The association between working full time, major depression and generalized anxiety disorder among adults over 25 years old in the United States
Introduction
Unemployment becomes more and more serious issue. It may not only be related to financial and social problems but also to psychological ones.
Research Questions
1. Is not working full time associated with major depression and generalized anxiety disorder?
2. Is experiencing a major financial crisis, bankruptcy, or being unable to pay bills on time in the last 12 months associated with major depression and generalized anxiety disorder?
Methods
Sample
Adults over the age of 25 (N=37423) from the first wave of the National Epidemiologic Study of Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC).
NESARC is a nationally representative sample of adults in United States.
Measures
Major depression and generalized anxiety disorder were assessed using the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, Alcohol Use Disorder and Associated Disabilities Interview Schedule – DSM-IV (AUDADIS-IV).
Current drinking was assessed through quantity („On the days that you drank alcohol in the last year, about how many drinks did you usually drink?“).
Results
Univariate
52% of respondents were working full time.
18% experienced major depression.
5% experienced generalized anxiety disorder.
11% experienced major financial crisis.
Bivariate
When examining the association between lifetime major depression (categorical response variable) and working full time in the past 12 months (categorical explanatory variable), a chi-square test of independence revealed that among adults over 25 years old, those who did not work full time were more likely to have experienced major depression in their lifetime (19.3%) compared to those who did work full time in the past 12 months (17.1%), X2 =30.90, 1 df, p=0001.
When examining the association between lifetime generalized anxiety disorder (categorical response variable) and experiencing major financial crisis in the past 12 months (categorical explanatory variable), a chi-square test of independence revealed that among adults over 25 years old, those who experienced a major financial crisis were more likely to have experienced generalized anxiety disorder in their lifetime (12.3%) compared to those who did not experience a major financial crisis in the past 12 months (3.8%), X2 =605.34, 1 df, p=0001.
When examining the association between lifetime major depression (categorical response variable) and experiencing major financial crisis in the past 12 months (categorical explanatory variable), a chi-square test of independence revealed that among adults over 25 years old, those who experienced a major financial crisis were more likely to have experienced major depression in their lifetime (38.6%) compared to those who did not experience a major financial crisis in the past 12 months (15.7%), X2 =1345.98, 1 df, p=0001.
Moderation
When examining the association between lifetime major depression (categorical response variable) and working full time in the past 12 months (categorical explanatory variable) among adults over 25 years old, a chi-square test of independence revealed that experiencing major financial crisis acted as a moderator. Those who have not been working full time were more likely to have experienced major depression in their lifetime (42.4%) compared to those who have been working full time in the past 12 months (34.94%), X2 =25.03, 1 df, p<.0001 if they have experienced a major financial crisis. In case of lack of financial crisis the difference between those who have been working full time and those who have not was much smaller: 15% and 16% respectively, X2=9.69, 1 df, p=.002.
Discussion
What might the results mean?
Individuals who are not working full time and experienced a major financial crisis may be more prone to suffer from major depression and generalized anxiety disorder.
Strengths
Results are based on a large nationally representative sample of U.S. adults
Limitations
Further research is needed to determine if being unemployed causes major depression and anxiety or does the relationship work the other way round.
SAS program
libname mydata "/courses/u_coursera.org1/i_1006328/c_5333" access=readonly;
 DATA new; set mydata.nesarc_pds;
 label S1Q7A1="situation includes working full time"
MAJORDEPLIFE="major depression"
GENAXLIFE="generalized anxiety disorder"
S1Q2310="experiences major financial crisis"
S2AQ8A="how often drink any alcohol in the last 12 months"
DRFRQYR="how many times drink alcohol in the last 12 months"
S2AQ8B="number of drinks consumed on days when drunk alcohol i last 12 months";
 if S1Q2310=9 then S1Q2310=.;
if S2AQ8A=99 then S2AQ8A=.;
if S2AQ8A=BL then S2AQ8A=.;
if S2AQ8B=99 then S2AQ8B=.;
if S2AQ8B=BL then S2AQ8B=.;
 if S2AQ8A=1 then DRFRQYR=356;
else if S2AQ8A=2 then DRFRQYR=300;
else if S2AQ8A=3 then DRFRQYR=208;
else if S2AQ8A=4 then DRFRQYR=104;
else if S2AQ8A=5 then DRFRQYR=52;
else if S2AQ8A=6 then DRFRQYR=36;
else if S2AQ8A=7 then DRFRQYR=12;
else if S2AQ8A=8 then DRFRQYR=11;
else if S2AQ8A=9 then DRFRQYR=6;
else if S2AQ8A=10 then DRFRQYR=2;
 if AGE LE 36 then agegroup=1; /*25-36 year olds*/
else if AGE LE 47 then agegroup=2;Â /*37-47 year olds*/
else if AGE LE 61 then agegroup=3;Â /*48-61 year olds*/
else agegroup=4;Â /*62-98 years old*/
 /*subsetting the data to include only age greater than or equal 25*/
 if age ge 25;
 PROC sort; by IDNUM;
/*proc anova; class S1Q7A1;
model DRFRQYR=S1Q7A1;
means S1Q7A1;
PROC UNIVARIATE; VAR S2AQ8A;*/
proc sort; by S1Q2310;
proc freq; tables GENAXLIFE*S1Q7A1 /chisq;
by S1Q2310;
/*Â MAJORDEPLIFE S1Q2310 age agegroup S2AQ8A DRFRQYR;*/
/*proc corr; var S2AQ8B S2AQ8A;*/
