TY - JOUR
T1 - Sex differences in physical and mental functioning of Japanese civil servants
T2 - Explanations from work and family characteristics
AU - Sekine, Michikazu
AU - Chandola, Tarani
AU - Martikainen, Pekka
AU - Marmot, Michael
AU - Kagamimori, Sadanobu
N1 - Funding Information:
MS is supported by a British Heart Foundation Travelling Fellowship (FS/04/051). TC and MM are supported by grants from the Medical Research Council ; British Heart Foundation ; Economic and Social Research Council, Health and Safety Executive ; Department of Health ; National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, US, NIH ( HL36310 ); National Institute on Aging, US, NIH ( AG13196 ); Agency for Health Care Policy Research ( HS06516 ); and the MacArthur Foundation . PM is supported by a fellowship and a grant from the Academy of Finland (70631, 48600), and the Gyllenberg Foundation . Funding organizations were not involved in the design, conduct, interpretation, and analysis of the study, nor review or approval of the manuscript.
Funding Information:
We are indebted to all the civil servants in the local government for their participation in this study; Ms Yasuko Yamazaki for her clerical support. This study was in part granted by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare , the Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science , the Occupational Health Promotion Foundation , the Univers Foundation (98.04.017), the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation (03/2059), the Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation (2551).
PY - 2010/12
Y1 - 2010/12
N2 - Poor physical and mental functioning are more common among women than men and those with disadvantaged work and family characteristics. This study aims to clarify whether sex differences in health functioning can be explained by sex differences in work and family characteristics. The subjects were 3787 civil servants (2525 men and 1262 women), aged 20-65, working in a local government on the west coast of Japan. A questionnaire survey was conducted in January 2003. Low employment grade, high demands, long work hours, shift work, being unmarried, having no young children, high family-to-work conflict and high work-to-family conflict were more common among women than men and were independently associated with poor physical and mental functioning. The age-adjusted odds ratios (ORs) of women for poor health functioning were 1.80 for poor physical functioning and 1.77 for poor mental functioning. When adjusted for employment grade and work characteristics (control, demand, support, work hours, and shift work), the sex differences in health functioning attenuated. When adjusted for family characteristics (family structure and work-family conflicts), the sex differences in health functioning further attenuated and were no longer statistically significant. Sex differences in family characteristics contributed more to sex difference in mental functioning than sex differences in work characteristics. Japan belongs to conservative welfare regimes. In such countries, men are able to concentrate on their work with relative freedom from their family tasks and responsibilities, whereas women feel difficulties in maintaining their work-life balances. Such sex differences in work- and family-related stresses may contribute to sex difference in health. Longitudinal research is necessary to clarify the causal nature of these associations.
AB - Poor physical and mental functioning are more common among women than men and those with disadvantaged work and family characteristics. This study aims to clarify whether sex differences in health functioning can be explained by sex differences in work and family characteristics. The subjects were 3787 civil servants (2525 men and 1262 women), aged 20-65, working in a local government on the west coast of Japan. A questionnaire survey was conducted in January 2003. Low employment grade, high demands, long work hours, shift work, being unmarried, having no young children, high family-to-work conflict and high work-to-family conflict were more common among women than men and were independently associated with poor physical and mental functioning. The age-adjusted odds ratios (ORs) of women for poor health functioning were 1.80 for poor physical functioning and 1.77 for poor mental functioning. When adjusted for employment grade and work characteristics (control, demand, support, work hours, and shift work), the sex differences in health functioning attenuated. When adjusted for family characteristics (family structure and work-family conflicts), the sex differences in health functioning further attenuated and were no longer statistically significant. Sex differences in family characteristics contributed more to sex difference in mental functioning than sex differences in work characteristics. Japan belongs to conservative welfare regimes. In such countries, men are able to concentrate on their work with relative freedom from their family tasks and responsibilities, whereas women feel difficulties in maintaining their work-life balances. Such sex differences in work- and family-related stresses may contribute to sex difference in health. Longitudinal research is necessary to clarify the causal nature of these associations.
KW - Gender
KW - Health inequalities
KW - Japan
KW - Psychosocial factors
KW - Short Form 36 (SF-36)
KW - Socioeconomic status (SES)
KW - The Japanese civil servant study (the JACS study)
KW - Work-family conflicts
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=78649444936&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.socscimed.2010.09.031
DO - 10.1016/j.socscimed.2010.09.031
M3 - 学術論文
C2 - 21041011
AN - SCOPUS:78649444936
SN - 0277-9536
VL - 71
SP - 2091
EP - 2099
JO - Social Science and Medicine
JF - Social Science and Medicine
IS - 12
ER -