"Working in Teams Makes You More Depressed, I Want to Work Alone"…Research Results Were Slightly Different

Chung-Ang University Researchers Analyze 3,200 Workers
"Horizontal Teams Experience Less Depression Than Vertical Organizations"

A study has found that people working in teams experience less depression than those working alone. In particular, working in relatively horizontal team units was shown to have an impact on reducing feelings of depression.

Kihoon Hong, a doctoral student in the Department of Preventive Medicine at Chung-Ang University College of Medicine, along with Professors Byungseon Choi and Jungduk Park, published a paper titled "The Effect of Teamwork on Depression Among Wage Workers" last month in the Journal of the Korean Society of Medical Communication. The research team first defined "team workers" as those who belong to a team or group that performs joint tasks or plans work together.

Analyzing data from 30,235 wage workers aged 15 and older, surveyed in the 5th Working Environment Survey conducted by the Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency in 2017, the researchers classified 33.5% (10,119) as team workers and 66.5% (20,116) as non-team workers.

Employees of a major company in Gwanghwamun leaving work [Photo by Yonhap News]

The researchers measured depression using the World Health Organization (WHO) Well-being Index. Participants were asked five questions such as "I feel lively and joyful" and "I feel calm and relaxed," rating each from 0 to 5 points. The total score was then multiplied by 4, and a score of 50 or below was defined as a "depressed state," while a score above 50 was defined as a "normal emotional state."

Analysis of responses showed that 29.5% of non-team workers experienced depression, compared to 26.6% of team workers. By occupational group, office workers had the lowest depression rate at 21.1%, followed by service and sales workers (24.6%), managers, professionals, and military personnel (25.1%), and production workers (30.5%). Among simple labor workers, nearly half (43.6%) experienced depression, the highest rate among all occupational groups.

Among service and sales workers, who typically work in relatively horizontal team units, the correlation between teamwork and reduced depression was notably high. Within this group, 22% of team workers reported depression, which was 6.7 percentage points lower than those working alone.

The research team explained, "When belonging to a horizontal team, workers tend to have higher participation and contribution in their tasks compared to vertical organizations, and the utility felt in this context appears to influence the reduction of depression among workers." They added, "If organizational structures are changed to a horizontal form such as 'teams' to increase workers' participation and contribution, it could reduce depression."

Looking at gender differences, the depression rate among male team workers was 27.4%, which was 1.5 percentage points lower than the 28.9% rate among male individual workers. For females, the difference was larger, with 25.5% of team workers and 29.9% of individual workers experiencing depression, a gap of 4.4 percentage points. However, the overall depression rate among all workers was 28.5%, with little difference between males (28.3%) and females (28.7%).

Additionally, depression tended to increase with age, lower education levels, and lower monthly household income. Those working more than 40 hours per week were found to experience more depression than those working fewer hours.