Mental health among university students: The associations of effort-reward imbalance and overcommitment with psychological distress

Mental health problems are highly prevalent among university students, but little is known about their underlying determinants. This study explores mental the association between “effort-reward imbalance” (ERI), overcommitment and health, to what extent ERI explain gender differences in health. Cross-sectional data were analyzed from 4760 Italian students. The Kessler Psychological Distress Scale-10 was used measure self-reported psychological distress, as an indicator of – Student Questionnaire effort, reward overcommitment. associations with distress estimated multinomial logistic regression analyses. 78.5% respondents experienced 21.3%, 21.1%, 36.1% reporting respectively mild, moderate severe distress. Female students more likely report strongly associated ORs up 19.9 (95% CI: 12.2–32.5) 22.2 16.1–30.7). explained part higher odds female comparing males, attenuating 2.3 1.9–2.7) 1.4 1.2–1.7). cross-sectional performed on a large, convenient sample. More than one out three reported Decreasing may be beneficial prevention reduce Longitudinal studies needed further investigate these associations.