IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v73y2011i4p595-603.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Sex inequalities in physical and mental functioning of British, Finnish, and Japanese civil servants: Role of job demand, control and work hours

Author

Listed:
  • Sekine, Michikazu
  • Tatsuse, Takashi
  • Kagamimori, Sadanobu
  • Chandola, Tarani
  • Cable, Noriko
  • Marmot, Michael
  • Martikainen, Pekka
  • Lallukka, Tea
  • Rahkonen, Ossi
  • Lahelma, Eero

Abstract

In general, women report more physical and mental symptoms than men. International comparisons of countries with different welfare state regimes may provide further understanding of the social determinants of sex inequalities in health. This study aims to evaluate (1) whether there are sex inequalities in health functioning as measured by the Short Form 36 (SF-36), and (2) whether work characteristics contribute to the sex inequalities in health among employees from Britain, Finland, and Japan, representing liberal, social democratic, and conservative welfare state regimes, respectively. The participants were 7340 (5122 men and 2218 women) British employees, 2297 (1638 men and 659 women) Japanese employees, and 8164 (1649 men and 6515 women) Finnish employees. All the participants were civil servants aged 40-60 years. We found that more women than men tended to have disadvantaged work characteristics (i.e. low employment grade, low job control, high job demands, and long work hours) but such sex differences were relatively smaller among employees from Finland, where more gender equal policies exist than Britain and Japan. The age-adjusted odds ratio (OR) of women for poor physical functioning was the largest for British women (ORÂ =Â 2.08), followed by for Japanese women (ORÂ =Â 1.72), and then for Finnish women (ORÂ =Â 1.51). The age-adjusted OR of women for poor mental functioning was the largest for Japanese women (ORÂ =Â 1.91), followed by for British women (ORÂ =Â 1.45), and then for Finnish women (ORÂ =Â 1.07). Thus, sex differences in physical and mental health was the smallest in the Finnish population. The larger the sex differences in work characteristics, the larger the sex differences in health and the reduction in the sex differences in health after adjustment for work characteristics. These results suggest that egalitarian and gender equal policies may contribute to smaller sex differences in health, through smaller differences in disadvantaged work characteristics between men and women.

Suggested Citation

  • Sekine, Michikazu & Tatsuse, Takashi & Kagamimori, Sadanobu & Chandola, Tarani & Cable, Noriko & Marmot, Michael & Martikainen, Pekka & Lallukka, Tea & Rahkonen, Ossi & Lahelma, Eero, 2011. "Sex inequalities in physical and mental functioning of British, Finnish, and Japanese civil servants: Role of job demand, control and work hours," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 73(4), pages 595-603, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:73:y:2011:i:4:p:595-603
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953611003820
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lahelma, Eero & Laaksonen, Mikko & Martikainen, Pekka & Rahkonen, Ossi & Sarlio-Lähteenkorva, Sirpa, 2006. "Multiple measures of socioeconomic circumstances and common mental disorders," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 63(5), pages 1383-1399, September.
    2. Chandola, Tarani & Bartley, Mel & Sacker, Amanda & Jenkinson, Crispin & Marmot, Michael, 2003. "Health selection in the Whitehall II study, UK," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 56(10), pages 2059-2072, May.
    3. Macintyre, Sally & Hunt, Kate & Sweeting, Helen, 1996. "Gender differences in health: Are things really as simple as they seem?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 42(4), pages 617-624, February.
    4. Lee Cronbach, 1951. "Coefficient alpha and the internal structure of tests," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 16(3), pages 297-334, September.
    5. Van de Velde, Sarah & Bracke, Piet & Levecque, Katia, 2010. "Gender differences in depression in 23 European countries. Cross-national variation in the gender gap in depression," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 71(2), pages 305-313, July.
    6. Lallukka, Tea & Lahelma, Eero & Rahkonen, Ossi & Roos, Eva & Laaksonen, Elina & Martikainen, Pekka & Head, Jenny & Brunner, Eric & Mosdol, Annhild & Marmot, Michael & Sekine, Michikazu & Nasermoaddeli, 2008. "Associations of job strain and working overtime with adverse health behaviors and obesity: Evidence from the Whitehall II Study, Helsinki Health Study, and the Japanese Civil Servants Study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 66(8), pages 1681-1698, April.
    7. Sekine, Michikazu & Chandola, Tarani & Martikainen, Pekka & Marmot, Michael & Kagamimori, Sadanobu, 2006. "Socioeconomic inequalities in physical and mental functioning of Japanese civil servants: Explanations from work and family characteristics," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 63(2), pages 430-445, July.
    8. Sekine, Michikazu & Chandola, Tarani & Martikainen, Pekka & Marmot, Michael & Kagamimori, Sadanobu, 2009. "Socioeconomic inequalities in physical and mental functioning of British, Finnish, and Japanese civil servants: Role of job demand, control, and work hours," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 69(10), pages 1417-1425, November.
    9. Doi, Yuriko & Minowa, Masumi, 2003. "Gender differences in excessive daytime sleepiness among Japanese workers," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 56(4), pages 883-894, February.
    10. Martikainen, Pekka & Lahelma, Eero & Marmot, Michael & Sekine, Michikazu & Nishi, Nobuo & Kagamimori, Sadanobu, 2004. "A comparison of socioeconomic differences in physical functioning and perceived health among male and female employees in Britain, Finland and Japan," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 59(6), pages 1287-1295, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Hiyoshi, Ayako & Fukuda, Yoshiharu & Shipley, Martin J. & Brunner, Eric J., 2014. "Health inequalities in Japan: The role of material, psychosocial, social relational and behavioural factors," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 201-209.
    2. Bettina F Piko & Aleksandra Luszczynska & Kevin M Fitzpatrick, 2013. "Social inequalities in adolescent depression: The role of parental social support and optimism," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 59(5), pages 474-481, August.
    3. Braunheim, Lisa & Dragano, Nico & Khachatryan, Kristine & Beutel, Manfred E. & Brähler, Elmar, 2024. "The effects of effort-reward imbalance on the job, overcommitment, and income on life satisfaction in Germany from a longitudinal perspective," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 341(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sekine, Michikazu & Chandola, Tarani & Martikainen, Pekka & Marmot, Michael & Kagamimori, Sadanobu, 2009. "Socioeconomic inequalities in physical and mental functioning of British, Finnish, and Japanese civil servants: Role of job demand, control, and work hours," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 69(10), pages 1417-1425, November.
    2. Sekine, Michikazu & Chandola, Tarani & Martikainen, Pekka & Marmot, Michael & Kagamimori, Sadanobu, 2010. "Sex differences in physical and mental functioning of Japanese civil servants: Explanations from work and family characteristics," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 71(12), pages 2091-2099, December.
    3. Peiyi Lu & Ying Liang, 2016. "Health-Related Quality of Life of Young Chinese Civil Servants Working in Local Government: Comparison of SF-12 and EQ5D," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 11(4), pages 1445-1464, December.
    4. Sekine, Michikazu & Chandola, Tarani & Martikainen, Pekka & Marmot, Michael & Kagamimori, Sadanobu, 2006. "Socioeconomic inequalities in physical and mental functioning of Japanese civil servants: Explanations from work and family characteristics," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 63(2), pages 430-445, July.
    5. Hiyoshi, Ayako & Fukuda, Yoshiharu & Shipley, Martin J. & Brunner, Eric J., 2014. "Health inequalities in Japan: The role of material, psychosocial, social relational and behavioural factors," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 201-209.
    6. Jia Ryu & Yeogyeong Yoon & Hyunjoo Kim & Chung Won Kang & Kyunghee Jung-Choi, 2018. "The Change of Self-Rated Health According to Working Hours for Two Years by Gender," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-13, September.
    7. Hailemariam, Abebe & Yew, Siew Ling & Appau, Samuelson, 2021. "Gender health gaps: The role of risky addictive behaviors," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 191(C), pages 639-660.
    8. Hoffmann, Rasmus & Kröger, Hannes & Geyer, Siegfried, 2019. "Social Causation Versus Health Selection in the Life Course: Does Their Relative Importance Differ by Dimension of SES?," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 141(3), pages 1341-1367.
    9. Hilla Sumanen & Eero Lahelma & Olli Pietiläinen & Ossi Rahkonen, 2017. "The Magnitude of Occupational Class Differences in Sickness Absence: 15-Year Trends among Young and Middle-Aged Municipal Employees," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-13, June.
    10. Nakamura, Sayaka, 2014. "Parental income and child health in Japan," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 42-55.
    11. Saijo, Yasuaki & Yoshioka, Eiji & Fukui, Tomonori & Kawaharada, Mariko & Kishi, Reiko, 2008. "Relationship of socioeconomic status to C-reactive protein and arterial stiffness in urban Japanese civil servants," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 67(6), pages 971-981, September.
    12. Hiyoshi, Ayako & Fukuda, Yoshiharu & Shipley, Martin J. & Bartley, Mel & Brunner, Eric J., 2013. "A new theory-based social classification in Japan and its validation using historically collected information," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 84-92.
    13. Rasmus Hoffmann & Hannes Kröger & Siegfried Geyer, 2019. "Social Causation Versus Health Selection in the Life Course: Does Their Relative Importance Differ by Dimension of SES?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 141(3), pages 1341-1367, February.
    14. Zajacova, Anna, 2006. "Education, gender, and mortality: Does schooling have the same effect on mortality for men and women in the US?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 63(8), pages 2176-2190, October.
    15. Santosh Jatrana, 2021. "Gender differences in self-reported health and psychological distress among New Zealand adults," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 45(21), pages 693-726.
    16. Thomas Leoni, 2011. "Fehlzeitenreport 2011. Krankheits- und unfallbedingte Fehlzeiten in Österreich," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 42691.
    17. Francisco Liébana-Cabanillas & Nidhi Singh & Zoran Kalinic & Elena Carvajal-Trujillo, 2021. "Examining the determinants of continuance intention to use and the moderating effect of the gender and age of users of NFC mobile payments: a multi-analytical approach," Information Technology and Management, Springer, vol. 22(2), pages 133-161, June.
    18. Yoon, Junghyun & Lee, Hee Yong & Dinwoodie, John, 2015. "Competitiveness of container terminal operating companies in South Korea and the industry–university–government network," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 1-14.
    19. Md. Mominur Rahman & Bilkis Akhter, 2021. "The impact of investment in human capital on bank performance: evidence from Bangladesh," Future Business Journal, Springer, vol. 7(1), pages 1-13, December.
    20. Usunier, Jean-Claude, 1998. "Oral pleasure and expatriate satisfaction: an empirical approach," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 7(1), pages 89-110, February.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:73:y:2011:i:4:p:595-603. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.