Work environment boosts depression risk

Being low at workplace increases the risk of developing symptoms of severe depression in women. While low workplace status doesn't appear to affect men's depression risk, but job insecurity does. Men who reported that their jobs were in danger were twice as likely to become depressed. Researchers from the National Institute of Occupational Health in Copenhagen were surprised by the gender difference in the findings. The researchers surveyed 4,133 men and women on symptoms of depression and factors in the workplace in 1995 and then resurveyed them in 2000. Since the study was prospective, the researchers were able to use statistical techniques to adjust for other factors that could influence depression risk, the researchers were fairly certain that the findings show a cause and effect link. They found that women who reported having low influence at work, meaning they had little power to regulate their work pace, involvement in planning work, or information on decisions affecting their workplace, were more than twice as likely to develop severe depressive symptoms over the five-year period. Those who reported low supervisor support, meaning that they lacked support and encouragement from their supervisors, also were at two-fold increased risk of severe depression. Among men, job insecurity defined as being worried about becoming unemployed, transferred against their will, laid off because of new technology, or having a hard time finding another job if they lost their current one, doubled depression risk, but none of the other factors had an effect. Both workload and co-worker support appeared to play no role in the risk of depression for men or women. Depression is believed to be due to an interaction between a person's individual vulnerabilities and environmental factors. The work environment might be one important part, which interacts with other factors.