Huang Li, Sun Xiaotong, Zhou Mi
College of Economics and Management, Shenyang Agricultural University, Shenyang 110866, Liaoning, China.
College of Economics and Management, Shenyang Agricultural University, Shenyang 110866, Liaoning, China.
J Affect Disord. 2020 May 1;268:141-149. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2020.03.013. Epub 2020 Mar 4.
China has entered a new economic age, with the government leading economic transformation. Many laborers, such as rural laborers and migrant workers, have developed serious mental health issues. These issues, such as depression, are a significant obstacle to sustainable development in China.
We use data from the 2016 China Family Panel Survey, a survey that collected data from a large and nationally representative sample of the Chinese population, to construct a sample of 18,300 laborers from 25 provinces, and then use statistical analysis to gain insight into the prevalence of depression among laborers.
The distribution of depression varies among laborers. Specifically, we find that the prevalence of depression is significantly lower in the population of urban laborers than in migrant laborers or rural laborers. Our results also show that laborers who are women, divorced, widowed, ethnic minorities, low income, low education, long work experience, or who lack medical insurance are more likely to be depressed than other laborers are.
Our research has several weaknesses. First, the CFPS dataset only used self-diagnosed depressive symptoms, which limited us to examining depressive symptoms, rather than medical diagnoses. Also, this paper was unable to explore the causal relationship between depression and other factors. Future research examining the causality between depression and other factors in China is necessary.
We propose that there is correspondingly high prevalence of depression among laborers in rural areas compared to urban areas in China. This study can help government leaders make targeted programs for depressed adults in the future, especially those who are members of marginalized groups.
中国已进入新经济时代，政府引领经济转型。许多劳动者，如农村劳动力和农民工，出现了严重的心理健康问题。这些问题，如抑郁症，是中国可持续发展的重大障碍。
我们使用2016年中国家庭追踪调查的数据，该调查从具有全国代表性的大量中国人口样本中收集数据，构建了一个来自25个省份的18300名劳动者的样本，然后使用统计分析来深入了解劳动者中抑郁症的患病率。
抑郁症的分布在劳动者中存在差异。具体而言，我们发现城市劳动者群体中抑郁症的患病率明显低于农民工或农村劳动者。我们的结果还表明，女性、离异、丧偶、少数民族、低收入、低教育水平、工作经验长或缺乏医疗保险的劳动者比其他劳动者更易患抑郁症。
我们的研究有几个不足之处。首先，中国家庭追踪调查数据集仅使用了自我诊断的抑郁症状，这限制我们只能研究抑郁症状，而非医学诊断。此外，本文无法探究抑郁症与其他因素之间的因果关系。未来有必要在中国开展研究以检验抑郁症与其他因素之间的因果关系。
我们提出，与中国城市地区相比，农村地区劳动者中抑郁症的患病率相应较高。本研究有助于政府领导人未来为抑郁症患者制定针对性计划，尤其是那些属于边缘化群体的患者。
