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International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health

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Open Access 01-08-2015 | Original Article

Employment status, working conditions and depressive symptoms among German employees born in 1959 and 1965

Authors: Hermann Burr, Angela Rauch, Uwe Rose, Anita Tisch, Silke Tophoven

Published in: International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health | Issue 6/2015

Abstract

Purpose

We investigated whether (1) current employment status (regular full-time, regular part-time and marginal employment) is associated with depressive symptoms and (2) whether these associations are mediated by current working conditions and previous employment history.

Methods

Two cohorts of German employees aged 46 and 52 years were selected from administrative data of the German Federal Employment Agency and answered questions about depressive symptoms (we use an applied version of BDI-V) and their current working conditions. In addition, the participants gave written consent to link register data regarding their employment histories (n = 4,207). Multiple linear regression analyses were conducted.

Results

Men experienced elevated depressive symptoms when working regular part-time; women experienced such symptoms when engaged in marginal employment. These associations decreased when we adjusted for job insecurity and rose slightly when we adjusted for leadership quality. Men and women who reported a low level of influence at work showed a higher risk of depressive symptoms. For women, the association between current employment position and depressive symptoms could be partly explained by low levels of influence at work. For men, the association between depressive symptoms and current regular part-time employment decreased when we adjusted for previous part-time employment. Conversely, for women, the association with depressive symptoms increased in current regular part-time and marginal employment when we adjusted for employment history.

Conclusions

In both genders, the observed associations between depressive symptoms and current employment status were mediated by both current psychosocial conditions and employment history. Employees not having a regular full-time job differed from full-time employees with respect to both their current working conditions and their employment history.

Only employed persons currently subject to social security contributions are included in the lidA study, which means that self-employed and civil servants are not included.

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Title: Employment status, working conditions and depressive symptoms among German employees born in 1959 and 1965
Authors: Hermann Burr
Angela Rauch
Uwe Rose
Anita Tisch
Silke Tophoven
Publication date: 01-08-2015
Publisher: Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Published in: International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health / Issue 6/2015
Print ISSN: 0340-0131
Electronic ISSN: 1432-1246
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00420-014-0999-5

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Employment status, working conditions and depressive symptoms among German employees born in 1959 and 1965

Abstract

Purpose

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Keynote webinar | Spotlight on medication adherence

Springer Medicine

Abstract

Purpose

Methods

Results

Conclusions

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