Factors contributing to psychological distress in the working population, with a special reference to gender difference

Psychological distress refers to non-specific symptoms of stress, anxiety and depression, and it is more common in women. Our aim was to investigate factors contributing to psychological distress in the working population, with a special reference to gender differences. We used questionnaire data from the nationally representative Finnish Regional Health and Well-being Study (ATH) collected in the years 2012-2016 (target population participants aged 20 +, n = 96,668, response rate 53%), restricting the current analysis to those persons who were working full-time and under 65 of age (n = 34,468). Psychological distress was assessed using the Mental Health Inventory-5 (MHI-5) (cut-off value