Research Plus

Depression risk factors

A large-scale population-based longitudinal study in Canada finds that work-related factors such as effort–reward imbalance (ERI), job insecurity, job strain, and work/family conflict are important predictive factors for major depressive disorder (MDD), but they appear to mediate depression risk through different mechanisms in men and women. The study was based on 2,752 randomly selected employees without a current or lifetime diagnosis of depression, drawn from the public and private sectors. One-year incidence of MDD was 3.6% (2.9% men; 4.5% women). High job strain ratio (high psychological demand with low skill discretion and low decision authority), low job security and family-to- work conflict increased MDD risk in men. In women, working 35–40 hours per week, job insecurity, high ERI and work-to-family conflict increased MDD risk.

 

American Journal of Epidemiology 2012; online first: doi: 10.1093/aje/kwr473.  http://aje.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2012/05/03/aje.kwr473.abstract

Tags depression flexible working stress

Occupational Health at Work August/September 2012 (vol. 09/2) pp38-39