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Advances in Applied Economic Research pp 317–332Cite as

Symptoms of Depression and Status in the European Labour Market

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Part of the book series: Springer Proceedings in Business and Economics ((SPBE))

Abstract

This study uses three rounds of European Social Survey to study the effects from the status in the labour market of individuals from general population on the strength of their depression symptoms. Particular interest is in the comparison of the mismatched (over- and undereducated) to other kinds of status. Mismatch is defined by a normative (ISCO-based) measure. The main result is that not only overeducation but also (though to a smaller extent) undereducation is associated with an increased presence of depression symptoms. Health, income, personality, religion, the frequency of watching news on TV and partner’s status in the labour market are among the independent variables.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Judd et al. (1996) showed that there is no substantial difference between the socio-economic effects from subsyndromal depression symptoms and major depression.

  2. 2.

    This effect is due to a common result that the overeducated earn less than the well matched with the same level of education (Korpi and Tåhlin, 2009; Rubb, 2003; Verhaest and Omey, 2012).

  3. 3.

    Out of the mental health context, it was shown that there is a substantial lock-in into overeducation once getting such job (Baert et al., 2013; Voßemer and Schuck, 2016), although it is easier to find a job with an experience of overeducation than with an experience of unemployment (Baert and Verhaest, 2014).

  4. 4.

    See, e.g., Sparreboom and Tarvid (2016) for a short overview of the existing measures of mismatch.

  5. 5.

    Social orientation is based on the importance to be treated equally, follow rules, help people and be loyal to friends. Achievement orientation is based on the importance to be rich, show abilities, get respect and be successful. Openness to experience is based on the importance to be creative, try new things, make decisions freely and seek adventures.

  6. 6.

    See, e.g., Jang et al. (2004) and Park et al. (2016) on subjective health mediating the relationship between disability or chronic illness and depression.

  7. 7.

    Tarvid (2013) used a similar measure to approximate individual’s ability in ESS data. The measure used here is different in several respects. Firstly, Tarvid (2013) used residuals from the regression of the actual household income (more specifically, the decile of the country’s income distribution where the income falls), and not feeling about the income. Secondly, the sub-sample was restricted to respondents bringing a substantial part of household income, while this study does not include this restriction. Thirdly, explanatory variables did not include mismatch, while the respondent’s status in the labour market is included as an independent variable here. Thus, the residuals of the income model may not necessarily reflect the respondent’s ability and, hence, should not be interpreted as such.

  8. 8.

    A common variable that consistently defines a country’s region in all rounds and contains enough observations in every region to allow for statistical inference for sub-samples was generated.

  9. 9.

    But recall that living in a rural area is an explanatory variable in the sub-model of feeling about household income.

  10. 10.

    See, e.g., Hakanen et al. (2008) and Sanne et al. (2005) on how excessive job demands accompanied with insufficient resources increases depression through higher stress levels.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Economics and Management, University of Latvia, 5 Aspazijas blvd., Riga, LV-1050, Latvia

    Alexander Tarvid

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  1. Alexander Tarvid
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Correspondence to Alexander Tarvid .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of International Trade, Western Macedonia University of Applied Sciences, Kastoria, Greece

    Nicholas Tsounis

  2. Department of International Trade, Western Macedonia University of Applied Sciences, Kastoria, Greece

    Aspasia Vlachvei

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Tarvid, A. (2017). Symptoms of Depression and Status in the European Labour Market. In: Tsounis, N., Vlachvei, A. (eds) Advances in Applied Economic Research. Springer Proceedings in Business and Economics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-48454-9_23

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