Association between depressive symptoms and employment type of Korean workers: the Fifth Korean Working Conditions Survey

Background This study analyzed the association between depressive symptoms and employment type, by considering both socioeconomic status and job stress factors. Methods We analyzed 27,369 participants (13,134 men and 14,235 women) using data from the fifth Korean Working Conditions Survey. The participants were divided into regular and precarious workers. Depressive symptoms were defined using the World Health Organization-5 Well-Being Index. A multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed to assess the association between depressive symptoms and employment type. Results Of the participants, 71.53% ( N = 19578) were regular workers and 28.47% ( N = 7791) were precarious workers. The weighted frequencies of participants with depressive symptoms (42.50%) were significantly higher than those of precarious workers (32.54%, p < 0.001). In the univariate and multivariate analyses, precarious workers had a significantly higher risk of depressive symptoms than regular workers (odds ratio [OR] 1.53, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.42–1.64; OR 1.16, 95% CI 1.07–1.26, respectively). The significant association between depressive symptoms and precarious workers has also been reflected in propensity score matched participants through crude and multivariate analysis (OR 1.54 [95% CI 1.43–1.66] and OR 1.15 [95% CI 1.04–1.26], respectively). Conclusions The findings suggest that precarious workers may have a higher risk of depressive symptoms than regular workers. However, this is only a cross-sectional study. Therefore, further study is required to investigate the relevance association between depressive symptoms and employment types.