Decision Authority on Positive Mental Health in the Workforce: A Moderated Mediation Model of Social Support, Gender, Income, and Occupation

The present study aimed to investigate the mediating effect of social support in the relationship between decision authority and positive mental health as well as the moderating effects of socio-demographic characteristics closely related to this relationship among working populations. Data analyzed was from the Canadian Community Health Survey-Mental Health 2012. A total of 15,867 individuals with complete information on past 12-month work experience prior to the data collection were included in this study. Mediation analysis suggested that social support could partially mediate the association between decision authority and positive mental health. Multiple group analysis indicated that the higher mediation effect of social support was more likely to be reported by males, people from middle- and high-income groups, and those doing service and white-collar jobs. Findings on roles of social support and socio-demographic characteristics in the relationship between decision authority and positive mental health could lay the groundwork to articulate and develop effective strategies to promote positive mental health in the workforce.