{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,9]],"date-time":"2026-10-09T19:09:58Z","timestamp":1791572998304,"version":"4.3.4"},"reference-count":61,"publisher":"Public Library of Science (PLoS)","issue":"8","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,8,13]],"date-time":"2025-08-13T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1755043200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Research on Building a Healthy China","award":["16BJY001"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["16BJY001"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.plosone.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["PLoS One"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Mental health is an important component of overall health. Currently, the mental health issues among Chinese workers are becoming increasingly severe, especially under the backdrop of increased uncertainty in career advancement, where depression and anxiety issues among young workers are prominent. Based on the panel data from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) in 2018 and 2020, this paper constructs an OLS regression model to empirically analyze the impact of career advancement constraints on workers\u2019 mental health and its mechanism of action. The study finds that limited career advancement significantly increases workers\u2019 depression index. Pathways such as extended working hours, deteriorated health conditions, and distorted labor value concepts play a partial mediating role, thereby reducing mental health levels. Heterogeneity analysis shows that compared to female, low-income, and low-educated individuals, male, those with medium to high income, and higher education levels are more likely to experience a decline in mental health due to career advancement constraints. This study provides empirical evidence for understanding the impact of career advancement uncertainty on mental health and offers important insights for improving occupational mental health policies and enhancing worker welfare.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0328440","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,8,13]],"date-time":"2025-08-13T17:25:07Z","timestamp":1755105907000},"page":"e0328440","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":2,"title":["Research on the impact of career advancement on the mental health of young workers"],"prefix":"10.1371","volume":"20","author":[{"given":"Hanwei","family":"Li","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1240-8658","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Xiaoheng","family":"Wu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"340","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,8,13]]},"reference":[{"issue":"3","key":"pone.0328440.ref001","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"498","DOI":"10.2105\/AJPH.2013.301566","article-title":"The onset of depression during the great recession: foreclosure and older adult mental health","volume":"104","author":"KA Cagney","year":"2014","journal-title":"Am J Public Health"},{"key":"pone.0328440.ref002","first-page":"1","article-title":"China\u2019s slowdown","volume":"46","author":"B Eichengreen","year":"2024","journal-title":"KDI J Econom Pol"},{"issue":"4","key":"pone.0328440.ref003","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"665","DOI":"10.1086\/726843","article-title":"\u201cGolden Ages\u201d: a tale of the labor markets in China and the United States","volume":"1","author":"H Fang","year":"2023","journal-title":"J Political Econ Macroeconom"},{"issue":"1","key":"pone.0328440.ref004","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"48","DOI":"10.1080\/00335630.2022.2143549","article-title":"So you choose to \u201cLie Flat?\u201d \u201cSang-ness,\u201d affective economies, and the \u201cLying Flat\u201d movement","volume":"109","author":"Z Zhang","year":"2022","journal-title":"Quart J Speech"},{"issue":"1","key":"pone.0328440.ref005","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1347","DOI":"10.1186\/s12889-021-11190-0","article-title":"Impact of long working hours on health based on observations in China","volume":"21","author":"L Chu","year":"2021","journal-title":"BMC Public Health"},{"issue":"6","key":"pone.0328440.ref006","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"100866","DOI":"10.1016\/j.erap.2022.100866","article-title":"Overwork-induced exploitation of Chinese adults: social isolation, loneliness as mediating effects on mental health","volume":"73","author":"M Gong","year":"2023","journal-title":"European Rev Appl Psychol"},{"key":"pone.0328440.ref007","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"70","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ssresearch.2014.07.008","article-title":"The skill-divide in job quality: a cross-national analysis of 28 countries","volume":"49","author":"H Stier","year":"2015","journal-title":"Soc Sci Res"},{"key":"pone.0328440.ref008","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1086\/209855","article-title":"The production of human capital and the life cycle of earnings: variations on a theme","volume":"15","author":"J Mincer","year":"1997","journal-title":"J Labor Econ"},{"key":"pone.0328440.ref009","first-page":"1","article-title":"The distribution of labor incomes: a survey with special reference to the human capital approach","volume":"8","author":"J Mincer","year":"1970","journal-title":"J Econom Lit"},{"key":"pone.0328440.ref010","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"801","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyg.2020.00801","article-title":"The relation between health and earnings in self-employment","volume":"11","author":"J Hessels","year":"2020","journal-title":"Front Psychol"},{"key":"pone.0328440.ref011","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Hosseini R, Kopecky KA, Zhao K. 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