Low Workplace Social Capital as a Predictor of Depression: The Finnish Public Sector Study

Abstract

In a prospective cohort study of Finnish public sector employees, the authors examined the association between workplace social capital and depression. Data were obtained from 33,577 employees, who had no recent history of antidepressant treatment and who reported no history of physician-diagnosed depression at baseline in 2000-2002. Their risk of depression was measured with two indicators: recorded purchases of antidepressants until December 31, 2005, and self-reports of new-onset depression diagnosed by a physician in the follow-up survey in 2004-2005. Multilevel logistic regression analysis was used to explore whether self-reported and aggregate-level workplace social capital predicted indicators of depression at follow-up. The odds for antidepressant treatment and physician-diagnosed depression were 20-50% higher for employees with low self-reported social capital than for those reporting high social capital. These associations were not accounted for by sex, age, marital status, socioeconomic position, place of work, smoking, alcohol use, physical activity, and body mass index. The association between social capital and self-reported depression attenuated but remained significant after further adjustment for baseline psychological distress (a proxy for undiagnosed mental health problems). Aggregate-level social capital was not associated with subsequent depression.

Marital status, social capital, economic stress, and mental health: A population-based study

“…Marital status is also associated with psychiatric health outcomes. Never being married, widowed, or divorced are associated with higher suicide rates (Masocco et al, 2008) as well as higher risk of depression (Akhtar-Danesh & Landeen, 2007, Kouvonen et al, 2008, Romans, Cohen & Forte, 2011. It is thus plausible that an association between marital status and mental health is present in the more general population for obvious reasons of loneliness, lack of emotional support and lack of practical support in everyday life.…”

A two-year follow-up study of risk of depression according to work-unit measures of psychological demands and decision latitude

“…Measures such as registry information on hospital overcrowding, reorganization, and workload (12)(13)(14), expert assessment (10,15), employer assessment (16), job title (17), and averaging across work units (8,18,19) or workplaces (20) are different approaches to this problem.…”

Social capital and workplace bullying

“…In a Finish study low individual-level social capital (but not aggregate workplace-level social capital) was associated with self-reported depression [39]. Individual-level social capital has been shown to be associated with exposure to "gossip and slandering" in the workplace [30] and impairment of self-rated health [40] to a higher degree than workplace-level social capital.…”

“…Common features of organizational social capital include mutual trust, organizational justice and fairness as well as the ability to cooperate or collaborate towards a collectively, shared goal [34,35,38]. Prospective studies have shown that low (self-reported) individual-level ratings of organizational social capital is associated with higher levels of self-reported depression [39], while low organizational social capital at both the individual and work unit level is associated with higher risks of poor health [40]. A 1-year follow-up study furthermore found that increased workplace social capital was associated with lower levels of psychological distress [41].…”