Working from home a few times a month to a few times a week is associated with higher psychological distress: between- and within-person analyses of a five-wave panel of employees in Japan
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Purpose
To estimate the association between the frequency of working from home (WFH) and psychological distress among employees in Japan, separating between-person from within-person differences, and to examine this association by sex and household circumstances.
Methods
We used five annual waves (2021–2025) of the nationwide Japan COVID-19 and Society Internet Survey (JACSIS), including 39,773 employees aged ≥18 years who worked in the past month (78,498 person-waves). The exposure was the frequency of WFH in the past month (seven categories). The outcomes were the Kessler 6 (K6) score (0–24), K6 ≥5, and K6 ≥13. We used within–between linear regression, overall and by sex and household circumstances at the first wave.
Results
Compared with no WFH, WFH 2–3 times a month, once a week, and 2–3 times a week was associated with K6 scores higher by 1.99, 1.80, and 0.67 points between persons and by 0.53 (95% CI 0.28, 0.77), 0.45 (0.20, 0.69), and 0.35 (0.10, 0.60) points within persons, and with a 3.5–4.6 percentage point higher probability of K6 ≥5 within persons. These within-person K6 differences were positive in all sex and household groups (0.20–0.63 points) but imprecise. For the other frequencies, the within-person differences were 0.03–0.20 points.
Conclusion
WFH 2–3 times a month or once a week, and also 2–3 times a week, was associated with higher psychological distress, both between and within persons. Support for employees who sometimes work from home should consider the frequency of WFH together with their work and family situations.
