This study has some limitations that should be noted First

This study has some limitations that should be noted. First, we did not obtain information about income, which is thought to be an important component of SES (Winkleby, Jatulis, Frank, & Fortmann, 1992). This may confound the relationship between physical assaults and depression. Second, the sample size was relatively small for female respondents, which may result in reduced statistical significance of the results because physical assaults are low incidence. Third, our sample was only from manufacturing companies in Japan; therefore, generalization of the findings should be done with caution. Fourth, physical assaults and degree of depression were measured by self-report, which may result in common method bias. Finally, a causal relationship cannot be determined because this LY335979 cost is a cross-sectional study. A prospective study is required to elucidate the causal relationship between physical assaults at work and depression compared by SES.
Acknowledgements This study was supported by a special research grant for the prevention of work-related diseases in 1995–1999 from the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Japan. The authors thank other members of the Japan Work Stress and Health Cohort (JSTRESS) Group for data collection. The members of the JSTRESS group are as follows: Takashi Haratani, National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health; Fumio Kobayashi, Aichi Medical University; Masao Ishizaki, Kanazawa Medical University; Takeshi Hayashi, Hitachi Health Care Center; Osamu Fujita, Kariya Toyota General Hospital; Yoshiharu Aizawa, Kitasato University School of Medicine; Shogo Miyazaki, Meiji University Law School; Hisanori Hiro, University of Occupational and Environmental Health; Takeshi Masumoto, Kimitsu Health Service Center; Shuji Hashimoto, Fujita Health University School of Medicine; and Shunichi Araki, Saitama Occupational Health Promotion Center. The authors would also like to thank Shenli Hew from the Department of Clinical Research Center, Wakayama Medical University, for proofreading and editing the manuscript.
Introduction Several studies have explored the influence of poor health on re-employment chances, and the majority of research finds poor health to be a negative determinant of re-employment (Carlier, Schuring, van Lenthe, & Burdorf, 2014; Claussen, Bjørndal, & Hjort, 1993; Claussen, 1999; Patterson, 1997; Schuring, Burdorf, Kunst, & Mackenbach, 2007; Schuring, Robroek, Otten, Arts, & Burdorf, 2013; Rosholm & Andersen, 2010; Van de Mheen, Stronks, Schrijvers, & Mackenbach, 1999). Throughout the literature on health determinants of re-employment, the majority of studies apply indicators of SRH of overall health (Carlier et al., 2014; Schuring et al., 2007, 2013; Van de Mheen et al., 1999) and some apply measures of certain aspects of health, such as mental health only (Claussen, 1993; Claussen et al., 1993; Kessler, Turner, & House, 1989; Patterson, 1997; Warr & Jackson, 1985). One argument for the usefulness of self-reports is that mortality studies have shown these indicators to have high predictive power for mortality and to give a complete picture of overall health even after adjustment for objective parameters of physical and mental symptoms (DeSalvo, Bloser, Reynolds, He, & Muntner, 2006; Idler & Benyamini, 1997). Although self-reports are highly useful, biochemical reactions may not capture all aspects of health. Therefore, a few studies on health determinants of labor market outcomes have introduced third-party indicators, such as medical records, which, compared with self-reports, find a lower share of health problems among individuals outside the labor force (Davies & Ware, 1981). More infrequent are re-employment studies using third-party-evaluated indicators of individual health, such as medical diagnoses determined by doctor examination (Claussen, 1993; Claussen, 1999) or prescription medicines for mental illnesses prescribed by a general practitioner (Rosholm & Andersen, 2010). The scarcity of this research may be because third-party indicators of health require costly and time-consuming involvement of general practitioners, psychiatrists or psychologists to evaluate patient health or that individual register data containing this information are not accessible. Although this type of indicators is rarely used in re-employment studies, the few findings underline their relevance in re-employment studies. One study finds that medical diagnosis captures selection on health into re-employment better than psychometric tests (Claussen et al., 1993). Another study concludes that medicine purchases for mental illnesses significantly diminish re-employment chances (Rosholm & Andersen, 2010).