title: The impact of conscientiousness, mastery, and work circumstances on subsequent absenteeism in employees with and without affective disorders.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  High numbers of employees are coping with affective disorders. At the same time, ambitiousness, achievement striving and a strong sense of personal control and responsibility are personality characteristics that are nowadays regarded as key to good work functioning, whereas social work circumstances tend to be neglected. However, it is largely unkown how personality characteristics and work circumstances affect work functioning when facing an affective disorder. Given the high burden of affective disorders on occupational health, we investigate these issues in the context of affective disorders and absenteeism from work. The principal aim of this paper is to examine whether particular personality characteristics that reflect self-governance (conscientiousness and mastery) and work circumstances (demands, control, support) influence the impact of affective disorders on long-term absenteeism (>10 working days).
  
  
  METHODS
  Baseline and 1-year follow-up data from 1249 participants in the Netherlands Study of Depression and Anxiety (NESDA) in 2004-2006 was employed. Multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed, including interaction effects between depressive, anxiety, and comorbid disorders and personality and work circumstances.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In general, mastery and conscientiousness increased nor diminished odds of subsequent long-term absenteeism, whereas higher job support significantly decreased these odds. Interaction effects showed that the impact of affective disorders on absenteeism was stronger for highly conscientious employees and for employees who experienced high job demands.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Affective disorders may particularly severely affect work functioning of employees who are highly conscientious or face high psychological job demands. Adjusting working conditions to their individual needs may prevent excessive work absence.
authors.affiliation: Department of Sociology, VU University Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. a.kok1@vumc.nl.|Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. a.kok1@vumc.nl.
authors.forename: Almar A L
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Kok
authors.affiliation: The Netherlands Institute for Social Research, The Hague, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Inger
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Plaisier
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Amsterdam Public Health research institute, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Johannes H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Smit
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Amsterdam Public Health research institute, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Brenda W J H
authors.initials: BW
authors.lastname: Penninx
mesh_terms: D000041:Absenteeism; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D004651:Employment; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019964:Mood Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D009426:Netherlands; D010551:Personality; D011361:Professional Competence; D000068356:Self-Control / Q000523:psychology; D017132:Workplace / Q000523:psychology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Absenteeism; Anxiety; Depression; Personality; Work