How Does Subjective Social Status Associate With Depression Among the Labor Force Population in China? — Analysis of the Mediation Effect Based on the Sense of Social Equity

Objectives With the rising prevalence of depression and its growing disease burden, and given that few studies have examined the link between subjective social status (SSS) and depression among the labor force, this study aimed to explore the association between SSS and depression in the workforce and to examine potential mediating factors. Methods We analyzed data from the 2018 China Labor-force Dynamic Survey, with a final sample of 10,065 participants. Depression was assessed using the 20-item Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression (CES-D) scale. SSS was measured via the MacArthur Scale. Linear regression models examined the association between SSS and depression, while structural equation modeling tested the mediating effect of sense of social equity. Results In total, 12.37% of participants were identified as having probable depression. SSS was significantly associated with depression (β = −0.08, P < 0.05). Sense of social equity accounted for approximately 33% of the total effect. Conclusion Among China’s labor force population, SSS is independently related to depression, and sense of social equity plays an important mediating role. Depression in the labor force - those with low SSS - warrants greater attention.

• Publication year

  2025

• Venue

  International Journal of Public Health

• Publication date

  2025-10-17

• Fields of study

  Sociology, Medicine

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.3389/ijph.2025.1607942PMID 41179935PMCID 12575211
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar, PubMed

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

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