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The moderated mediating effect of gender in the relationship between unemployment, depression, and suicide during the COVID-19 pandemic: An examination based on big data

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 September 2022

Y. Noh ,
H.A. Kim  and
S.B. Lee
Y. Noh*
Affiliation:
JeonBuk National University, Social Welfare(bk21 Four), Jeonju-si, Republic of Korea
H.A. Kim
Affiliation:
JeonBuk National University, Social Welfare(bk21 Four), Jeonju-si, Republic of Korea
S.B. Lee
Affiliation:
JeonBuk National University, Social Welfare(bk21 Four), Jeonju-si, Republic of Korea
*
*Corresponding author.

Abstract

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Introduction

The COVID-19 pandemic, and the consequent recession, have caused a decline in the job market, with the resultant job insecurity increasing the risk of depression. While this affected all genders, suicidal thoughts were observed to be more common among women than men, suggesting that the impact of unemployment on depression varies by gender, with gender differences affecting the outcome of depression.

Objectives

This study aims to verify the moderating effect of gender on the structural relationship between unemployment, depression, and suicide during the COVID-19 pandemic by using online search trend data.

Methods

The study utilized the search trend data from Naver’s Data Lab service, by analyzing the searches of men and women under 65, between March, 2020 and September 12, 2021. The search terms were “unemployment,” “depression,” and “suicide.” The analysis examined 1121 searches using the Model 7 research model through the SPSS Process Macro to verify the moderating effect of gender on the mediating pathways for unemployment, depression, and suicide.

Results

We observed that searches for “unemployment” significantly increased with searches for “depression” (B=1.860, p<.001) and “suicide” (B=.860, p<.001). The analysis further revealed that the correlation between the increase in searches relating to depression and unemployment was seen more in women than men. This resulted in an accompanying increase in the volume of searches for suicide (B=2.341, p<.001).

Conclusions

The job insecurity caused by the COVID-19 pandemic led to varying degrees of depression according to gender. Thus, social security measures related to unemployment, depression, and suicide interventions require a gender-specific approach.

Disclosure

No significant relationships.

Keywords

Covid-19DepressionunemploymentSuicide
Type
Abstract
Information
European Psychiatry , Volume 65 , Special Issue S1: Abstracts of the 30th European Congress of Psychiatry , June 2022 , pp. S135 - S136
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the European Psychiatric Association
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