The Association between Psychosocial Work Environment and Depressive Symptoms among Korean Teachers

Eunsuk Choi; Minjung Kwon; Hae-Joon Lee; Gyo-Young Cho

doi:10.12799/jkachn.2017.28.4.463

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Choi, Kwon, Lee, and Cho: The Association between Psychosocial Work Environment and Depressive Symptoms among Korean Teachers

Original Article

J Korean Acad Community Health Nurs 2017;28(4):463-471.

Published online: 12 December 2017

DOI: https://doi.org/10.12799/jkachn.2017.28.4.463

The Association between Psychosocial Work Environment and Depressive Symptoms among Korean Teachers

Eunsuk Choi¹, Minjung Kwon², Hae-Joon Lee³, Gyo-Young Cho⁴

¹College of Nursing · Research Institute of Nursing Science, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, Korea

²College of Nursing, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, Korea

³National Health Insurance Corporation, Wonju, Korea

⁴Department of Statistics, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, Korea

Corresponding author: Kwon, Minjung College of Nursing, Kyungpook National University, 680 Gukchaebosang-ro, Jung-gu, Daegu 41944, Korea. Tel: +82-53-420-4936, Fax: +82-53-421-2758, E-mail: kmj1730@naver.com

Received 1 August 2017 Revised 9 November 2017 Accepted 19 November 2017

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0), which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Purpose

This study aimed to identify the association between psychosocial work environment and depressive symptoms among Korean teachers.

Methods

Data on 235 elementary school teachers and 341 middle and high school teachers was obtained from the 2014 Korean Working Condition Survey. The effect of psychosocial work environment on depressive symptoms was determined by multiple logistic regression analyses.

Results

The prevalence of depressive symptoms was 18 % in elementary school teachers and 24 % in middle and high school teachers. When adjusted for demographics and other socio-psychological and environmental factors, ‘social community at work’ served as a protection factor for Korean teachers’ depressive symptoms. In addition, ‘cognitive demands’ in elementary school teachers and ‘social support from supervisors’ in middle and high school teachers were found to be predictors of depressive symptoms.

Conclusion

Interventions to increase ‘social community at work’ and ‘social support from supervisors’, and to decrease ‘cognitive demands’ may be helpful for Korean teachers at risk of depression.

Keywords: Psychosocial factors, Workplace, School teacher, Depressive symptoms

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Table 1.

The Distribution of Depressive Symptoms according to General Characteristics among Korean Teachers in 2014 Korean Working Conditions Survey (KWCS)

Variables	Elementary school teachers					Middle and high school teachers
	Total	＜13	≥13	x²/P	p	Total	＜13	≥13	x²/P	p
	n (%)	n (%)	n (%)	x²/P	p	n (%)	n (%)	n (%)	x²/P	p
Total
	235 (100.0)	43 (18.3)	192 (81.7)			341 (100.0)	82 (24.0)	259 (76.0)
Gender
Male	56 (23.8)	13 (23.2)	43 (76.8)	1.19	.276	174 (51.0)	44 (25.3)	130 (74.7)	0.30	.584
Female	179 (76.2)	30 (16.8)	149 (83.2)			167 (49.0)	38 (22.7)	129 (77.3)
Age (year)
≤34	70 (29.8)	14 (20.0)	56 (80.0)	0.72	.697	80 (23.5)	16 (20.9)	64 (79.1)	1.30	.521
35~44	98 (41.7)	19 (19.4)	79 (80.6)			103 (30.2)	24 (19.2)	79 (80.9)
≥45	67 (28.5)	10 (14.9)	57 (85.1)			158 (46.3)	42 (15.0)	116 (85.0)
Education
Bachelors degree	213 (90.6)	40 (18.8)	173 (81.2)	0.21^†	.774^†	285 (83.6)	69 (24.2)	216 (75.8)	0.03	.873
≥Undergraduate	22 (9.4)	3 (13.6)	19 (86.4)			56 (16.4)	13 (23.2)	43 (76.8)
Residence area
Metropolitan area	122 (51.9)	23 (18.9)	99 (81.2)	0.05	.819	184 (54.0)	42 (22.8)	142 (77.2)	0.33	.568
Non-metropolitan area	113 (48.1)	20 (17.7)	93 (82.3)			157 (46.0)	40 (25.5)	117 (74.5)
Number of workers
1~49	120 (51.1)	17 (14.2)	103 (85.8)	2.80	.094	153 (44.9)	36 (23.5)	117 (76.5)	0.04	.840
≥50	115 (48.9)	26 (22.6)	89 (77.4)			188 (55.1)	46 (24.5)	142 (75.5)
Employment type
Regular	224 (95.3)	43 (19.2)	181 (80.8)	0.10^†	.223^†	328 (96.2)	78 (23.8)	250 (76.2)	0.20^†	.521^†
Non-regular	11 (4.7)	0 (0.0)	11 (100.0	)		13 (3.8)	4 (30.8)	9 (69.2)
Weekly working hours
≤40	209 (88.9)	37 (17.7)	172 (82.3)	0.16^†	.590^†	261 (76.5)	59 (22.6)	202 (77.4)	1.27	.261
＞40	26 (11.1)	6 (23.1)	20 (76.9)			80 (23.5)	23 (28.8)	57 (71.2)
Working period at present workplace (year)
＜5	52 (22.1)	13 (25.0)	39 (75.0)	3.02	.222	69 (20.2)	14 (20.3)	55 (79.7)	0.79	.673
≥5 and＜10	47 (20.0)	10 (21.3)	37 (78.7)			56 (16.4)	13 (23.2)	43 (76.8)
≥10	136 (57.9)	20 (14.7)	116 (85.3)			216 (63.3)	55 (25.5)	161 (74.5)

^† Fisher's exact test.

Table 2.

The Differences of Depressive Symptoms according to Psychosocial Work Environments among Korean Teachers in 2014 KWCS

Variables	Categories	Elementary school teachers (n=235)				Middle and high school teachers (n=341)
		Total	＜13	≥13	t	Total	＜13	≥13	t
		M±SD	M±SD	M±SD	t	M±SD	M±SD	M±SD	t
Demands at work	QD	27.52±14.83	30.21±15.49	27.32±13.53	-1.23	27.85±14.83	29.32±15.01	26.94±14.76	-1.27
	CD	47.66±50.05	55.81±50.25	45.83±49.96	-1.18	46.92±49.98	50.00±50.31	45.95±49.93	-0.64
	ED	39.89±24.49	37.79±19.95	40.36±25.42	0.62	42.16±27.03	43.90±26.22	41.60±27.30	-0.67
	DHE	52.23±21.87	47.09±19.06	53.39±22.30	1.71	53.52±21.49	53.96±20.96	53.38±21.69	-0.21
Work organization and job contents	PD	71.06±23.18	65.11±26.24	72.40±22.30	1.87	69.35±22.75	66.46±21.60	70.27±23.07	1.32
Work organization and job contents	Influence	54.51±23.21	49.41±22.40	55.65±23.29	1.60	52.03±21.90	48.78±21.99	53.06±21.81	1.55
Collaboration and leadership	SC	66.60±17.33	61.63±19.93	67.71±16.54	2.09*	66.79±17.32	62.80±17.20	68.05±17.19	2.40*
	SS	78.40±27.71	65.41±34.72	81.32±25.08	2.84**	80.51±23.27	73.48±25.50	82.74±22.11	2.96**
	SW	67.23±17.03	60.47±15.44	68.75±17.03	3.12**	65.74±15.31	60.77±14.40	67.31±15.29	3.53**
	JR	68.19±19.48	63.66±16.99	69.21±19.89	1.69	67.67±17.35	67.22±16.39	67.81±17.67	0.27
Work-individual interphase	WC	52.34±11.53	54.70±10.12	51.81±11.78	-1.49	52.23±12.81	53.47±12.83	51.84±12.80	-1.01
Work-individual interphase	JI	6.38±15.39	5.81±13.18	6.51±15.87	0.27	7.92±16.92	7.62±14.53	8.01±17.64	0.18

^* p＜.05,

^** p＜.01,

^*** p＜.001;

QD=quantitative demands; CD=cognitive demands; ED=emotional demands; DHE=demands for hiding emotions; PD=possibilities for development; SC=social support from colleagues; SS=social support from supervisors; SW=social community at work; JR=job reward; WC=work-family conflict; JI=job insecurity.

Table 3.

Odds Ratio (OR) and 95% Confidence Intervals (CI) for Depressive Symptoms among Korean Teachers in 2014 KWCS

Variables	Categories	Elementary school teachers (n=235)		Middle & high school teachers (n=341)
Variables	Categories	AOR	(95% CI)	AOR	(95% CI)
Demands at work	Quantitative demands (unit=10 points)	1.13	(0.84~1.52)	1.08	(0.90~1.30)
	Cognitive demands (unit=10 points)	1.13	(1.04~1.24)**	1.06	(0.99~1.14)
	Emotional demands (unit=10 points) Demands for hiding emotions (unit=10 points)	1.03 0.89	(0.86~1.24) (0.72~1.09)	1.01 1.01	(0.90~1.14) (0.88~1.17)
Work organization and job contents	Possibilities for development (unit=10 points)	0.83	(0.68~1.00)	0.88	(0.76~1.02)
Work organization and job contents	Influence (unit=10 points)	1.02	(0.85~1.23)	0.94	(0.82~1.07)
Collaboration and leadership	Social support from colleagues (unit=10 points)	1.00	(0.78~1.29)	0.91	(0.78~1.08)
	Social support from supervisors (unit=10 points)	0.88	(0.78~1.01)	0.88	(0.79~0.98)*
	Social community at work (unit=10 points)	0.77	(0.61~0.98)*	0.83	(0.69~0.99)*
Work-individual interphase	Work-family conflict (unit=10 points)	1.11	(0.79~1.56)	1.06	(0.86~1.30)
Work-individual interphase	Job insecurity (unit=10 points)	0.95	(0.71~1.26)	0.98	(0.83~1.16)

^* p＜.05,

^** p＜.01,

^*** p＜.001;

AOR=adjusted OR for socio-demographics (gender, age, education, residence area, number of workers, weekly working hours, and working period at present workplace) and other psycho-social work environments.

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