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Published in: International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health 2/2024

03-01-2024 | Original Article

Female workers with long working hours are more likely to have depressive symptoms when having family-to-work conflict

Authors: Garin Lee, Ji-Hwan Kim, Seung-Sup Kim

Published in: International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health | Issue 2/2024

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Abstract

Purpose

Workers’ health can be influenced by risk factors from their family environments as well as their work environments. This paper sought to examine how the association between long working hours and depressive symptoms differs based on the level of FWC after being stratified by worker’s gender.

Methods

We used the dataset of 20,384 full-time wage workers from the sixth Korean Working Conditions Survey (2020). Long working hours were defined as working 52 h or more per week. FWC was measured using a 2-item questionnaire, and depressive symptoms were measured using the WHO-5 well-being index. Applying modified Poisson regression, we evaluated how the association between long working hours and depressive symptoms differs by the level of FWC male and female workers separately.

Results

In the analysis of the female workers, long working hours were associated with depressive symptoms in the high FWC group (PR 1.35, 95% CI 1.17, 1.55) after adjusting for potential confounders whereas no association was observed in the low FWC group. Among the male workers, a statistically significant association was observed in both high FWC (PR 1.22, 95% CI 1.07, 1.38) and low FWC (PR 1.28, 95% CI 1.12, 1.47) groups.

Conclusion

FWC may act as a workplace stressor that potentially amplifies the health impact of long working hours among female workers.
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Metadata
Title
Female workers with long working hours are more likely to have depressive symptoms when having family-to-work conflict
Authors
Garin Lee
Ji-Hwan Kim
Seung-Sup Kim
Publication date
03-01-2024
Publisher
Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Published in
International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health / Issue 2/2024
Print ISSN: 0340-0131
Electronic ISSN: 1432-1246
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00420-023-02024-0

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