Effects of Emotional Labor and Workplace Violence on Physical and Mental Health Outcomes among Female Workers: The 4th Korean Working Conditions Survey / 한국직업건강간호학회지

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: We investigated the effects of emotional labor and workplace violence on various physical and mental health outcomes among female workers. METHODS: We obtained data from 24,760 female workers who participated in the 4th Korean Working Conditions Survey (2014). Hierarchical logistic regression analysis was used to analyze the relationships. RESULTS: Female emotional workers were more exposed to workplace violence than were female non-emotional workers. Verbal abuse was the most common type of workplace violence. Logistic regression analyses revealed that (1) emotional labor was significantly associated with higher odds of having musculoskeletal or abdominal pain (physical health outcomes), along with overall fatigue (a mental health outcome), and (2) workplace violence experiences were significantly associated with higher odds of musculoskeletal pain, headache/eye strain, abdominal pain, depression/anxiety disorder, overall fatigue, and insomnia/sleep disturbance, after controlling for covariates. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrated that both emotional labor and workplace violence have negative effects on physical and mental health. However, workplace violence experience has a stronger negative impact on health outcomes than does emotional labor alone. A management system to eradicate workplace violence and programs aimed at managing emotional labor are urgently needed at the organizational level.