The Long-Term Mental Health Consequences of Emotional and Interpersonal Work Demands

Morteza Meybodi and Vincent Vandenberghe
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Morteza Meybodi: Leuven Economics of Education Research Centre (LEER), FEB, KULeuven
Vincent Vandenberghe: UNIVERSITE CATHOLIQUE DE LOUVAIN, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES)

No 2026021, LIDAM Discussion Papers IRES from Université catholique de Louvain, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES)

Abstract: This paper examines how career-long emotional/interpersonal work demands are associated with mental health among adults aged 50 and older. Using retrospective work histories from SHARE combined with ISCO-4-level occupational characteristics from O*NET, we construct employment trajectories capturing cumulative exposure to emotionally/interpersonally demanding work and examine its association with later-life depressive symptoms, measured by the EURO-D scale. Our findings show that careerlong emotional/interpersonal demands are associated with a higher risk of depression after age 50, although their relative importance is modest. Career instability, such as employment gaps, redundancies, and part-time work, emerges as a stronger predictor. Pre-labour-market factors, including childhood health and educational attainment, also play a substantial role, highlighting the lasting importance of early-life circumstances for later-life mental health.

Keywords: mental health; depressive symptoms; working conditions; emotional/interpersonal demands; career arduousness (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I1 J14 J26 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-10-28
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ctl:louvir:2026021

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