Dataset Information

Occupational position, work stress and depressive symptoms: a pathway analysis of longitudinal SHARE data.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Several studies tested whether stressful work mediates the association between socioeconomic position (SEP) and health. Although providing moderate support, evidence is still inconclusive, partly due to a lack of theory-based measures of SEP and work stress, and because of methodological limitations. This contribution aims at overcoming these limitations.

Methods

We conduct pathway analysis and investigate indirect effects of SEP on mental health via stressful work. Data are derived from the first two waves of the 'Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe' (SHARE) with information from employed men and women aged 50-64 across 11 European countries (N=2798). SEP is measured according to two alternative measures of occupational position: occupational class (focus on employment relations) and occupational status (focus on prestige). We assess work stress according to the effort-reward imbalance and the demand-control model (wave 1), and we use newly occurring depressive symptoms as health outcome (wave 2).

Results

Effort-reward imbalance and, less consistently, low control mediate the effect of occupational class and occupational status on depressive symptoms.

Conclusions

Our findings point to two important aspects of work stress (effort-reward imbalance and low control) in explaining socioeconomic differences in health. Further, we illustrate the significance of two alternative dimensions of occupational position, occupational class and occupational status.

SUBMITTER: Hoven H

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4413688 | biostudies-literature | 2015 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Occupational position, work stress and depressive symptoms: a pathway analysis of longitudinal SHARE data.

Hoven H H Wahrendorf M M Siegrist J J

Journal of epidemiology and community health 20150203 5

<h4>Background</h4>Several studies tested whether stressful work mediates the association between socioeconomic position (SEP) and health. Although providing moderate support, evidence is still inconclusive, partly due to a lack of theory-based measures of SEP and work stress, and because of methodological limitations. This contribution aims at overcoming these limitations.<h4>Methods</h4>We conduct pathway analysis and investigate indirect effects of SEP on mental health via stressful work. Dat ...[more]

PMID: 25648992

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Project description:ImportanceAn increased risk of depressive symptoms has been associated with the transition to menopause, but the risk of depressive symptoms in the early postmenopausal years has not been well characterized.ObjectivesTo identify within-woman changes in depressive symptoms during a 14-year period around menopause, determine associations of a history of depression with the pattern of depressive symptoms, and evaluate the rate of change in reproductive hormones as predictors of depressive symptoms following menopause.Design, setting, and participantsA randomly identified, population-based sample in Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, of 203 late-reproductive-age women who were premenopausal at baseline and reached natural menopause.Main outcomes and measuresCenter for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale.ResultsThe prevalence of high scores on the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale decreased from 10 years before to 8 years after the final menstrual period (FMP), with a decrease of approximately 15% of baseline per year (odds ratio, 0.85; 95% CI, 0.81-0.89; P < .001). Relative to the FMP, the risk of depressive symptoms was higher in the years before and lower in the years after the FMP. Among women with a history of depression, the likelihood of depressive symptoms was more than 13 times greater overall and 8 times greater after menopause compared with women with no depression history. Among women who first experienced depressive symptoms approaching menopause, the risk of depressive symptoms declined after the FMP, with a significantly lower risk the second year after menopause. The risk of depressive symptoms after menopause decreased by 35% for each unit (SD) increase before the FMP in the log rate of change of follicle-stimulating hormone (odds ratio, 0.65; 95% CI, 0.46-0.91; P = .01).Conclusions and relevanceThe FMP was pivotal in the overall pattern of decreasing depressive symptoms in midlife women, with higher risk before and lower risk after the FMP. A history of depression strongly increased the risk both before and after menopause. Women who had no history of depression before the menopause transition had a low risk of depressive symptoms 2 or more years after the FMP.

Dataset Information

Occupational position, work stress and depressive symptoms: a pathway analysis of longitudinal SHARE data.

Background

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Publications

Occupational position, work stress and depressive symptoms: a pathway analysis of longitudinal SHARE data.

Similar Datasets

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