Study links workplace discrimination to ‘increased psychological distress’

Los Angeles — Employers who take “organization-level” measures to prevent discrimination may help improve employees’ mental health, researchers say after they surveyed more than 1,500 middle-aged workers.

A team from the University of California, Los Angeles found a significant association between the workers (average age 51) who said they’ve experienced high levels of workplace discrimination on the job and “increased psychological distress.”

Discrimination was defined as “bias or prejudice at work based on personal characteristics such as gender, sexual orientation, race, religion, socioeconomic status and disabilities,” a press release from the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine states.

Psychological distress, meanwhile, was considered a “maladaptive emotional or physical response to a stressful situation.” High levels of psychological distress are linked to mental and physical health issues as well as an increase in work absences and health care costs.

“Making organizational changes in a commitment to diversity will in turn support the workability of their workforce by contributing toward decreased psychological distress,” lead study author Elizabeth Keller said in the release.

The study was published in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.