Association between occupational stress and depression among construction workers: The chain mediating of sleep disorders and anxiety

Background: Due to the unique nature of their work, construction workers are prone to mental health problems. However, few studies in China have explored the relationship between psychological variables about them. Objective: The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between occupational stress and depression and to analyze the mediating role of sleep disorders and anxiety. Methods A stratified cluster sampling method randomly selected 1871 construction workers in Chongqing, China. The survey was conducted as a questionnaire. SPSS 25.0 software was used for data analysis and statistical description. SPSS PROCESS macro version 4.0 was used for the chained mediation effect test. Results: The detection rates of occupational stress, sleep disorders, anxiety, and depression among construction workers were 26.4%, 89.8%, 30.2%, and 18.7%, respectively. Analysis showed that these factors were positively correlated with each other. Mediation effect analysis showed that occupational stress directly influenced depression (beta = 0.156, p < 0.001) and also had an indirect effect through sleep disorders and anxiety, with respective mediation effects of 4.48% and 47.93%. Sleep disorders and anxiety played a chain-mediating role between occupational stress and depression, with a mediating effect of 3.69%. Conclusions: Occupational stress affects depression directly and also indirectly through sleep disorders and anxiety. These results indicate that reducing occupational stress, sleep disorders, and anxiety may be effective in preventing depression.