Psychosocial exposures and mental health: Distribution by gender and occupational class in a population-based study

© The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Faculty of Public Health. All rights reserved. Background: To estimate the association between exposures to psychosocial risks and risk of minor psychiatric disorder (MPDR) among the working population of Catalonia in 2010, by gender and occupational class. Methods: The analysis is based on a sample, corresponding to the year 2010, of workers in Catalonia (n = 2741). We calculated the prevalence [and 95% confidence interval (95% CI)] of MPDR, stratifying by occupational class, age and sex, and by the different psychosocial exposures. Prevalence ratios (PR) were estimated between MPDR and the different psychosocial exposures using Poisson regression modelling with robust variance estimates. Results: The main results show that the prevalence of MPDR was ∼12.3% (95% CI: 10.8; 13.8), being higher in women than in men (15.1 and 9.7%, respectively). Workers exposed to each of the various psychosocial dimensions, except for low Control and Double Presence, present significantly higher prevalences of MPDR than non-exposed workers. Differences in terms of gender and occupational class were glimpsed. Conclusion: These results highlight the important contribution of psychosocial risk exposures to the MPDR among the working population, and consequently that there is a need to improve workplace psychosocial environments.