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Workplace gender harassment, illegitimate tasks, and poor mental health: Hypothesized associations in a Swedish cohort

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  • Mensah, Aziz
  • Toivanen, Susanna
  • Diewald, Martin
  • Ul Hassan, Mahmood
  • Nyberg, Anna

Abstract

Workers exposed to gender harassment and illegitimate tasks may experience adverse mental health outcomes such as depression and burnout. However, the longitudinal effects and the complex interrelationships between these variables remain largely unexplored. We investigated the cross-lagged relationships between gender harassment, illegitimate tasks, and mental health outcomes among working adults in Sweden over a period of two years, as well as the gender differences in the cross-lagged effects. Additionally, the study examined whether illegitimate tasks mediated the relationship between gender harassment and negative mental health outcomes over time. Data were drawn from the Swedish Longitudinal Occupational Survey of Health (SLOSH), covering 2796 working men and 4110 working women in a two-wave analysis from 2018 to 2020. We employed a structural equation model to examine the cross-lagged effects and the mediating effect between gender harassment, illegitimate tasks, and mental health outcomes over time. Furthermore, we applied a multigroup analysis to determine gender differences in the cross-lagged effects.

Suggested Citation

  • Mensah, Aziz & Toivanen, Susanna & Diewald, Martin & Ul Hassan, Mahmood & Nyberg, Anna, 2022. "Workplace gender harassment, illegitimate tasks, and poor mental health: Hypothesized associations in a Swedish cohort," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 315(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:315:y:2022:i:c:s0277953622008267
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2022.115520
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Paula England & Andrew Levine & Emma Mishel, 2020. "Progress toward gender equality in the United States has slowed or stalled," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 117(13), pages 6990-6997, March.
    2. Aziz Mensah, 2021. "Job Stress and Mental Well-Being among Working Men and Women in Europe: The Mediating Role of Social Support," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(5), pages 1-18, March.
    3. Holendro Singh Chungkham & Michael Ingre & Robert Karasek & Hugo Westerlund & Töres Theorell, 2013. "Factor Structure and Longitudinal Measurement Invariance of the Demand Control Support Model: An Evidence from the Swedish Longitudinal Occupational Survey of Health (SLOSH)," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(8), pages 1-11, August.
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    1. Mensah, Aziz & Nyberg, Anna & Wennberg, Peter & Toivanen, Susanna, 2025. "Effort-reward imbalance and problem drinking among workers: Differences in gender and the gender composition of industries and main job activities in a prospective cohort study from Sweden," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 372(C).

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