ArticleBMC public health2022
Sex and gender differences in depressive symptoms in older workers: the role of working conditions.
Article in BMC public health, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 20 citations in OpenAlex.
- Associations between Psychosocial Working Conditions and Work-Specific Self-Efficacy Beliefs Among Employees Receiving Psychotherapeutic Consultation at Work.Journal of occupational rehabilitation · 2025Trial
- Gender inequalities in high psychological distress vary across European regions and occupational subgroups.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Sex and gender effects on incidence of migraine and stroke: a longitudinal observational study based on the german socio-economic panel.Biology of sex differences · 2026Observational
- Applicability of Existing Gender Scores for German Clinical Research Data: Scoping Review and Data Mapping.JMIR medical informatics · 2026Article
- Decomposition analysis of differences in depressive symptoms between agricultural and non-agricultural workers in China.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Prepartum working conditions predict mental health symptoms 14 months postpartum in first-time mothers and their partners - results of the prospective cohort study "DREAM".BMC public health · 2025Article
- A resource-oriented perspective on the aging workforce - exploring job resource profiles and their associations with various health indicators.BMC public health · 2024Article
- Gender scores in epidemiological research: methods, advantages and implications.The Lancet regional health. Europe · 2024Review
- Are changes in sleep problems associated with changes in life satisfaction during the retirement transition?European journal of ageing · 2024Article
- Effects of sex and gender on the etiologies and presentation of select internalizing psychopathologies.Translational psychiatry · 2024Review
- Sex differences in the psychometric properties of the Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression (CES-D) Scale in older Filipinos.PloS one · 2023Article
- Associations between existing and newly diagnosed chronic health conditions and change in subjective life expectancy: Results from a panel study.SSM - population health · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundFemale older workers generally leave the work force earlier than men. Depressive symptoms are a risk factor of early work exit and are more common in women. To extend working lives, pathways leading to these sex inequalities need to be identified. The aim of this study was to investigate the association of sex and gender with depressive symptoms in older workers, and the role of working conditions in this association.
methodsWe used data from the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam (2012-2013/2015-2016, n = 313). Our outcome was depressive symptoms, measured by the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale. We included biological sex, a gender index ranging from masculine to feminine (consisting of six items measuring gender roles: working hours, income, occupation segregation, education, informal caregiving, time spent on household chores), and working conditions (physical demands, psychosocial demands, cognitive demands, autonomy, task variation, social support) in our models. We examined the differential vulnerability hypothesis, i.e., sex/gender moderates the association between working conditions and depressive symptoms, and the differential exposure hypothesis, i.e., working conditions mediate the association between sex/gender and depressive symptoms.
resultsFemale sex and feminine gender were both associated with more depressive symptoms. The differential vulnerability hypothesis was not supported by our results. We did find that femininity was negatively associated with autonomy and task variation. In turn, these working conditions were associated with fewer depressive symptoms. Thus, autonomy and task variation partially mediated the association between gender and depressive symptoms, supporting the differential exposure hypothesis. Mediation effects for sex inequalities were not significant.
conclusionsOlder female workers and older feminine workers have more depressive symptoms than their male/masculine counterparts. Autonomy and task variation appeared to be important in - partially - explaining gender differences in depressive symptoms rather than sex differences. By improving these conditions, gender inequality in mental health among older workers can be reduced, so that both genders have similar chances to reach the retirement age in good mental health.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.