Resilience as a protective factor for depressive mood and anxiety among Korean employees

Background: This study aimed to investigate resilience as a protective factor for depressive mood and anxiety among Korean employees. Methods: Participants were employees of eight private and local government organizations in Korea, aged 19 to 65 years. A self-report questionnaire that included items on resilience, job stress, levels of depression and anxiety, and socio-demographic factors, was administered to 1,079 Korean employees, with 1,076 valid responses. We performed hierarchical linear regression analyses with the levels of depression and anxiety scores as dependent variables. Results: Being women and having a high level of job stress were associated with greater depressive mood and anxiety. In contrast, resilience was negatively related to depressive mood and anxiety, after adjusting for demographic variables and the level of job stress. Among the five factors for resilience, "support" and "hardiness" were protective factors for depressive mood and anxiety after adjusting for demographic variables and the level of job stress. Conclusion: Based on the results of the current study, we suggest that focusing on the resilience of employees, especially on "support" and "hardiness," factors as well as developing and engaging in interventions that increase resilience in the workplace, can protect against depressive mood and anxiety, especially for those with high levels of job stress.