Abstract
Job-related stress has been associated with poor health outcomes but little is known about the causal nature of these findings. We employed Mendelian randomisation (MR) approach to investigate the causal effect of neuroticism, education, and physical activity on job satisfaction. Trait-specific genetic risk score (GRS) based on recent genome wide association studies were used as instrumental variables (IV) using the UK Biobank cohort (N = 315,536). Both single variable and multivariable MR analyses were used to determine the effect of each trait on job satisfaction. We observed a clear evidence of a causal association between neuroticism and job satisfaction. In single variable MR, one standard deviation (1 SD) higher genetically determined neuroticism score (4.07 units) was associated with −0.31 units lower job satisfaction (95% confidence interval (CI): −0.38 to −0.24; P = 9.5 × 10−20). The causal associations remained significant after performing sensitivity analyses by excluding invalid genetic variants from GRSNeuroticism (β(95%CI): −0.28(−0.35 to −0.21); P = 3.4 x 10−15). Education (0.02; −0.08 to 0.12; 0.67) and physical activity (0.08; −0.34 to 0.50; 0.70) did not show any evidence for causal association with job satisfaction. When genetic instruments for neuroticism, education and physical activity were included together, the association of neuroticism score with job satisfaction was reduced by only −0.01 units, suggesting an independent inverse causal association between neuroticism score (P = 2.7 x 10−17) and job satisfaction. Our findings show an independent causal association between neuroticism score and job satisfaction. Physically active lifestyle may help to increase job satisfaction despite presence of high neuroticism scores. Our study highlights the importance of considering the confounding effect of negative personality traits for studies on job satisfaction.
Highlights
On average, during the economically active period, individuals spend one third of their lifetime at work
In the present study, by using genetic risk score (GRS) as unconfounded proxies for neuroticism, education and physical activity, we attempted to disentangle relationships between these traits and job satisfaction
Using two complementary Mendelian randomisation (MR) approaches, we found evidence indicating that a high neuroticism score has a causal effect on poor job satisfaction and this relationship is independent of educational level or physical activity
Summary
On average, during the economically active period, individuals spend one third of their lifetime at work. Experiencing stress at the workplace is associated with increased all-cause mortality[1] and negative health effects, cardiovascular disease[2]. Job satisfaction has been consistently shown to be associated with job performance and organisational citizenship behaviours, as employees who are satisfied with their jobs are the driving force for healthy and productive companies[3]. In recent decades, job satisfaction has been the most studied parameter in working life studies as a great emphasis has been placed on the value of health at the workplace[4]. Meta-analyses on studies related to job satisfaction and well-being suggested that job satisfaction is an important predictor of physical and psychological health[5], as well as subjective wellbeing[6].
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