The relationship between cumulative adversities, exposure to violence, gender and mental health : a study of the workplace in Gauteng province, South Africa

Abstract

This study investigated (l) whether there will be a relationship between cumulative adversities and the quality of mental health, (2) whether there will be a relationship between exposure to violence during childhood and poor mental health and (3) whether there will be a significant difference between gender, cumulative adversities, and exposure to violence and mental health. Data were collected from five hundred participants that were randomly selected from three different hospitals in Gauteng Province. Age of participants ranged between 18-65 years. Males were 251 (50.2%) and females were 249 (49.8%). Mean age of employees was 33.8 years (SO= 11.03). Results showed that cumulative adversities (Family, childhood, personal) and exposure to violence (direct and indirect witnessing of violence in childhood) jointly and significantly predicted poor mental health of workers. The variables, family cumulative adversity, personal cumulative adversity, indirect exposure and direct exposure explained 59% of the total variance on poor mental health. The Durbin-Watson result ( 1.58) is less than 2 and therefore shows that the assumption of independent error is met for this model. Results for hypothesis three showed significant main effects for gender on two of the cumulative adversity measurements; family adversity and personal adversity. In addition, there was also a significant main effect for direct exposure to violence. There were no significant results for childhood cumulative adversity, indirect exposure and the four subscales of mental health-somatic complaints, anxiety, social dysfunctions and depression. Workplace programmes which promote positive health can improve the mental wellness of employees; hence several preventive recommendations were made in line with the findings of the study.