The Roads One Must Walk Down: Commute and Depression for Beijing's Residents

Xize Wang and Tao Liu
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Xize Wang: National University of Singapore
Tao Liu: Peking University

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Abstract: As a vital aspect of individual's quality of life, mental health has been included as an important component of the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals. This study focuses on a specific aspect of mental health: depression, and examines its relationship with commute patterns. Using survey data from 1,528 residents in Beijing, China, we find that every 10 additional minutes of commute time is associated with 1.1% higher likelihood of depression. We test for the mechanisms of the commute-depression link and find that commute is associated with depression as a direct stressor rather than triggering higher work stress. When decomposing commute time into mode-specific time, we found that time on mopeds/motorcycles has the strongest association with depression. Moreover, the commute-depression associations are stronger for older workers and blue-collar workers. Hence, policies that could reduce commute time, encourage work from home, improve job-housing balance or increase motorcyclists' safety would help promote mental health.

Date: 2022-07
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cna, nep-hea, nep-sea and nep-ure
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Published in Transp. Res. Part D: Transp. Environ., 109 (2022), Article 103316

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