Occupational Depression Trends Revealed

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration published a report on the incidence of depression in adults by occupation. They found the 2 occupational categories with the highest incidence of depression were personal care services and food preparation. They also found that that 7 percent of all full-time workers experienced an episode of depression in the past year.

Personal care service is a broad category but included childcare workers, home care aids and animal caretakers. Food preparation included cooks, bartenders and servers. The lowest rates of depression were found in the job category of engineers, architects and surveyors.

The report offers no explanations for these findings. However, it did show that part-time workers and they unemployed had higher rates of depression, 9.3 and 12.7 respectively compared to the 7 percent of full time workers. This suggests that working full-time is somewhat protective for developing depression.