De Moortel Deborah, Vandenheede Hadewijch, Muntaner Carles, Vanroelen Christophe
Department of Sociology, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 2, 1050 Brussel, Belgium.
BMC Public Health. 2014 Sep 9;14:938. doi: 10.1186/1471-2458-14-938.
The objective of this study is to examine social inequalities in employee mental well-being, using relational social class indicators. Relational social class indicators are based on theoretical insights about the mechanisms generating social (health) inequalities. Additionally, it is examined whether the psychosocial work environment and employment quality act as intermediary determinants of social class inequalities in mental well-being, simultaneously testing the mediation (differential exposure) and moderation (differential vulnerability) hypotheses.
Data from the European Social Survey Round 2 (2004/5) and Round 5 (2010) were analysed. Mental well-being was assessed by the WHO Well-being Index. The measure for social class was inspired by E.O. Wright's class scheme. Three-level linear multilevel modelling was used to account for clustering of employees within research years and countries.
We found social class inequalities in mental well-being in the European working population for both men and women. Compared to unskilled workers, managers reported the best mental well-being, while supervisors held an intermediary position. As regards the mediation hypothesis, an unfavourable psychosocial work environment and low-quality employment conditions mediated the relation between social class and poor mental well-being in both men and women. However, low quality of employment relations only mediated the "social class-mental well-being" association in the male sample. As regards the moderation hypothesis, modification effects were seen for the psychosocial work environment and employment conditions in both men and women.
Relational indicators of social class are related to mental well-being in European employees. Relational accounts of social class are complementary to stratification indicators in social epidemiology. From a policy perspective, better employee mental well-being and less social class inequality could be achieved through initiatives addressing the unequal social relations generated by structural positions in the labour process.
本研究的目的是使用关系性社会阶层指标来考察员工心理健康方面的社会不平等。关系性社会阶层指标基于对产生社会（健康）不平等机制的理论见解。此外，还考察了心理社会工作环境和就业质量是否作为心理健康方面社会阶层不平等的中介决定因素，同时检验中介（差异暴露）和调节（差异易感性）假设。
分析了欧洲社会调查第2轮（2004/5年）和第5轮（2010年）的数据。心理健康通过世界卫生组织幸福指数进行评估。社会阶层的衡量方法受到E.O.赖特阶级体系的启发。采用三级线性多层次模型来考虑研究年份和国家内员工的聚类情况。
我们发现欧洲在职人口中，无论男性还是女性，在心理健康方面都存在社会阶层不平等。与非技术工人相比，经理们的心理健康状况最佳，而主管处于中间位置。关于中介假设，不利的心理社会工作环境和低质量的就业条件在男性和女性中都介导了社会阶层与心理健康不佳之间的关系。然而，低质量的雇佣关系仅在男性样本中介导了“社会阶层 - 心理健康”的关联。关于调节假设，在男性和女性中都观察到了心理社会工作环境和就业条件的调节作用。
社会阶层的关系性指标与欧洲员工的心理健康相关。社会阶层的关系性描述是社会流行病学分层指标的补充。从政策角度来看，通过解决劳动过程中结构位置所产生的不平等社会关系的举措，可以实现更好的员工心理健康和更少的社会阶层不平等。
