Psychological Stress And Occupational Performance Among Seafarers: A Systematic Review Of Verified Empirical Evidence

Abstract

Background: Seafaring brings together several demanding features of work within a single occupation - long absences from family, cramped and shared living conditions, irregular sleep, mixed-nationality crews, and heavy workloads carried out with little outside support. A substantial body of research has examined how these conditions give rise to psychological stress, and how that stress in turn shapes seafarers' mental health, wellbeing, and ability to carry out their duties.

Objectives: This review has two aims: first, to bring together what verified empirical research says about the main sources of psychological stress facing seafarers; and second, to examine what this research shows about the relationship between that stress and seafarers' occupational performance, safety, and mental health.

Hypotheses: Two propositions guide the review. H1 holds that psychological stress arising from seafaring work is meaningfully linked to poorer occupational performance and safety outcomes. H2 holds that social and organisational support - including support from peers, contact with family, and personal resilience - helps to soften this negative relationship.

Methods: The review draws on twenty-nine peer-reviewed studies, published between 2008 and 2026, each of which could be traced back to and confirmed against its original publication. Sources whose claims could not be verified against an accessible original text were left out, even where they appeared elsewhere in the wider literature.

Results: The verified literature lends support to both propositions. Workload, long hours, and separation from family are repeatedly connected to fatigue, burnout, and weaker job performance, with at least one study demonstrating this relationship directly among Chinese seafarers. Depression, anxiety, and thoughts of self-harm appear more common among seafarers than is generally reported for the wider working population, and are most strongly tied to poor company culture, low job satisfaction, and how seafarers rate their own health. By contrast, resilience, psychological capital, peer support, and higher rank are consistently linked to better outcomes across a number of independent studies conducted in different countries.

Conclusion: Taken together, the verified evidence points toward a fairly consistent picture: the psychological demands of seafaring work measurably affect wellbeing and performance, while supportive relationships and personal resilience act as a buffer against this harm. Two studies conducted specifically among Indian merchant navy officers and seafarers point in the same direction, though research on this particular population remains thin relative to its size within the global seafaring workforce.