Correlational Analysis Between Depression and Health Behavior Among Employees in the State of Louisiana

Depression has become a canker that is eating up the social fabric of the majority of the employees in the State of Louisiana. Depression is a complex condition that requires intervention since it can affect anyone. There are side effects of depression, such as mental, physical, and social behavior, but this study looks at the psychological side effects in the form of mental health. The research is quantitative by nature and utilizes data from County Health Rankings and Roadmaps for the State of Louisiana. Sixty-four counties were used, for a period of 3 years; that is from 2016 to 2018. Correlation analysis and linear regression model were used to analyze the health behaviors of depressed employees. The two variables considered for the study include smoking and obesity. The report was done to observe if depression causes people to exhibit health behaviors such as smoking and excessive eating leading to obesity. As part of the findings, the study underscores that depressed employees’ actions have a higher adverse effect on work outcome. Also, employers’ attitudes are vital in effectively managing depression within the workplace. Above all, the results highlight the need for more considerable attention to an individual with a mental health problem. The study recommends that the early symptoms and notification by the management of an employee who is undergoing a level of unhealthy behavior should be advised to seek medical assistance or possibly be enrolled by the administration for support.

smoking behaviors, and obesity in Louisiana, little is known. Therefore, this current study theorized that depressed employees exert some health behaviors. The study utilizes correlation and regression analyses to examine the relationship between depressed employees and how they exhibit mental health behavior.

METHODS AND MATERIALS
The study follows a quantitative--correlational research design. In the study, data sourced from County Health Rankings and Roadmaps for the State of Louisiana. Sixty-four counties were used, spanning from a period of 3 years, that is, from 2016 to 2018. The average number of reported cases of mentally unhealthy days per month were available for public usage. The indicators used in the study include the following: (a) Percentage of adults that reported currently smoking and, (b) the Percentage of adults that reported Body Mass Index (BMI) >= 30.

Model
Multiple linear regression is the most common form of linear regression analysis. As a predictive analysis, the multiple linear regression is used to explain the relationship between one continuous dependent variable and two or more independent variables. The independent variables can be constant or categorical (dummy coded as appropriate). The dependent variable for this particular study is depression (a continuous variable), and independent variables include the percentage of smoking behaviors, and percentage of the obese population (see equation one below). Depression = B0 + B1 Smoking + B2Obesity + e ………………………… (1) Both smoking and obesity are expected to be positively related to depression. B0 is the intercept, B1, and B2 are the values of the coefficients for smoking and obesity, respectively. The SPSS 20.0 statistical package was used for data analysis. Correlation analysis and linear regression model were used to analyze the health behaviors of depressed employees. P-values and student t-test were used to evaluate the significance of the variables. The analysis was done to observe if there is a relationship between depression and peoples' health behaviors, such as smoking and obesity. Study Hypothesis H0: There is no relationship between depression and health behavior. H1: There is a positive relationship between depression and health behavior. In all 192 sample size were used for the data analysis. Table 1 reveals that there is a strong significant relationship between depression (or mentally unhealthy days) and percentage of smokers with a coefficient value of 0.550 at 1% and 5% significance levels. Also, the data reveal a moderately significant relationship between depression (or mentally unhealthy days) and percentage of the obese population with a coefficient value of 0.442 at 1% and 5% significance levels. Above all, the correlational analysis reveals in table 1 that there is a moderately significant relationship between the percentage of smokers and percentage of the obese population with a coefficient value of 0.442 at 1% and 5% significance levels.  Vol.9, No.8, 2019 percentage of smokers, and the percentage of the obese population in Louisiana.

DISCUSSION AND RESULTS
Also, the global test associated with the F-statistics reveals that the overall depression model is statistically significant at both 1% and 5% significance level with an associated F-value of 51.268 and a P-value of 0.000. In this effect, this model performs better. Table 2 further reveals that there is a significant positive relationship between depression and the percentage of smokers with an associated p-value of 0.000. Hence, it implies that about 1% increases in the percentage of smokers will cause about 0.028% increase in depression. Nonetheless, the data further reveals that there is a significant positive relationship between depression and percentage of the obese population with an associated p-value of 0.000. This result implies that about 1% increases in the percentage of the obese people will cause about 2.121% increase in depression. From the above findings, there is evidence for the researcher to reject the null hypothesis and accept the alternative hypothesis that smoking and obesity are positively related to (or influences) depression.

CONCLUSION AND POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS
This study supported the notion that depressed employees' behaviors have a higher adverse effect on work outcome. Employers' attitudes are vital in effectively managing depression within the workplace. Given the increasing incidence of depression and the need to promote workplace mental health interventions, such approaches may also potentially determine whether implementing these essential programs is successful. The results highlight the need for more considerable attention to an individual with a mental health problem.
-Early symptoms and notification by the management of an employee who is undergoing a level of unhealthy behavior should be advised to seek medical assistance or possibly be enrolled by the administration for support. -Most often, employees with such challenges feel hated and turn to avoid people. They should be shown more love by their employer, colleagues, and family, given them a sense of belonging, therefore, fulfilling one of Maslow's need of hierarchy. -A team of adequate follow-up members in the organization should be put in place by management to guide and assist with the challenged employees.