Long hours, night shifts and job insecurity do not necessarily cause workers to lose sleep, researchers have said.
A study published by the University of Michigan analysed two surveys of about 2,300 workers who were monitored for up to a decade.
Half of the respondents - who were chosen for their unusual work and sleep arrangements such as shift workers, medical students and those with children - had trouble sleeping.
People who frequently felt upset or bothered at work, or had ongoing personal conflicts with bosses or co-workers, were 1.7 times more likely to develop sleep problems, the study found.
Those with children under the age of three were 2.2 times more likely to report poor sleep quality.
The respondents were monitored for factors including initial sleep quality, health and pessimism.
Sarah Burgard, a sociologist at the university, said this is the first research of its kind.
She said: "Together, work and sleep take up about two-thirds of every weekday. But until now, very little research has focused on the connections between work and sleep for the average US worker.
"Massive changes over the past half-century have reshaped the workplace, with major implications for sleep. For many workers, psychological stress has replaced physical hazards."
Ms Burgard plans to research interventions that could break the link between work conditions and troubled sleep.