Personal networks and psychological distress among construction workers: Gendered insights for addressing mental health concerns

Construction workers experience increased psychological distress and high rates of suicide compared to similar workers in other industries. Personal networks are an important resource to support mental health, yet little is known about the personal network characteristics of construction workers and if they differ for distressed and nondistressed workers. This study aims to reveal the personal network characteristics of distressed and nondistressed construction workers. A cross-sectional online survey was conducted with 294 construction workers. The survey adopted a social network approach and quantitative methods using t-tests. The study found that although distressed and nondistressed construction workers had similar personal network size and diversity, distressed construction workers had lower personal network closeness and lower emotional and practical support from their networks than nondistressed construction workers. Additionally, distressed workers reported a higher proportion of network connections as having a negative influence on them. These negative connections came from work colleagues and friends for distressed male construction workers and family members for distressed female construction workers. These findings imply that construction workers' mental health could be improved by building close personal networks with strong emotional and practical support and reducing the number of ties in their personal networks that have a negative influence. The significance of this study lies in revealing personal network characteristics of distressed and nondistressed workers. Findings contribute to helping construction workers build close and supportive personal networks and reducing negative ties for better mental health.