Work-life balance of UK construction workers: relationship with mental health

Abstract

Although the importance of work-life balance (WLB) is related to occupational psychological outcomes in many countries and industries, these relationships have not been explored in UK construction industry, a major sector of the UK economy. This workforce suffers from high rates of mental health problems and low help-seeking. Accordingly, the purposes of this study were to explore relationships between WLB, mental health, attitudes towards mental health problems, along with work schedules. One hundred and forty-four UK workers in the construction industry completed measures of those three constructs. WLB was negatively associated with mental health problems and mental health attitudes. Mental health attitudes did not mediate the relationship between WLB and mental health problems with a small effect size. WLB was the strongest predictor of mental health problems. Mental health problems scores differed by work pattern groups; day time workers had poorer mental health than mixed workers. Findings will help UK construction workers, employers, and organizational researchers deepen their understanding of WLB and identify better solutions to poor WLB and mental health.

Keywords:

• Work-life balance
• mental health
• mental health attitudes
• Role Theory

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.