Well-Being in Life and Well-Being at Work: Which Comes First? Evidence From a Longitudinal Study

2020
Understanding reciprocal relationships between specific arenas in life and at work is critical for designing interventions to improve workplace health and safety. Most studies about the links between dimensions of well-being in life and at work have been cross-sectional and usually narrowly focused on one of the dimensions of the work-life well-being link. The issues of causality and feedback between life and work well-being have often not been addressed. We overcome these issues by measuring six aspects of well-being for both the work arena and life in general, using longitudinal data with a clear temporal sequence of cause and effect, and by explicitly accounting for feedback with potential effects in both directions. Nine hundred and fifty-four Mexican apparel factory workers at a major global brand participated in two waves of the Worker Well-Being Survey. Data on life satisfaction and job satisfaction, happiness and positive affect, meaning and purpose, health, and social relationships in life and at work were used. Lagged regression controlling for confounders and prior outcomes was employed. Sensitivity analysis was used to assess the robustness of the results to potential unmeasured confounding. For the relationships between life satisfaction and job satisfaction and between happiness in life and happiness at work effects in both directions were found. Nevertheless, indication of a larger effect of life satisfaction on job satisfaction than the reverse was obtained. For depression and meaning in life, there was evidence for an effect of life well-being on work-related well-being, but not for the reverse. For social relationships and purpose, there was evidence for an effect of work-related well-being on life well-being, but not the reverse. Relationships based on the longitudinal data were considerably weaker than their respective cross-sectional associations. This study contributes to our understanding of the nature of the relationship between aspects of well-being in the arenas of life and work. Findings from this study may facilitate the development of novel workplace programs promoting working conditions that enable lifelong flourishing in life and at work.
FRONTIERS IN PUBLIC HEALTH
卷号:8
收录类型
SSCI
发表日期
2020
学科领域
循证公共卫生
国家
美国
语种
英语
DOI
10.3389/fpubh.2020.00103
其他关键词
CORE SELF-EVALUATIONS; JOB-SATISFACTION; SENSITIVITY-ANALYSIS; FAMILY CONFLICT; DIRTY DOZEN; DEPRESSION; PERFORMANCE; HAPPINESS; GENDER; STRAIN
EISSN
2296-2565
资助机构
Robert Wood Johnson FoundationRobert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) [74275]; Levi Strauss Foundation
资助信息
This study was supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation under the grant No. 74275 Building a Culture of Health: A Business Leadership Imperative and by the Levi Strauss Foundation under the grant Follow up ofWell-beingmeasures in Mexico, China, Cambodia, and Sri Lanka.
被引频次(WOS)
17
被引更新日期
2022-01
来源机构
Harvard University Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Harvard University Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health IULM International University Languages & Media Harvard University Fondazione Bruno Kessler Harvard University Harvard University Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
关键词
well-being in life well-being at work health job and life satisfaction happiness meaning and purpose in life and at work social relationships