School of Mechanical, Electrical & Information Engineering, Shandong University, Weihai, China.
Shenzhen Research Institute of Shandong University, Shenzhen, China.
Front Public Health. 2024 Jul 3;12:1402428. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1402428. eCollection 2024.
Based on a large-scale nationally representative survey in China, this paper uses the exogenous impact of automation on working hours as the instrumental variable to examine working time's impact on perceived mental disorders, on the basis of dealing with endogeneity. Different from existing literature, it is found that the impact of working time on perceived mental disorders is U-shaped, rather than linear. Mental disorders firstly decrease with working hours. After working more than 48.688 h per week, further increases in working time carry notable mental health costs, leading to a positive relationship between working hours and depression. The turning point of this U-shaped relationship is almost in line with the International Labor Organization's 48 working hours/week standard, justifying it from a mental health perspective. In addition, we further exclude the possibility of more complex nonlinear relationships between working time and perceived mental disorders. Furthermore, heterogeneities are found in the effects of working hours on mental disorders across different subgroups. Males are more depressed when working overtime. Older workers have a lower tolerance for overwork stress. The turning point is smaller for the highly educated group and they are more sensitive to working longer. Those with higher socioeconomic status are less depressed after exceeding the optimal hours of work. The increase in depression among rural workers faced with overwork is not prominent. Perceived mental disorders are lower among immigrants and those with higher health status. In addition, labor protection and social security help to weaken mental disorders caused by overtime work. In conclusion, this paper demonstrates that working time has a U-shaped impact on perceived mental disorders and highlights the vulnerability of certain groups, providing a reference for setting optimal working hours from a mental health perspective.
基于中国一项大规模的全国代表性调查，本文利用自动化对工作时间的外生影响作为工具变量，在处理内生性问题的基础上，考察了工作时间对感知精神障碍的影响。与现有文献不同，研究发现工作时间对感知精神障碍的影响呈 U 型，而不是线性。精神障碍首先随着工作时间的减少而减少。每周工作超过 48.688 小时后，进一步增加工作时间会带来显著的心理健康成本，导致工作时间与抑郁之间呈正相关。这种 U 型关系的转折点几乎与国际劳工组织每周 48 小时的工作标准一致，从心理健康的角度为其提供了依据。此外，我们进一步排除了工作时间和感知精神障碍之间更复杂的非线性关系的可能性。此外，还发现工作时间对精神障碍的影响在不同亚组之间存在异质性。男性加班时更容易抑郁。年龄较大的工人对过度工作压力的容忍度较低。受教育程度较高的群体的转折点较小，对工作时间延长更为敏感。那些社会经济地位较高的人在超过最佳工作时间后抑郁程度较低。面临过度工作的农民工的抑郁程度增加并不明显。移民和健康状况较好的人感知到的精神障碍较低。此外，劳动保护和社会保障有助于减轻加班引起的精神障碍。总之，本文表明工作时间对感知精神障碍有 U 型影响，并强调了某些群体的脆弱性，为从心理健康角度设定最佳工作时间提供了参考。
