Depression affecting work performance: gender differentials across occupations

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to study the incidence of depression affecting work (DAW) performance and estimates gender differences across occupations.

Design/methodology/approach

Using Labor Force Survey data from the UK in 2007, the authors first decompose the differential on the aggregate incidence rate of DAW between men and women into two components: the gender effect and the occupational effect. Then, the authors identify the stressors of DAW by means of a logit regression analysis.

Findings

The empirical results show that gender is not a significant explanatory variable of DAW. Further, when differences are analyzed for each gender separately, results show that the effect of occupations is stronger within females than within males.

Originality/value

Most of previous studies focus on occupational causes of depression. By contrast, this paper investigates the effect of depression on work performance.

Citation

Arocena, P. and Nuñez, I. (2014), "Depression affecting work performance: gender differentials across occupations", International Journal of Manpower, Vol. 35 No. 3, pp. 250-266. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJM-04-2014-0090