00349-6

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Siegrist J, Montano D, Hoven H (2014) Working conditions and health inequalities, evidence and policy implications. Report produced as part of the ‘DRIVERS for Health Equity’ project, http://healthgradient.eu/. Düsseldorf: Centre for Health and Society, Faculty of Medicine, Heinrich Heine-Universität. Accessed July 2019

  • Snijders T, Bosker R (2000) Multilevel analysis: an introduction to basic and advanced multilevel modeling. Sage, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Stansfeld S, Candy B (2006) Psychosocial work environment and mental health–a meta-analytic review. Scand J Work Environ Health 32(6):443–462

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sverke M, Hellgren J, Näswall K (2002) No security: a meta-analysis and review of job insecurity and its consequences. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology 7(3): 242–64. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12148956. Accessed July 2019

  • Theorell T, Hammarström A, Gustafsson PE, Magnusson Hanson L, Janlert U, Westerlund H (2014) Job strain and depressive symptoms in men and women: a prospective study of the working population in Sweden. J Epidemiol Commun Health 68(1):78–82. https://doi.org/10.1136/jech-2012-202294

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thorsen SV, Rugulies R, Hjarsbech PU, Bjorner JB (2013) The predictive value of mental health for long-term sickness absence: the Major Depression Inventory (MDI) and the Mental Health Inventory (MHI-5) compared. BMC Med Res Methodol 13:115. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2288-13-115

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Too LS, Leach L, Butterworth P (2020) Is the association between poor job control and common mental disorder explained by general perceptions of control? Findings from an Australian longitudinal cohort. Scand J Work Environ Health 1;46(3):311–320.

  • Torá I, Martínez JM, Benavides FG, Leveque K, Ronda E (2015) Effect of economic recession on psychosocial working conditions by workers’ nationality. Int J Occup Environ Health 21(4):328–332. https://doi.org/10.1080/10773525.2015.1122369

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Utzet M, Navarro A, Llorens C, Moncada S (2015) Intensification and isolation: psychosocial work environment changes in Spain (2005–2010). Occup Med (Oxf Engl) 65(5):405–412

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Utzet M, Navarro A, Llorens C, Muntaner C, Moncada S (2016) Is the worsening of psychosocial exposures associated with mental health? Comparing two population-based cross-sectional studies in Spain, 2005–2010. Am J Ind Med 59(5):399–407. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajim.22577

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Verd JM, López-Andreu M (2012) La inestabilidad del empleo en las trayectorias laborales. Revista Española de Investigaciones Sociológicas, Un análisis cuantitativo. https://doi.org/10.5477/cis/reis.138.135

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Vilagut G, Ferrer M, Rajmil L et al (2005) El Cuestionario de Salud SF-36 español: una década de experiencia y nuevos desarrollos. Gac Sanit 19(2):135–150

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We specially thank Emilia Molinero for assessing preparing the files. David Moriña acknowledges financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, through the María de Maeztu Programme for Units of Excellence in RandD (MDM-2014-0445) and from Fundación Santander Universidades.

Funding

This project was partially funded by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III (Spanish Health Ministry, IP12/02403). Fieldwork for the 2005, 2010 and 2016 Surveys of Psychosocial Risks in the Workplace was financed by Grants from the Instituto de Salud Carlos III (Spanish Health Ministry, IP031499), the Fundación para la Prevención de Riesgos Laborales (Spanish Ministry of Labor), and the Generalitat de Catalunya (Catalan Government).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Grupo de Investigación en Determinantes Sociales de la Salud y Cambio Demográfico, Departamento de Sociología 2, Universidad del País Vasco UPV/EHU, Leioa, Spain

    Mireia Utzet

  2. Center for Research in Occupational Health (CISAL), CIBER of Epidemiology and Public Health (CIBERESP), IMIM (Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute), Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Doctor Aiguader 88, 08003, Barcelona, Spain

    Mireia Utzet

  3. Union Institute of Work, Environment and Health (ISTAS), Barcelona, Spain

    Clara Llorens & Salvador Moncada

  4. Sociology Department, Faculty of Sociology and Political Sciences, Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), Cerdanyola del Vallès, Spain

    Clara Llorens

  5. Departament de Matemàtiques, Barcelona Graduate School of Mathematics (BGSMath), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), Barcelona, Spain

    David Moriña

Authors
  1. Mireia Utzet
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Clara Llorens
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. David Moriña
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Salvador Moncada
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

SM and MU conceived the idea of the paper. MU and DM were responsible for the analysis of data. SM, MU and CL were responsible for the interpretation of data. SM and MU wrote the paper. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mireia Utzet.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

There is no duplicate publication of any part of the work and the authors declare that they have no conflict of interests.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary material 1 (docx 15 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Utzet, M., Llorens, C., Moriña, D. et al. Persistent inequality: evolution of psychosocial exposures at work among the salaried population in Spain between 2005 and 2016. Int Arch Occup Environ Health 94, 621–629 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00420-020-01609-3

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00420-020-01609-3

Keywords

Search

Navigation