Parental long working hours and adult children’s depression in South Korea: a cross-sectional study

Hyunil Kim,Woncheol Lee,Soyoung Park,Hyeongcheol Kim

doi:10.1080/19338244.2021.1920568

Abstract

This study investigated the association between parental long working hours and the depression of children living with their parents even after becoming adults in South Korea. Data from two years of the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES) in 2014 and 2016 were analyzed using a cross-sectional study. Logistic regression analyses were performed to determine the association between parental long working hours and their adult children’s depression. Adult children of mothers who worked more than 60 hours per week were more likely to have depression than 40 hours or less per week. Comprehending aging mothers’ weekly working hours is an important factor for understanding the reason of adult children’s depression.

Highlights

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a psychologically common disorder and expected to be the second leading cause of disability by 2020 [1]
Lifetime prevalence of MDD in South Korea has been increasing gradually (4.0% in 2001, 5.6% in 2006, and 6.7% in 2011), and Korean public health institutions have been attempting to focus on mental disorders, especially MDD, because Korea has one of the highest rate of suicides among the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries [5]
Adult children who had depression were significantly more likely to be women, stressful, have the lowest quartile of household economic status, and unemployed compared with non-depressed adult children

Summary

Introduction

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a psychologically common disorder and expected to be the second leading cause of disability by 2020 [1]. Lifetime prevalence of MDD in South Korea (hereafter “Korea”) has been increasing gradually (4.0% in 2001, 5.6% in 2006, and 6.7% in 2011), and Korean public health institutions have been attempting to focus on mental disorders, especially MDD, because Korea has one of the highest rate of suicides among the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries [5]. Numerous parental characteristics such as occupation, depression, educational level, income, criminality, violence, communication, and marital status contribute to children’s depressive disorders [6,7,8,9].

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion