New Zealand study shows depression doubled for people in high-stress jobs

William Atkins
Wednesday, 01 August 2007 22:04

Science - Health

A New Zealand scientific study shows that high-stress jobs can nearly double risk of depression over low-stress jobs in young adults.

Studying nearly one thousand young adults in New Zealand, researchers report that the amount of stress in a job can increase the risk of depression and other mental health problems from 8% in low-stress jobs, 10% in medium-stress jobs, to 15% in high-stress jobs.

What was especially troubling was the discovery that young people with no history of stress, depression, anxiety, and other such disorders, began having such medical conditions within one year of being in a high-stress job. Young women had a 14% chance of developing a first-time problem, while men had a 10% chance.

The study, whose lead researcher was Maria Melchior, along with other collaborators at King’s College, London and Dunedin Medical School, is found in the August 2007 issue of the journal Psychological Medicine. One of its conclusions was that stress in the workplace is one of the major contributors of mental illness among young working adults.

Melchior  states, from the King’s College London website, “Our study shows that work stress appears to bring on diagnosable forms of depression and anxiety in previously healthy young workers – in fact the occurrence is two times higher than among workers whose jobs are less demanding. Clearly we can also deduce that work stress is associated with mental health problems of clinical significance that have healthcare and financial implications for wider society.”