Job Demands and Resources, Positive and Negative Affect, and Psychological Distress of Social Workers in China

Globally, human service professionals, like social workers, experience significant job demands (JD) which can lead to outcomes like psychological distress, burnout, and high turnover rates. This is especially true in China, where the social work profession has grown substantially in recent decades. Because social workers play a crucial role in supporting vulnerable communities, there is a need to understand how their work conditions affect outcomes like psychological distress. This study applies the job demands and resources (JD-R) model to study this relation, along with the mediational effects of positive affect (PA) and negative affect (NA), in social workers from Chengdu, China (n = 897). The results of structural equation modeling indicate that JD-R differentially affect psychological distress. PA and NA partially mediate these relations. Job resources (JR) reduced psychological distress by reducing NA and increasing PA. JD did not have any effect on PA but significantly increased NA, which was associated with higher psychological distress. The magnitudes of each estimate suggest that JR has a greater effect on PA and NA, relative to the effects of JD on PA and NA. Interventions that seek to promote PA and reduce NA may be able to work with existing JR to buffer against the effects of JD in social workers.