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The negative impact of long working hours on mental health in young Korean workers

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Listed:
  • Sungjin Park
  • Hyungdon Kook
  • Hongdeok Seok
  • Jae Hyoung Lee
  • Daeun Lim
  • Dong-Hyuk Cho
  • Suk-Kyu Oh

Abstract

Long working hours are known to have a negative effect on health. However, there is no clear evidence for a direct link between mental health and long working hours in the young adult populations. Therefore, we aimed to determine whether long working hours are associated with mental health in young adult workers. Data were collected from a 2012 follow-up survey of the Youth Panel 2007. A total of 3,332 young adult employees (aged 20 to 35) were enrolled in the study. We analyzed stress, depression, and suicidal thoughts by multivariate logistic regression analysis based on working hours (41 to 50, 51 to 60 and over 60 hours, compared to 31 to 40 hours per week), which was adjusted for sex, age, marriage status, region, and educational level. From the 3,332 young adult employees, about 60% of the workers worked more than 40 hours and 17% of the workers worked more than 50 hours per week. In a Chi-square test, stress level, depression, and suicidal thoughts increased with increasing working hours (p-value

Suggested Citation

  • Sungjin Park & Hyungdon Kook & Hongdeok Seok & Jae Hyoung Lee & Daeun Lim & Dong-Hyuk Cho & Suk-Kyu Oh, 2020. "The negative impact of long working hours on mental health in young Korean workers," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(8), pages 1-13, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0236931
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0236931
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Mousteri, Victoria & Daly, Michael & Delaney, Liam, 2020. "Underemployment and psychological distress: Propensity score and fixed effects estimates from two large UK samples," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 244(C).
    2. Jin-Ha Yoon & Pil Kyun Jung & Jaehoon Roh & Hongdeok Seok & Jong-Uk Won, 2015. "Relationship between Long Working Hours and Suicidal Thoughts: Nationwide Data from the 4th and 5th Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(6), pages 1-12, June.
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    1. Nadeem Ul Haque & Faheem Jehangir Khan (ed.), 2022. "RASTA Local Research, Local Solutions: Markets & Regulations, Volume V," PIDE Books, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, number 2022:7, December.
    2. Shiyou Wu & Lac Ta & Jaime Vieira & Kendall Schwartz & Joshua Perez & Justin Zeien & Danyi Li & Jennifer Hartmark-Hill, 2024. "Adverse Childhood Experiences and Depression among Homeless Young Adults: A Social Determinants of Health Perspective," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 21(1), pages 1-15, January.
    3. Jiaoyang Yu & Stavroula Leka, 2022. "The Effect of Worktime Control on Overtime Employees’ Mental Health and Work-Family Conflict: The Mediating Role of Voluntary Overtime," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(7), pages 1-16, March.
    4. Nurul Purborini & Ming-Been Lee & Hsiu-Ju Chang, 2021. "Determinants of Positive and Negative Affect among Adolescents and Young Adults in Indonesia: A Population-Based Survey," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(23), pages 1-22, November.
    5. Won Ju Hwang & Minjeong Kim, 2022. "Work-Related Stress, Health Status, and Status of Health Apps Use in Korean Adult Workers," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(6), pages 1-8, March.
    6. Yasuhiro Kotera & Muhammad Aledeh & Annabel Rushforth & Nelly Otoo & Rory Colman & Elaina Taylor, 2022. "A Shorter Form of the Work Extrinsic and Intrinsic Motivation Scale: Construction and Factorial Validation," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(21), pages 1-11, October.
    7. Xinxin Ma, 2023. "Impact of Long Working Hours on Mental Health: Evidence from China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(2), pages 1-13, January.

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