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Socio-economic gradients in psychological distress: a focus on women, social roles and work-home characteristics

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  • Matthews, Sharon
  • Power, Chris

Abstract

A focus in the literature on determinants of women's health is the cost and benefit of occupying multiple roles as employee, spouse, and mother, yet little attention has been given to the work and home characteristics of different roles for women in paid and unpaid work. The impact of work-home factors on socio-economic gradients in health has also tended to be overlooked. This paper assesses the contribution of work-home factors on socio-economic differences in psychological distress among women, using data from the 1958 British birth cohort. Outcome measures include psychological distress and social class at age 33. Work-home measures include: (1) roles--employment, marital status, domestic responsibility and parental status (2) work characteristics--psychosocial job strain, insecurity, unsocial working hours, and (3) home characteristics--youngest child's age, total number of children, childcare responsibilities and having an older adult in the household (over 70 years). A social gradient in psychological distress exists: the odds ratio (OR) for classes IV and V versus. I and II was 3.02, adjusting for prior psychological distress reduces this to 2.36. Whilst, work and home factors were associated separately with distress and social class, the combined effect of work and home factors did not account for the class gradient in distress. This surprising result therefore implicates factors beyond adult social roles examined here in the development of socio-economic gradients.

Suggested Citation

  • Matthews, Sharon & Power, Chris, 2002. "Socio-economic gradients in psychological distress: a focus on women, social roles and work-home characteristics," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 54(5), pages 799-810, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:54:y:2002:i:5:p:799-810
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    Cited by:

    1. Gettler, Lee T. & Oka, Rahul C., 2016. "Are testosterone levels and depression risk linked based on partnering and parenting? Evidence from a large population-representative study of U.S. men and women," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 163(C), pages 157-167.
    2. Zunzunegui, Maria-Victoria & Alvarado, Beatriz-Eugenia & Béland, François & Vissandjee, Bilkis, 2009. "Explaining health differences between men and women in later life: A cross-city comparison in Latin America and the Caribbean," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 68(2), pages 235-242, January.
    3. Backhans, Mona C. & Lundberg, Michael & Månsdotter, Anna, 2007. "Does increased gender equality lead to a convergence of health outcomes for men and women? A study of Swedish municipalities," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 64(9), pages 1892-1903, May.
    4. Xenia Chela-Alvarez & Oana Bulilete & M. Esther García-Buades & Victoria A. Ferrer-Perez & Joan Llobera-Canaves, 2020. "Perceived Factors of Stress and Its Outcomes among Hotel Housekeepers in the Balearic Islands: A Qualitative Approach from a Gender Perspective," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(1), pages 1-21, December.
    5. Sperlich, Stefanie & Geyer, Siegfried, 2015. "The mediating effect of effort-reward imbalance in household and family work on the relationship between education and women's health," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 58-65.
    6. Stefanie Sperlich & Sonja Arnhold-Kerri & Siegfried Geyer, 2011. "What accounts for depressive symptoms among mothers? The impact of socioeconomic status, family structure and psychosocial stress," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 56(4), pages 385-396, August.
    7. Bonnie Janzen & Laurie-Ann Hellsten, 2021. "Household Income and Psychological Distress: Exploring Women’s Paid and Unpaid Work as Mediators," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(12), pages 1-15, June.
    8. Elovainio, Marko & Kivimäki, Mika & Ek, Ellen & Vahtera, Jussi & Honkonen, Teija & Taanila, Anja & Veijola, Juha & Järvelin, Marjo-Riitta, 2007. "The effect of pre-employment factors on job control, job strain and psychological distress: A 31-year longitudinal study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 65(2), pages 187-199, July.
    9. Lisa Harryson & Mattias Strandh & Anne Hammarström, 2012. "Domestic Work and Psychological Distress−What Is the Importance of Relative Socioeconomic Position and Gender Inequality in the Couple Relationship?," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 7(6), pages 1-7, June.

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