The Association Between Occupational Stress and Psychological Distress Using Quantile Regression in Isfahan’s Steel Employees

Background & Aims of the Study:  Occupational stress is one of the most common problems that can occur in any occupational population and can cause problems for the individual mental health.  Therefore, the present study aims to investigate the relation between occupational stress and psychological distress in Isfahan’s steel employees. Materials & Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in 2014 among 3063 of Isfahan’s Steel employees. GHQ-12 questionnaire was used to assess psychological distress and ERI-23 questionnaire was used to determine occupational stress. Data analysis was performed using quantile regression method in R software (quantreg package). Results: The results of the study showed that 2803 (91.5%) of the participants were men and the rest were women. Due to the use of quantile regressions in this study, it is not possible to report results in all deciles, however, Effort, reward and overcommitment in all deciles had a significant relationship with psychological distress(p<0.05). High scores of rewards and effort, and low scores of overcommitment were associated with high scores of psychological distress. Conclusions: The results showed that if high effort is accompanied by high overcommitment in the workplace, in case of low reward, it can be considered as a risk factor for psychological distress.