Publication type
Journal Article
Authors
Publication date
May 15, 2019
Summary:
Background: Globalised and 24/7 business operations have fuelled demands for people to work long hours and weekends. Research on the mental health effects of these intensive temporal work patterns is sparse, contradictory or has not considered gender differences. Our objective was to examine the relationship between these work patterns and depressive symptoms in a large nationally representative sample of working men and women in the UK.
Method: The current study analysed data from Understanding Society, the UK Household Longitudinal Study, of 11 215 men and 12 188 women in employment or self-employment at the time of the study. Ordinary least squares regression models, adjusted for potential confounders and psychosocial work factors, were used to estimate depressive symptoms across categories of work hours and weekend work patterns.
Results: Relative to a standard 35–40 hours/week, working 55 hours/week or more related to more depressive symptoms among women (ß=0.75, 95% CI 0.12 to 1.39), but not for men (ß=0.24, 95% CI −0.10 to 0.58). Compared with not working weekends, working most or all weekends related to more depressive symptoms for both men (ß=0.34, 95% CI 0.08 to 0.61) and women (ß=0.50, 95% CI 0.20 to 0.79); however, working some weekends only related to more depressive symptoms for men (ß=0.33, 95% CI 0.11 to 0.55), not women (ß=0.17, 95% CI −0.09 to 0.42).
Conclusion: Increased depressive symptoms were independently linked to working extra-long hours for women, whereas increased depressive symptoms were associated with working weekends for both genders, suggesting these work patterns may contribute to worse mental health.
Published in
Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health
Volume and page numbers
Volume: 73 , p.465 -474
DOI
https://dx.doi.org/10.1136/jech-2018-211309
ISSN
143005
Subjects
Notes
Covered by over 60 media outlets
Open Access
This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported (CC BY 4.0) license, which permits others to copy, redistribute, remix, transform and build upon this work for any purpose, provided the original work is properly cited, a link to the licence is given, and indication of whether changes were made. See: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
Related Publications
-
Are women who work long hours more likely to be depressed?
Gillian Weston, Afshin Zilanawala, Elizabeth Webb, Livia A. Carvalho, Anne McMunn,Media - 20190226
-
Women who work long hours have a higher risk of depression than men, study finds
Gillian Weston, Afshin Zilanawala, Elizabeth Webb, Livia A. Carvalho, Anne McMunn,Media - 20190226
-
Women’s long hours ‘affect mental health’
Gillian Weston, Afshin Zilanawala, Elizabeth Webb, Livia A. Carvalho, Anne McMunn,Media - 20190226
-
Women who work long hours at higher risk of depression
Gillian Weston, Afshin Zilanawala, Elizabeth Webb, Livia A. Carvalho, Anne McMunn,Media - 20190225
-
Working long hours ‘linked to depression in women but not men’
Gillian Weston, Afshin Zilanawala, Elizabeth Webb, Livia A. Carvalho, Anne McMunn,Media - 20190225
-
Women working longer hours more likely to be depressed – study. Research also finds men and women who work weekends more likely to have low moods
Gillian Weston, Afshin Zilanawala, Elizabeth Webb, Livia A. Carvalho, Anne McMunn,Media - 20190225
#525556