ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Public Health
Sec. Public Mental Health
This article is part of the Research TopicNew Perspectives in Workplace Safety and Employee Well-Being in the Age of Technology, Sustainability, and DigitalizationView all 9 articles
Depression, anxiety, burnout and substance use disorders among auto workers and COVID-19 as a stressor in Mexico
Provisionally accepted
Raúl A Gutierrez-García1
Abraham Sánchez Ruiz1
Antonio de Jesús Serrano Carrera2Nancy Alejandra Vaca Rico2Mónica Natalia Arteaga Tovar2María Alicia Zavala Berbena3
Marco Antonio Escobar Avededo3
María Abigail Paz-Pérez1
Kalina Isela Martinez-Martinez4*- 1La Salle Bajio, campus Salamanca, Salamanca, Mexico
- 2Kromberg & Schubert, Irapuato, Mexico
- 3Universidad La Salle Bajio, Leon, Mexico
- 4Autonomous University of Aguascalientes, Aguascalientes, Mexico
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Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic intensified psychosocial risks, exposing vulnerabilities in labor conditions. Findings aim to inform mental health interventions and workplace policies tailored to industrial workers in post-pandemic settings. Methods: We evaluated the prevalence of occupational stress and associated psychiatric problems, including anxiety, depression, substance use disorders, and burnout among automotive workers, examining COVID-19 as a significant stressor. Participants were workers in the automotive industry (N = 1020) from two manufacturing plants in Guanajuato, Mexico. We assessed four mental health outcomes: depression, anxiety, substance use disorders, and burnout, using validated instruments. Results: Multinomial logistic regression was used to examine the associations between COVID-19 stressors and mental health symptoms, while adjusting for sociodemographic characteristics. Prevalence rates were 311 (30.5%) for burnout, 299 (29.3%) for anxiety symptoms, 248 (24.3%) for depressive symptoms, and 142 (13.9%) for substance use problems. Experiencing COVID-19 stressors (adjusted odds ratio (AOR): 2.65, 95% CI: 1.26-3.26) and feeling vulnerable to infection (AOR: 3.34, 95% CI: 2.17-4.06) significantly increased the odds of having comorbid anxiety and depressive symptoms, as well as burnout, compared to workers without these stressors. Despite 763 (74.8%) of workers reporting feeling supported by their company to seek psychological help, only 259 (25.3%) had received mental health treatment in the past year. Discussions: These findings demonstrate that COVID-19-related stressors significantly impacted automotive workers' mental health. The substantial gap between symptom prevalence and treatment-seeking, despite perceived workplace support, highlights the need for proactive mental health interventions.
Keywords: Anxiety, COVID-19, Depression, Mexico, substance use disorders
Received: 13 Oct 2025; Accepted: 17 Dec 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Gutierrez-García, Sánchez Ruiz, Serrano Carrera, Vaca Rico, Arteaga Tovar, Zavala Berbena, Escobar Avededo, Paz-Pérez and Martinez-Martinez. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Kalina Isela Martinez-Martinez
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