Work-Related Stress And Associated Factors In Italy: A Comparison Before And During The Economic Crisis

Over recent decades, psychosocial risks like harassment at places of work, depression, anxiety and addictions, have emerged as contemporary challenges for worker’s health and productivity. The aim of this paper is to assess whether the worsening of working conditions due to the crisis resulted in increased work-related stress. Focusing on the Italian context and using data from the Labour Force Survey (ISTAT) from 2007 and 2013, this study analyzes from a gender perspective the presence of health problems like stress, depression and anxiety, among Italian workers and it investigates changes in work-related stress and its main determinants, before and during the crisis. Results show that in spite of the risk of job loss or job reduction stress, depression and anxiety probably become less important, especially for those workers in a weak job position. Yet, although similar patterns, gender differences are found.