Stress and depression in the employed population.

OBJECTIVES This article describes stress levels among the employed population aged 18 to 75 and examines associations between stress and depression. DATA SOURCES Data are from the 2002 Canadian Community Health Survey: Mental Health and Well-being and the longitudinal component of the 1994/95 through 2002/03 National Population Health Survey. ANALYTICAL TECHNIQUES Stress levels were calculated by sex, age and employment characteristics. Multivariate analyses were used to examine associations between stress and depression in 2002, and between stress and incident depression over a two-year period, while controlling for age, employment characteristics, and factors originating outside the workplace. MAIN RESULTS In 2002, women reported higher levels of job strain and general day-to-day stress. When the various sources of stress were considered simultaneously, along with other possible confounders, for both sexes, high levels of general day-to-day stress and low levels of co-worker support were associated with higher odds of depression, as was high job strain for men. Over a two-year period, men with high strain jobs and women with high personal stress and low co-worker support had elevated odds of incident depression.