TY - JOUR

T1 - Trajectories of marginal part-time work and risk of depression

T2 - Does job or income insecurity mediate the relation?

AU - Nielsen, Helena Breth

AU - Kirchheiner-Rasmussen, Jonas

AU - Dyreborg, Johnny

AU - Larsen, Ann Dyreborg

AU - Madsen, Ida Elisabeth Huitfeldt

AU - Pedersen, Jacob

AU - Garde, Anne Helene

PY - 2023

Y1 - 2023

N2 - OBJECTIVES: Working few hours a week, known as marginal part-time work, may increase both job and income insecurity, which have been linked to the risk of depression. This study examines the association between marginal part-time work and depression and the mediating role of job and income insecurity.METHODS: We included 30 523 respondents of the Danish Labor Force Survey (DLFS) between 2010 and 2017 and linked them to register-based information on weekly working hours, which was used to identify full-time workers and model group-based trajectories of marginal part-time. These data were linked with survey information on job and income insecurity, and register-based information on hospital-diagnosed depression or redeemed anti-depressant drugs in the following two years. We estimated hazard ratios (HR) by Cox proportional hazards models and conducted mediation analyses to estimate the natural direct and indirect effects using job and income insecurity as mediators.RESULTS: We identified three distinct trajectories of marginal part-time work: constant marginal part-time work, mobile towards marginal part-time work, and fluctuating in and out of marginal part-time work. Compared with full-time workers, the constant [HR 2.42, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.83-3.20], mobile (HR 2.84, 95% CI 2.16-3.75), and fluctuating (HR 3.51, 95% CI 2.07-5.97) trajectories all had higher risks of depression. There was no evidence of mediation by either job (HR 1.02, 95% CI 0.92-1.12) or income (HR 0.98, 95% CI 0.89-1.08) insecurity.CONCLUSIONS: We found a higher risk of depression following marginal part-time work. The higher risk was not mediated by job or income insecurity.

AB - OBJECTIVES: Working few hours a week, known as marginal part-time work, may increase both job and income insecurity, which have been linked to the risk of depression. This study examines the association between marginal part-time work and depression and the mediating role of job and income insecurity.METHODS: We included 30 523 respondents of the Danish Labor Force Survey (DLFS) between 2010 and 2017 and linked them to register-based information on weekly working hours, which was used to identify full-time workers and model group-based trajectories of marginal part-time. These data were linked with survey information on job and income insecurity, and register-based information on hospital-diagnosed depression or redeemed anti-depressant drugs in the following two years. We estimated hazard ratios (HR) by Cox proportional hazards models and conducted mediation analyses to estimate the natural direct and indirect effects using job and income insecurity as mediators.RESULTS: We identified three distinct trajectories of marginal part-time work: constant marginal part-time work, mobile towards marginal part-time work, and fluctuating in and out of marginal part-time work. Compared with full-time workers, the constant [HR 2.42, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.83-3.20], mobile (HR 2.84, 95% CI 2.16-3.75), and fluctuating (HR 3.51, 95% CI 2.07-5.97) trajectories all had higher risks of depression. There was no evidence of mediation by either job (HR 1.02, 95% CI 0.92-1.12) or income (HR 0.98, 95% CI 0.89-1.08) insecurity.CONCLUSIONS: We found a higher risk of depression following marginal part-time work. The higher risk was not mediated by job or income insecurity.

KW - Humans

KW - Depression

KW - Employment

KW - Income

KW - Surveys and Questionnaires

U2 - 10.5271/sjweh.4091

DO - 10.5271/sjweh.4091

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 37057878

VL - 49

SP - 271

EP - 282

JO - Scandinavian journal of work, environment & health

JF - Scandinavian journal of work, environment & health

SN - 0355-3140

IS - 4

ER -