Too Much Work or Poorly Motivated Work? Testing Moderators of the Work-Hours-to-Well-Being Relationship in 5948 US Lawyers

To test the prevailing assumption that lawyer ill-being is caused by overwork, i.e., too many work hours. That working long hours is not a problem for lawyers, and is even beneficial, as long as the lawyer has self-determined motivations, positive attitudes for the job, and receives autonomy support from their supervisor(s). A total of 5948 working lawyers in four US states were surveyed online regarding their demographics, work hours, autonomous work motivations, positive work attitudes, perceived supervisor autonomy support, positive affect, and depression. Long work hours were unrelated to well-being, but moderator analyses showed that long work hours positively predicted well-being when the lawyer had greater self-determined motivation, more positive work attitudes, or received more autonomy support from supervisors. Commentators concerned about lawyer well-being and mental health should question the idea that long work hours account for the problems, and look deeper to lawyer motivations and work climates. © 2022, Associação Brasileira de Psicologia.