Time to share unpaid domestic labor! Prevalence of depressive symptoms among working women

Mary Ajithra; Thekkethayyil Viswanathan Anilkumar; Gnanaseelan Kanakamma Libu

doi:10.30834/KJP.37.1.2024.428

Authors

Mary Ajithra Department of Psychiatry, Government Medical College, Palakkad, Kerala, India
Thekkethayyil Viswanathan Anilkumar Department of Psychiatry, Government Medical College, Kochi, Ernakulam, Kerala, India
Gnanaseelan Kanakamma Libu Department of Community Medicine, Government Medical College, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.30834/KJP.37.1.2024.428

Keywords:

Working women, unpaid domestic labor, depression, depressive symptoms, PHQ-9

Abstract

Background: The prevalence of depression is higher among women compared to men. The prevalence of depression is higher among married working women compared to married working men. Studies estimating the prevalence of depression among working women and quantitatively evaluating household work about depression in Kerala, India, are limited. The primary objective of the study was to estimate the prevalence of depressive symptoms among working women residing in the field area of Medical College Health Unit – Pangappara, Thiruvananthapuram. The secondary objective was to study factors associated with depressive symptoms among the study population. Methods: The study design was a cross-sectional study for which 110 participants were selected using two-stage cluster sampling. The data was obtained over the phone due to the then-ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The data was analyzed with SPSS Version 26. Results: The prevalence of depressive symptoms among the study population was 14.5%, with a PHQ-9 score greater than or equal to five. The prevalence of depressive symptoms with a PHQ-9 score greater than or equal to ten was 4.5%. The prevalence of depressive symptoms was significantly higher among working women who had no one to help with household chores and childcare. Conclusion: The study quantifies the duration of unpaid domestic labor done by working women in addition to paid jobs. These unpaid domestic chores are often not shared by their husbands. The study signifies the need for gender equality and the sharing of domestic work and child care by male partners.

References

Vos T, Allen C, Arora M, Barber RM, Bhutta ZA, Brown A, et al. Global, regional, and national incidence, prevalence, and years lived with disability for 310 diseases and injuries, 1990–2015: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2015. Lancet 2016;388:1545–602.

Kessler RC, Bromet EJ. The epidemiology of depression across cultures. Annu Rev Public Health 2013;34:119–38.

Guilbert JJ. The world health report 2002 - reducing risks, promoting healthy life. Educ Health Abingdon Engl 2003;16:230. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1080/1357628031000116808.

Moffitt TE, Caspi A, Taylor A, Kokaua J, Milne BJ, Polanczyk G, et al. How common are common mental disorders? Evidence that lifetime prevalence rates are doubled by prospective versus retrospective ascertainment. Psychol Med 2010;40:899–909.

Sullivan PF, Neale MC, Kendler KS. Genetic epidemiology of major depression: review and meta-analysis. Am J Psychiatry 2000;157:1552–62.

Nemeroff CB. Paradise lost: the neuro-biological and clinical consequences of child abuse and neglect. Neuron 2016;89:892–909.

Wymbs BT, McCarty CA, Mason WA, King KM, Baer JS, Stoep AV, et al. Early adolescent substance use as a risk factor for developing conduct disorder and depression symptoms. J Stud Alcohol Drugs 2014;75:279–89.

Burt VK, Stein K. Epidemiology of depression throughout the female life cycle. J Clin Psychiatry 2002;63 Suppl 7:9–15.

Nandi DN, Ajmany S, Ganguli H, Banerjee G, Boral GC, Ghosh A, et al. Psychiatric disorders in a rural community in West Bengal- an epidemiological study. Indian J Psychiatry 1975;17:87-99.

Bohra N, Srivastava S, Bhatia MS. Depression in women in Indian context. Indian J Psychiatry 2015;57(S2):S239–45.

Kulesza M, Raguram R, Rao D. Perceived mental health related stigma, gender, and depressive symptom severity in a psychiatric facility in South India. Asian J Psychiatry 2014;9:73–7.

Heise LL, Pitanguy J, Germain A. Violence against women: the hidden health burden. World Bank Discuss Pap 1994;255.

Dibaji SM, Oreyzi S, Abedi MR. Occupation or home: comparison housewives and working women in the variables of stress, depression and perception of quantitative, mental and emotional home demands. Rev Eur Stud 2017;9:268. Available from: https://doi.org/10.5539/res.v9n2p268.

Arumugam B, Sarumathi V, Nagalingam S. A comparative study on depression among working and non-working women in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. Res Rev J Med Health Sci 2013;3:73–6.

Sun Y, Fu Z, Bo Q, Mao Z, Ma X, Wang C. The reliability and validity of PHQ-9 in patients with major depressive disorder in psychiatric hospital. BMC Psychiatry 2020;20:474.

Indu PS, Anilkumar TV, Vijayakumar K, Kumar KA, Sarma PS, Remadevi S, et al. Reliability and validity of PHQ-9 when administered by health workers for depression screening among women in primary care. Asian J Psychiatry 2018;37:10–4.

The Marlin Company & The American Institute of Stress. The Workplace Stress Scale. The Marlin Company: North Haven, Connecticut and The American Institute of Stress: Yonkers, New York; 2001.

Soltan MR, Al-Hassanin SA, Soliman SS, Gohar SF. Workplace-related stress among oncologists: Egyptian single-centered observational study. Middle East Curr Psychiatry 2020;27:19. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1186/s43045-020-00026-z.

Sherchand O, Sapkota N, Chaudhari RK, Khan SA, Baranwal JK, Niraula A, et al. Gender differences in the prevalence of depression among the working population of Nepal. Psychiatry J 2018;2018:8354861.

Arvind BA, Gururaj G, Loganathan S, Amudhan S, Varghese M, Benegal V, et al. Prevalence and socioeconomic impact of depressive disorders in India: multisite population-based cross-sectional study. BMJ Open 2019;9:e027250.

Poongothai S, Pradeepa R, Ganesan A, Mohan V. Prevalence of depression in a large urban South Indian population — The Chennai Urban Rural Epidemiology study (CURES–70). PLoS One 2009;4:e7185. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0007185.

Archana PS, Das S, Philip S, Philip RR, Joseph J, Punnoose VP, et al. Prevalence of depression among middle aged women in the rural area of Kerala. Asian J Psychiatry 2017;29:154–9.