The moderating role of personal resources in the relationship between psychosocial job demands and health: a cross-sectional study

OBJECTIVE: The main objective of this research was to investigate the buffering effects of an individual’s physical, mental and social resources in the relationship between psychosocial job demands and (1) health symptoms, (2) mental strain and (3) the body mass index (BMI), respectively. METHODS: We performed moderated regression analysis to examine data from a large cross-sectional survey of an Austrian employee sample (n=9434). RESULTS: The results revealed a robust association between psychosocial job demands and health symptoms as well as mental strain, but only a weak relationship between psychosocial job demands and BMI. Although the personal resources showed a positive effect on health symptoms and mental strain, only weak evidence was found for the hypothesised interaction with psychosocial job demands. Solely the physical fitness of a person was found to mitigate the impact of psychosocial job demands on health symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: In conclusion, personal resources substantially accounted for the prediction of health. However, the interactions between psychosocial job demands and personal resources only slightly contributed to explaining the variation in health.