Daily Stress, Job Stress, and Depressive Symptoms Among Low-Income Workers in Korea: Moderating Effects of Resilience

Background:According to OECD statistics (2015), low-income workers take up 24.7% of total workers in Korea, and this is the second highest among OECD countries. They may be at high risk of developing stress and mental health problems because of unique cultural backgrounds. Resilience has been known as positively coping with stresslful events. The purpose of this study was to validate previous observations on the association between job stress, daily stress and workers’ depressive symptoms among low-income workers, and to examine the role of resilience as a moderator.

Methods:Data were collected in 2013 from 295 employees in private sector organizations (e.g., social welfare agency, large supermarket chain, private company, hospital, and university) in Seoul and Gyeong-gi province. Using purposive sampling, we administered the structured survey to the employees after describing the nature of our study. For the final analysis of the study, 254 employees whose monthly salary was less than 2 million Korean won (approximately 1,700 U.S. dollars) were included. Korean version of the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) for depressive symptoms, short form of the Korean Occupational Stress Scale (KOSS-SF) for job stress, and a subscale of revised Daily Hassles Scale (DHS) for daily stress were used.

Univariate, bivariate, and hierarchical regression analyses were conducted to better understand the sample and to examine the main effects of job stress and daily stress on depressive symptoms as well as the moderating effect of resilience. A simple slope analysis was conducted to further examine the nature of any significant interaction.

Results: Average age of the sample was 44.85 years (SD = 11.95). The sample was predominantly female (75.6%), had high school education or above (93.3%), and married or partnered (73.6%). 16.1% were identified to have depressive symptoms (PHQ-9 ≥ 10), and the results of χ²tests showed significant differences between the depressed group and not depressed group in their age, education, marital status, type of employment, income per month, self-rated health, and self-perceived economic status.

Results of the final regression model (R² = .395; F = 14.293, p < .001) indicated that age (β = -.189), self-rated health (β = -.205), job stress (β = .228) and daily stress (β = .363) were significant predictors. The interaction between daily stress and resilience was significant (β = -.160), whereas the interaction between job stress and resilience wasn’t (β = -.002). The positive association between daily stress and depressive symptoms was weaker for those who reported high resilience (+1 SD). A simple slope analysis also showed that the slope of both regression lines were significantly different from zero.

Implications:The findings suggest that daily stress is a stronger predictor of depressive symptoms compared to job stress. Whereas interventions for alleviating daily stress among Korean low-income workers need to be focused on empowering their resilience, job stress needs to be managed at an organizational or a societal level. It is essential for social workers to understand the need to take different approaches for managing daily and job stresses which in turn will affect employees’ mental health.