Mental health awareness is an important discussion no matter your occupation, and farming is no exception. Often times when people think about mental health in agriculture, the focus is on the farmers, but what about their families?
Josie Rudolphi, an agricultural and biological engineering professor at the University of Illinois, is currently conducting a five-year study looking into the mental health of farm adults and adolescents. She shares some of her first-year findings.
“What we found was close to 60 percent of the adults in our survey met the criteria for mild symptoms of anxiety or depression. We consistently see a higher prevalence of anxiety and depression in the farm sample than in the general population. But what we also observed is nearly 60 percent of the adolescents in our sample also met the criteria for mild symptoms of anxiety or depression. What’s really interesting is the incredibly strong correlation between parents’ depressed mood and adolescent depressed mood.”
Illinois extension has resources available for anyone struggling with or wanting to learn more about mental health on their website.
