Mental health and work stress in office workers in Hong Kong

Mental health and work stress among 653 office workers in Hong Kong were studied using Goldberg’s 12-item general health questionnaire (GHQ), with slight modification, and McLean’s self-assessment scheme in a self-administered questionnaire. It was found that more respondents reported symptoms in the six negative than in the six positive GHQ items. The proportions reporting problems in McLean’s areas of coping, context, and stressors were 20.9%, 47.7%, and 14.8%, respectively. Females reported more problems in both context and coping than did males, but no difference was found between them for stressors. Multiple regression analysis revealed a strong association (r =.63) between mental ill health and McLean’s three factors, with coping the most important factor for females, context the most important for males, and stressors the least important for both sexes in predicting mental ill health.