Comparing Depressive Symptoms, Emotional Exhaustion, and Sleep Disturbances in Self-Employed and Employed Workers: Application of Approximate Bayesian Measurement Invariance

Louise E Bergman; Claudia Bernhard-Oettel; Aleksandra Bujacz; Constanze Leineweber; Susanna Toivanen

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2020.598303

Comparing Depressive Symptoms, Emotional Exhaustion, and Sleep Disturbances in Self-Employed and Employed Workers: Application of Approximate Bayesian Measurement Invariance

Front Psychol. 2021 Feb 2:11:598303. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.598303. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Louise E Bergman¹, Claudia Bernhard-Oettel¹, Aleksandra Bujacz², Constanze Leineweber³, Susanna Toivanen⁴

Affiliations

¹ Section for Work and Organizational Psychology, Department of Psychology, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden.
² Division of Psychology, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Solna, Sweden.
³ Department of Psychology, Stress Research Institute, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden.
⁴ School of Health, Care and Social Welfare, Mälardalen University, Västerås, Sweden.

Abstract

Studies investigating differences in mental health problems between self-employed and employed workers have provided contradictory results. Many of the studies utilized scales validated for employed workers, without collecting validity evidence for making comparisons with self-employed. The aim of this study was (1) to collect validity evidence for three different scales assessing depressive symptoms, emotional exhaustion, and sleep disturbances for employed workers, and combinators; and (2) to test if these groups differed. We first conducted approximate measurement invariance analysis and found that all scales were invariant at the scalar level. Self-employed workers had least mental health problems and employed workers had most, but differences were small. Though we found the scales invariant, we do not find them optimal for comparison of means. To be more precise in describing differences between groups, we recommend using clinical cut-offs or scales developed with the specific purpose of assessing mental health problems at work.

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Sweden; approximate measurement invariance; depressive symptoms; emotional exhaustion; mental health problems; self-employed; sleep disturbances.