Investigating the Impact of Prolonged Exposure to Low Psychosocial Safety Climate on Serious Depressive Symptoms

Previous research has shown that the organization's psychosocial safety climate (PSC) is crucial for protecting workers' psychological well-being. In this study, we sought to understand how different exposure [prolonged (long-term) vs. short-term] to low levels of PSC affects new future depressive symptoms.

Three waves of data from 1,160 full-time workers were used to analyze the effect of prolonged exposure to low PSC over two to three years on depressive symptoms and the emergence of new depressive symptoms, after excluding depressed cases at the baseline. Additionally, we tested the effects of short-term low PSC exposure.

Data were analyzed using SPSS and binomial logistic regression. Results showed that prolonged low PSC increased the risk of developing new depressive symptoms fourfold in the next three to four years (OR = 4.02, p < 0.001). Short-term low PSC exposure tripled the risk of newly developed depression (OR = 3.03, p < 0.001).

Future research should consider prolonged effects of exposure to low PSC. To prevent future depressive symptoms, it is important to build and improve PSC in the organizations to prevent the accumulative deleterious effects on workers'' psychological health.