Abstract

This paper analyses associations between psychological health at work and life satisfaction among employees. Specifically, it investigates the association between work stress and emotional exhaustion and explores whether connectedness to nature and work engagement are involved in the indirect association between emotional exhaustion and life satisfaction. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) was used to analyse data from a final sample of 1851 Spanish workers from diverse professional categories. These included technical and support professionals, administrative employees, middle managers, civil servants and healthcare professionals, unskilled workers, and other occupational groups. SEM analyses were conducted with 1850 valid cases due to one missing or invalid case in the SEM model. The results indicated that work stress was positively associated with emotional exhaustion, whereas emotional exhaustion was negatively associated with life satisfaction. Connectedness to nature and work engagement were involved in this indirect association: higher emotional exhaustion was associated with lower levels of connectedness to nature and work engagement, while higher levels of connectedness to nature and work engagement were associated with higher life satisfaction. The findings suggest that connectedness to nature and work engagement may be relevant psychological and work-related resources in this relationship.

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