Mediating effect of work engagement between job stress and depressive symptoms in State Grid employees

Objective To explore the relationship between job stress, work engagement and depressive symptoms of State Grid workers, and to analyze the mediating effect of work engagement between job stress and depressive symptoms. Methods A cross-sectional survey was conducted to investigate 845 employees from a State Grid company, using the brief job stress questionnaire, the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) and 9-item Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES-9) in March 2017. Results The average score of work engagement was 4.49±1.42, the mean value of job stress was 1.15±0.33, the average score of depressive symptoms was 6.44±4.30, and the positive rate of depressive symptoms was 66.9%.There was a negative correlation between work engagement with both job stress and depressive symptoms (r=-0.193, -0.397, both P<0.01) , and job stress was positively correlated with depressive symptoms (r=0.260, P<0.01) . The relationship between job stress and depressive symptoms was partly mediated by work engagement, and the mediating effect accounted for 27.2% of the total effect. Conclusion The work engagement of State Grid staff acts as the mediator between job stress and depressive symptoms, alleviating the depressive symptoms caused by job stress. Key words: Job stress; Depressive symptoms; Work engagement; Mediating effect