Paid work, unpaid work and social support: A study of the health of male and female nurses

The importance of low control at work and home on depression and anxiety: do these effects vary by gender and social class?

“…The first is that control at home is the ability to maintain family and home obligations and cope with dayto-day stressors. In this sense, the link between low control at home and psychological distress may indicate a lack of resources for coping with excessive demands from housework and family responsibilities (Lennon and Rosenfield, 1992;Pearlin and Schooler, 1978;Pearlin, 1989) or material resources (Walters et al, 1996) that make services and support more easily accessible. This interpretation leaves some confusion about whether the construct is a description of control, demands, or something more latent that includes both demands and control.…”

“…Yet studies that have taken into account the "second shift" (Hochschild, 1989), that is, the double burden of being employed and maintaining primary responsibilities for the family and home, have shown that employed women have similar or even higher rates of psychiatric symptoms than housewives (Haavio, 1986). Women who work full time, especially those in managerial and professional jobs (Bartley et al, 1992;Hall, 1992;Rosenfield, 1989;Walters et al, 1996), and who have dependent children (Arber et al, 1985;Hall, 1992) also report more ill-health and depressive symptoms than their part-time or childless counterparts. These findings suggest that for women who work full time and maintain the overall management of the home environment, there may be a threshold where the benefits of paid employment begin to reverse and become deleterious.…”

“…With Arber's advice in mind, we argue in this paper that the benefits of employment begin to reverse and become deleterious when women, especially those in lower social positions, find themselves lacking control over their work or home life. In the psychosocial work environment literature, numerous studies (described in more detail below) have shown the harmful health effects of low job control, particularly for men (Warr, 1990) and men in low social positions (Marmot et al, 1991), yet far fewer studies have investigated the possible main or mediating effects low control in the home environment has in relation to health outcomes (Walters et al, 1996;Schooler et al, 1983;Rosenfield, 1989;Lombardi and Ulbrich, 1997). More common, however, are investigations comparing the stressful characteristics of paid work and unpaid work done at home.…”

A gender approach to work ability and its relationship to professional and domestic work hours among nursing personnel

“…Paid and unpaid work in the home and social support are important elements in the social production of health and illness, though their combined effects on both women and men. However, the research literature has only recently made this a focus (Walters et al, 1996).…”

Older Workers: Who are the Working Poor in the U.S.?

“…Cheng, Kawachi, Coakley, Schwartz, & Colditz (2000) more broadly found that low levels of employment-based social support were associated with poor health status. A related inquiry linked job satisfaction with health problems for both men and women nurses (Walters et al, 1996).…”