Annals of Occupational and Environmental Medicine

  • Volume 34
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  • Pages.1.1-1.13
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  • 2022
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  • 1225-3618(pISSN)
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  • 2052-4374(eISSN)
The Korean Society of Occupational & Environmental Medicine (대한직업환경의학회)
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Mental health symptoms among dependent contractors in Korea: a cross-sectional study based on the Fifth Korean Working Condition Survey

  • Seong-Uk Baek (Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Severance Hospital, Yonsei University College of Medicine) ;
  • Sung-Shil Lim (Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Severance Hospital, Yonsei University College of Medicine) ;
  • Sehyun Yun (Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Severance Hospital, Yonsei University College of Medicine) ;
  • Won-Tae Lee (Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Severance Hospital, Yonsei University College of Medicine) ;
  • Min-Seok Kim (Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Severance Hospital, Yonsei University College of Medicine) ;
  • Jin-Ha Yoon (The Institute for Occupational Health, Yonsei University College of Medicine) ;
  • Jong-Uk Won (Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Severance Hospital, Yonsei University College of Medicine)
  • Received : 2021.11.17
  • Accepted : 2022.01.26
  • Published : 2022.12.31
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Abstract

Background: Recently, there has been a call to improve the holistic welfare of dependent contractors (DCs). Thus, our study examined the relationship between DCs and mental health symptoms and how this relationship was modified by age, sex, and income status of workers. Methods: A total of 27,980 workers from the Fifth Korean Working Conditions Survey are included in our study. The participants who reported having depression or anxiety over the last 12 months are defined those who had mental health symptoms. We performed exact matching for age group and sex, followed by conditional logistic regression with survey weights. Finally, stratified analyses by age, sex and income level were conducted. Results: DCs were found to be at increased risk of depression/anxiety compared to other workers. The odds ratio (OR) is 1.52 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.06-2.17). In the stratified analyses, vulnerable groups were middle-aged (OR [95% CI]: 1.68 [1.10-2.54]), female (OR [95% CI]: 1.85 [1.20-2.84]), and low-income (OR [95% CI]: 3.18 [1.77-5.73]) workers. Conclusions: Our study's results reinforce those of other studies that show that DCs are at greater risk of experiencing mental health issues than other workers and that and this risk is greater for middle-aged, female, and low-income workers. These results suggest that appropriate policy efforts should be made to improve the psychological well-being of DCs.

Keywords

Acknowledgement

The authors would like to thank the survey participants and Occupational Safety and Health Research Institute (OSHRI) for providing raw Korean Working Conditions Survey (KWCS) data. The paper's contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of OSHRI.

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