TY - BOOK

T1 - Multitasking, education, and unemployment as determinants of work-related mental health

AU - Pikos, Anna Katharina

N1 - Doctoral thesis

PY - 2017

Y1 - 2017

N2 - This dissertation analyzes the role multitasking, education, and unemployment play for work-related mental health problems using representative cross sectional data on the German working population from 2006 and 2012. The first analysis of multitasking as a determinant is exploratory and hence, descriptive. Multitasking – the number of different tasks at work – is associated with mild to severe work related mental health problems (emotional strain, emotional exhaustion, burnout). Absenteeism and presenteeism due to work- related mental health problems also increase with multitasking which represents a loss in gross value added. A back of the envelope calculation suggests that the increase in multitasking from 2006 and 2012 corresponds to an increase in this loss of roughly e 1.1 billion. The causal effect of multitasking is analyzed using the introduction of new production and information technology as an instrument. Technological change favors the development of task complementarities which in turn make multitasking more profitable: efficiency gains in performing one task can be carried over to other tasks. Production technology adoption is related more strongly to rising manual multitask- ing and information technology adoption to cognitive multitasking. There is evidence for a causal effect of multitasking on emotional strain, emotional exhaustion, and burnout. Regarding the relationship between work-related mental health and education, low compared to medium education is associated with less emotional strain. Job demands and resources are lower but there is no difference in perceived stress from missing resources. Higher education is associated with more emotional strain and emotional exhaustion. Demands and resources are higher and job demands are perceived as more stressful. Compensation for this could arise from higher wages and less atypical work times. To analyze the role aggregate unemployment trends play for work-related mental health, occupation- federal state specific unemployment data are matched to the 2012 survey. Rising unemployment is associated with higher work-related mental health problems among employed individuals. Occupation specific unemployment drives this relationship, while the spatial dimension (region) is less important. The relationship hinges on individual past unemployment experience as rising unemployment is not associated with mental health problems for individuals without any own unemployment experience. The duration of past unemployment does not seem to play a role.

AB - This dissertation analyzes the role multitasking, education, and unemployment play for work-related mental health problems using representative cross sectional data on the German working population from 2006 and 2012. The first analysis of multitasking as a determinant is exploratory and hence, descriptive. Multitasking – the number of different tasks at work – is associated with mild to severe work related mental health problems (emotional strain, emotional exhaustion, burnout). Absenteeism and presenteeism due to work- related mental health problems also increase with multitasking which represents a loss in gross value added. A back of the envelope calculation suggests that the increase in multitasking from 2006 and 2012 corresponds to an increase in this loss of roughly e 1.1 billion. The causal effect of multitasking is analyzed using the introduction of new production and information technology as an instrument. Technological change favors the development of task complementarities which in turn make multitasking more profitable: efficiency gains in performing one task can be carried over to other tasks. Production technology adoption is related more strongly to rising manual multitask- ing and information technology adoption to cognitive multitasking. There is evidence for a causal effect of multitasking on emotional strain, emotional exhaustion, and burnout. Regarding the relationship between work-related mental health and education, low compared to medium education is associated with less emotional strain. Job demands and resources are lower but there is no difference in perceived stress from missing resources. Higher education is associated with more emotional strain and emotional exhaustion. Demands and resources are higher and job demands are perceived as more stressful. Compensation for this could arise from higher wages and less atypical work times. To analyze the role aggregate unemployment trends play for work-related mental health, occupation- federal state specific unemployment data are matched to the 2012 survey. Rising unemployment is associated with higher work-related mental health problems among employed individuals. Occupation specific unemployment drives this relationship, while the spatial dimension (region) is less important. The relationship hinges on individual past unemployment experience as rising unemployment is not associated with mental health problems for individuals without any own unemployment experience. The duration of past unemployment does not seem to play a role.

KW - Psychische Belastung

KW - Arbeitslosigkeit

KW - Mehrfachtätigkeit

KW - Arbeitsbelastung

U2 - 10.15488/9044

DO - 10.15488/9044

M3 - Doctoral thesis

CY - Hannover

ER -