Relationship of Perceived Stress and Depression with Quality of Life: An Analysis among Working and Non-Working Women

Abstract

Background: The context of mental health and quality of life (QoL) in women is shaped by a complex matrix of psychosocial factors such as perceived stress, depression and employment status. Recognising these relationships is essential for designing interventions, especially in more rural settings where there are often specific challenges for women. The aim of this study was to explore the relationships between perceived stress, depression and QoL in working and non-working women and to investigate the mediating role of depression between perceived stress and QoL and the moderating role of employment status. Method: The study adopted a cross-sectional design and used 197 women (100 working and 97 non-working) between age range of 25-45 years (M = 33.58, SD = 4.886) with rural background. The Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), The Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and WHOQOL-BREF were completed by the participants. Independent-samples t-tests, moderated regression (PROCESS Model 1), and bootstrapped mediation analysis (PROCESS Model 4) were used to analyze the data. Findings: There were no significant differences found between working and non-working women in terms of perceived stress, depression or any QoL domain. Perceived stress and depression, however, were significantly related to all four QoL domains (Physical, Psychological, Social, Environment). Depression significantly mediated the perceived stress-QoL relationship across all domains fully for Social QoL and partially for Physical, Psychological, and Environment QoL. The stress-QoL relationship did not differ by the employment status for Social or Environment domains. Conclusions: Perceived stress is associated with poorer QoL mainly via depression, and this association is the same for both employed and non-employed individuals. Findings support the need for depression-focused interventions to enhance women's QoL, and challenge the notion that employment would be a distinguishing factor in women's mental health.

Keywords: Perceived Stress, Depression, Quality of Life, Working Women, Non-Working Women, Mediation, Employment Status.