Work-Life Balance and Health

Abstract

Employed workers often have family responsibilities such as childcare or<br/> homemaking. This dual burden may increase work-related health problems,<br/> particularly. This study assessed whether family demand and difficulty in<br/> work–life balance were associated with health (musculoskeletal disorders and<br/> mental health) among Korean employees. My study has enriched established<br/> research domains such as work-related health and stress research, by<br/> introducing the family demand, and work–life balance construct as a risk factor<br/> for health or an explanatory factor for work stress.<br/> <br/> Materials and Methods<br/> Data from the population-based Korean Working Conditions Survey of<br/> 2011, including 28,640 male and 21,392 female workers, were used in Chapter<br/> 2. The same survey data conducted in 2014, including 25,247 male and 24,769<br/> female workers, were used in Chapter 3 and Chapter 4.<br/> Self-assessed difficulty in work–life balance was defined as a work–life<br/> conflict. Family demands were defined as a binary variable having a value of<br/> one if a respondent spends more than one hour each day on family-related<br/> works. Musculoskeletal disorders were defined as pain in the back, neck,<br/> shoulder, or extremities during the past year. Mental health was defined as<br/> having any depression or anxiety during the past year. Logistic regression<br/> analyses stratified by gender were performed to identify gender differences, and<br/> interaction terms including work–life conflict and key covariates were also<br/> incorporated.<br/> <br/> Results<br/> In chapter 2, work–life conflict was significantly associated with increased<br/> frequency of musculoskeletal disorders in the past 12 months in both men (OR:<br/> 1.49, 95% CI: 1.41–1.58) and women (OR: 1.50, 95% CI: 1.41–1.62). The<br/> results suggest that there was no gender difference in the effect of work–life<br/> conflict on musculoskeletal disorders (p = 0.80). Working conditions increased<br/> the effect of work–life conflict on musculoskeletal disorders. Job stress acted<br/> as an effect modifier of the relationship between and work–life conflict and<br/> musculoskeletal disorders in both men (odds ratio (OR), 1.84) and women (OR,<br/> 1.93). Women had more effect modifiers than did men. Specifically, physical<br/> demand (OR, 4.10), longer work hours (OR, 1.4