Getting A Job Promotion Is Bad For Mental Health & Stops You Visiting The Doctor

New research by economics and psychology researchers at the University of
Warwick has found that promotion on average produces 10% more mental strain and
gives up to 20% less time to visit the Doctors.



In a research paper entitled "Do People Become Healthier after Being Promoted"
Chris Boyce and Professor Andrew Oswald of the University of Warwick questioned
why people with higher job status seem to have better health. A long-held
assumption by researchers is that an improvement to a person's job status,
through a promotion, will directly result in better health due to an increased
sense of life control and self-worth.



The researchers tested this.?  They drew upon the British Household Panel Survey
data set, collected annually between 1991 and 2005, with information on
approximately 1000 individual promotions.?  They found no evidence of improved
physical health after promotion - nor that self-assessed feelings of health
declined.



What they did find, however, was significantly greater mental strain.?  After a
job promotion, there was on average a 10% decrease in people's mental health
measured in a standardized way across the British population.?  Intriguingly,
those promoted at work also reported on average a 20% fall in their visits to a
Doctor following their promotion.?  On first sight this drop in Doctor visits
does not match the lack of change in the reported health of promoted
individuals. But the increased stress levels of promoted workers may provide an
explanation -- part of the stress on?  promoted people may be more constraints on
their time and they simply have less time to visit a doctor.



University of Warwick researcher Chris Boyce said:



"Getting a promotion at work is not as great as many people think.?  Our research
finds that the mental health of managers typically deteriorates after a job
promotion, and in a way that goes beyond merely a short-term change.?  There are
no indications of any health improvements for promoted people other than reduced
attendance at GP surgeries, which may itself be something to worry about rather
than celebrate."



The research will be presented at the Royal Economic Society's conference later
this month.?  The research paper can be found here.



Source

Peter Dunn, Press and Media Relations Manager

Communications Office, University House,

University of Warwick, Coventry, CV4 8UW, United Kingdom