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The contribution of gender-role orientation, work factors and home stressors to psychological well-being and sickness absence in male- and female-dominated occupational groups

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  • Evans, Olga
  • Steptoe, Andrew

Abstract

The associations of work stress, types of work and gender-role orientation with psychological well-being and sickness absence were investigated in a questionnaire survey of 588 male and female nurses and 387 male and female accountants. We hypothesised that health might be impaired among women working in the male-dominated occupation (accountancy), and men in the female-dominated occupation (nursing), but that effects might be moderated by job strain (perceptions of high demand and low control), work and home hassles, and traditional male (instrumentality) and female (expressivity) psychological characteristics. Responses were analysed from 172 female and 61 male nurses, and from 53 female and 81 male commercial accountants. Female accountants were more likely than other groups to have high anxiety scores on the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scales, while male nurses had the highest rates of sickness absence. Male nurses and female accountants also reported more work-related hassles than did female nurses and male accountants. Men and women in the same occupation did not differ in job strain or job social support, but nurses reported greater job strain than accountants, due to higher ratings of demands and lower skill utilisation. After adjusting for age, sex, occupation, paid work hours and a measure of social desirability bias, risk of elevated anxiety was independently associated with higher job strain, lower job social support, more work hassles, more domestic responsibility, lower instrumentality and higher expressivity. The association between sex and anxiety was no longer significant after instrumentality had been entered into the regression model. Sickness absence of more than three days over the past 12 months was independently associated with higher job strain, more work hassles, lower instrumentality and higher expressivity. The results suggest that when men and women occupy jobs in which they are in the cultural and numerical minority, there may be adverse health effects that are gender-specific. Psychological traits related to socially constructed gender roles may also be relevant, and mediate in part the differences in psychological well-being between men and women.

Suggested Citation

  • Evans, Olga & Steptoe, Andrew, 2002. "The contribution of gender-role orientation, work factors and home stressors to psychological well-being and sickness absence in male- and female-dominated occupational groups," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 54(4), pages 481-492, February.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:54:y:2002:i:4:p:481-492
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Avdic, Daniel & Johansson, Per, 2013. "Gender Differences in Preferences for Health-Related Absences from Work," IZA Discussion Papers 7480, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Barnes, Maria Carla & Buck, Rhiannon & Williams, Gareth & Webb, Katie & Aylward, Mansel, 2008. "Beliefs about common health problems and work: A qualitative study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 67(4), pages 657-665, August.
    3. Mastekaasa, Arne, 2005. "Sickness absence in female- and male-dominated occupations and workplaces," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 60(10), pages 2261-2272, May.
    4. Therese Rydberg Sterner & Pia Gudmundsson & Nazib Seidu & Kristoffer Bäckman & Ingmar Skoog & Hanna Falk, 2018. "A Psychometric Evaluation of a Swedish Version of the Positive–Negative Sex-Role Inventory (PN-SRI)," Societies, MDPI, vol. 8(1), pages 1-13, February.
    5. Sofia Elwér & Lisa Harryson & Malin Bolin & Anne Hammarström, 2013. "Patterns of Gender Equality at Workplaces and Psychological Distress," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(1), pages 1-10, January.
    6. Ilaria Buonomo & Caterina Fiorilli & Luciano Romano & Paula Benevene, 2020. "The Roles of Work-Life Conflict and Gender in the Relationship between Workplace Bullying and Personal Burnout. A Study on Italian School Principals," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(23), pages 1-17, November.
    7. Silke Tophoven & Jean-Baptist du Prel & Richard Peter & Veronika Kretschmer, 2015. "Working in gender-dominated occupations and depressive symptoms: findings from the two age cohorts of the lidA study [Geschlechterdominierte Berufe und Depressivität: Ergebnisse zu den zwei Altersk," Journal for Labour Market Research, Springer;Institute for Employment Research/ Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), vol. 48(3), pages 247-262, October.
    8. Plaisier, Inger & de Bruijn, Jeanne G.M. & de Graaf, Ron & Have, Margreet ten & Beekman, Aartjan T.F. & Penninx, Brenda W.J.H., 2007. "The contribution of working conditions and social support to the onset of depressive and anxiety disorders among male and female employees," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 64(2), pages 401-410, January.
    9. Milner, Allison & King, Tania & LaMontagne, Anthony D. & Bentley, Rebecca & Kavanagh, Anne, 2018. "Men’s work, Women’s work, and mental health: A longitudinal investigation of the relationship between the gender composition of occupations and mental health," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 204(C), pages 16-22.
    10. Gøril Kvamme Løset & Harald Dale-Olsen & Tale Hellevik & Arne Mastekaasa & Tilmann von Soest & Kjersti Misje Østbakken, 2018. "Gender equality in sickness absence tolerance: Attitudes and norms of sickness absence are not different for men and women," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(8), pages 1-18, August.
    11. Barron, David Nicholas & West, Elizabeth, 2007. "The emotional costs of caring incurred by men and women in the British labour market," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 65(10), pages 2160-2171, November.
    12. Nicole Bérubé & Magda Donia & Marylène Gagné & Nathalie Houlfort & Elena Lvina, 2016. "Validation Evidence for the Work Domain Satisfaction Scale in Two Languages," International Journal of Psychological Studies, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 8(3), pages 1-26, September.
    13. Yue Qian & Wen Fan, 2019. "Men and Women at Work: Occupational Gender Composition and Affective Well-Being in the United States," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 20(7), pages 2077-2099, October.

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