Many studies look at the risk students have of falling into depression, but a recent study looks at the same issue for teachers.

The journal, “Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epistemology” recently published a report that showed the education industry falls in the middle of the pack of those who suffer from depression, according to an article on TheAtlantic.com. The education industry, the article said, has a depression rate of about 10 percent, and the average rate across all industries studied is 10.45 percent.

"From an economic standpoint, it's important to identify rates of depression because of how much productivity is lost to mental-health concerns," said the article. "One study found that depression costs the economy $83 billion annually, the majority of which is lost because of decreased productivity in the workplace."

According to the article, the highest rate of depression at 16.2 percent was found among bus drivers, while the lowest rests with those in “amusement and recreation services,” a category which encompasses sports, fitness and performing-arts industries. Researchers also found that jobs with the highest rates of depression tended to require frequent interactions with the public, and have low levels of physical activity. While the studied data represented 55 industries across a single Pennsylvanian region, findings align with the few other studies conducted on depression rates in specific industries.

Another study published by the Journal of Occupational Medicine in 1990 found teachers and counselors to be one of five occupations with a prevalence rate above 10 percent. In 2014, along with the education industry, people employed in restaurants, human resources, engineering and health care also fall into the medium average of depression rates.

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Article by Samantha DiMauro, Education World Contributor