Abstract: Construction workers in the United States are exposed to a uniquely intense combination of occupational stressors; however, the mental health burden of this workforce remains significantly understudied relative to its physical safety record. This study presents a secondary analysis of four nationally representative federal surveillance datasets: the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses (SOII) 2018 to 2022, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) Occupational Health Supplement, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) 2020 to 2022, and OSHA Injury Tracking Application (ITA) establishment-level data 2017 to 2022, to characterize the prevalence, trends, and organizational predictors of occupational stress and mental health distress in the U.S. construction workforce. BRFSS analysis identified a frequent mental distress (FMD) prevalence of 18.3% among construction and extraction workers, representing an adjusted odds ratio of 1.61 (95% CI [1.39, 1.87]) relative to all employed workers. SOII trend data document a 20.4% increase in construction-sector illness-related days-away-from-work cases between 2018 and 2022 against a backdrop of declining total recordable case rates, indicating a growing share of occupational illness relative to injury. NHIS data show that 48.7% of construction workers reported often or always finding their work stressful, compared to 34.2% of all employed workers, and that 67.8% lacked access to a workplace health program. Multivariate logistic regression identified work-attributed sleep disturbance (odds ratio [OR] = 2.47), high job demands (OR = 2.14), and low supervisor support (OR = 1.83) as the strongest independent predictors of FMD in the construction workforce. These findings, drawn entirely from government-administered surveillance systems, provide a nationally representative and methodologically rigorous evidence base for integrating occupational mental health management into construction safety programs in the United States.

Keywords: occupational stress, mental health, construction workers, secondary data analysis, BRFSS, NIOSH NHIS, BLS SOII, frequent mental distress, sleep disturbance, occupational surveillance

Downloads: | DOI: 10.17148/IARJSET.2025.124124