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Work Stress and Depressive Symptoms in Chinese Migrant Workers: The Moderating Role of Community Factors

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Abstract

This study aimed to examine depressive symptoms in ruralurban migrant workers in mainland China, with a focus on the moderating roles of community factors (i.e., community support network, community cohesion and community composition) in the relation between work stress and depressive symptoms. This study used secondary data from a national representative study conducted by the Social Survey Center at SUN-YETSEN University of China in 2014. The final sample contained 1434 participants from 29 provinces of China (Mean age = 36.47, SD = 11.91). Being female, lower self-rated health, lower levels of self-rated class, lower levels of community cohesion and higher work stress were related to higher depressive symptoms. Community cohesion was found to lessen the migrant workers depressive symptoms but was not identified as a moderator for work stress and depressive symptoms. Community supportive networks moderated the relation between work stress and depressive symptoms. Rural–urban migrant workers in China experienced high work stress and high depressive symptoms. Public health policies or programs should help expand and strengthen migrant workers’ supportive network size, and facilitate the creation of community cohesion to lessen depressive symptoms.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the support of Dr. He Cai at the Social Science Research Center of Sun Yat-Sen University for providing the data set.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departmental of Public Affair Management, College of Public Administration and Law, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha, China

    Wanlian Li

  2. School of Social Work, Michigan State University, East Lansing, USA

    Fei Sun

  3. Department of Administration Management, College of Public Administration and Law, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha, China

    Yanling Li

  4. Department of Social Work, University of West Florida, Pensacola, USA

    Daniel W. Durkin

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  1. Wanlian Li
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  2. Fei Sun
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Correspondence to Yanling Li.

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Li, W., Sun, F., Li, Y. et al. Work Stress and Depressive Symptoms in Chinese Migrant Workers: The Moderating Role of Community Factors. J Immigrant Minority Health 21, 1248–1256 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-018-0843-1

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