Emotional labor and depressive mood in service and sales workers: Interactions with gender and job autonomy. (September 2018) - Han, Kyu-Man
Highlights: Emotional labor is strongly correlated with poor mental health in workers. Nationally representative cross-sectional sample of 2, 055 service and sales workers. Strong correlation of emotional labor with depressive symptoms in female workers. Interaction of emotional labor and job control on depressive mood in male workers. Association of emotional labor and depressive mood was mediated by stress level. Abstract: Emotional labor is strongly correlated with negative consequences in psychological well-being and mental health status in workers. We investigated the associations of emotional labor with depressive mood and perceived usual stress level according to gender and its interactions with job autonomy in service and sales workers. The data from 2, 055 service and sales workers from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (KNHANES) conducted from 2007 to 2009 were analyzed. High emotional labor was associated with increased risk for depressive mood in female workers (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] = 2.19, 95%, confidence interval [CI] = 1.56–3.07). Emotional labor and job autonomy showed interactive effects on depressive mood in that high emotional labor was associated with depressive mood only in the presence of low job autonomy in male workers (aOR = 2.85, 95% CI = 1.13–7.17). A significant mediation pathway between high emotional demand and prevalence of depressive mood through higher stress level was observed in female workers. In conclusion, female workers had high vulnerability to depressive symptoms due to emotional labor, and high job autonomy can act as a buffer against the detrimental effect of emotional labor in male workers.