Psychosocial job stressors and mental health the potential moderating role of emotion regulation

Objective: This study examines whether emotion regulation moderates the association between psychosocial job stressors and psychological distress. Methods: We used data from the Work and Wellbeing Survey of 1044 Australian working adults. An adjusted linear regression model was used to estimate the moderating effect of emotion regulation. Results: The impact of low fairness and low control at work on distress was stronger in individuals with low (rather than high) cognitive reappraisal [β=2.42, 95% confidence interval (95% CI)=0.07 to 4.76; β=2.58, 95% CI=0.04 to 5.12, respectively], whereas the impact of high demands on distress was stronger in those with high (rather than low) expressive suppression (β=2.94, 95% CI=0.78 to 5.10). Conclusion: Individual differences in emotion regulation in response to adverse job conditions should be considered in the management of workplace mental health.