The Spillover Effects of Supportive Neighboring Behavior on Mental Health and Career Satisfaction: A Longitudinal Research on Chinese Low-Income Employees

BACKGROUND: We examined the effects of supportive neighboring behavior on mental health and career satisfaction among Chinese low-income employees. We further examined the mediating roles of work interference with family (WIF) and of family interference with work (FIW) in this relationship. METHODS: A total of 220 Chinese low-income employees were selected via two-wave longitudinal survey in China; the time distance was five weeks. They completed questionnaires on their self-reported supportive neighboring behavior, work–family conflict, general mental health and career satisfaction. Afterwards, we adopted a structural equation modeling (SEM) to examine our hypotheses by R (Version 3.5.3) and Lavaan Package (Version 0.6-3). RESULTS: Supportive neighboring behavior (Time 1) improved good mental health (Time 2) and career satisfaction (Time 2). Work interference with family (Time 1) mediated the effect of neighboring behavior on mental health while family interference with work (Time 1) mediated the effect of neighboring behavior on mental health and career satisfaction. CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that supportive neighboring behavior is vital in mitigating mental health problems and enhancing career satisfaction by decreasing work interference with family and family interference with work. Our research expands the scope of current literature on community support by incorporating bi-directional supportive neighboring behavior. By adopting family interference with work and work interference with family as mediators, our research examines the spillover mechanisms through which career satisfaction and mental health are influenced by supportive neighboring behavior.