The mutual effects between job resources and mental health: A prospective study among Dutch youth

The current study construes the relation between job resources (such as job autonomy, skill utilization, and variety) and mental health as a reciproca l process. Following conservation of resources theory (S. E. Hobfoll, 1989) , the author expected job resources to have a positive effect on mental hea lth. Poor mental health was assumed to impede workers' attempts to maintain or enhance their job resources either by changing the content of their job s or attempting to find another (less distressing) job. Longitudinal data f rom a representative sample of 699 Dutch youth were analyzed with analysis of variance and covariance structure modeling. The results provided good su pport for the proposition that job resources and mental health mutually inf luence each other. Limitations and implications of the study are discussed.