(123rf)
(123rf)

A research team at Kangbuk Samsung Hospital announced Wednesday it has published a study finding that workplace-related stress is the most significant factor contributing to depression among employees, regardless of gender or age.

The research team, led by researchers Jeon Sang-won and Cho Sung-joon of the hospital's psychiatry department, analyzed data from 12,541 employees aged 19 to 65 who underwent mental health checkups at the hospital between April 2020 and November 2022.

The study examined the impact of seven major sources of daily stress on depression: workplace issues, family relationships, interpersonal relationships, health problems, financial difficulties, traumatic events and monotony.

Among these, workplace-related stress had the strongest influence on depression, followed by monotony, family relationships, interpersonal relationships, health problems, financial difficulties and traumatic events.

The researchers attributed the strong link between workplace stress and depression to the fact that employees today spend a significant amount of time at work.

“Previous studies on the relationship between stress and depression have largely focused on individual stressors,” Jeon said. “This study is meaningful as it considers multiple stress factors together, reflecting the complexity of real-life experiences.”

The trend was consistent across all age groups, with workplace stress and monotony as the first and second most significant contributors to depression, respectively.

The third most influential stressors varied by age. For employees under 30, interpersonal relationships had a greater impact on depression, while financial concerns were more prominent among those in their 30s. In their 40s, both health and financial issues were major contributing factors.

A similar pattern was observed across genders, with workplace issues, monotony, family relationships and interpersonal relationships ranking sequentially as the most significant stressors.

The findings were published in Frontiers in Public Health, an international journal specializing in public health research.


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