Association between housework overload and common mental disorders in women

Common mental disorders (CMD) are more frequent in women. Low reward and lack of visibility in performing housework are the determining factors for these psychological illnesses.

To evaluate the association between housework overload and the occurrence of common mental disorders in women living in the urban zone of the municipality of Feira de Santana, Bahia.

cross-sectional epidemiological study that included 2,057 women aged 15 years or over selected by random sampling in clusters. The housework overload indicator was created from the domestic activities of washing, ironing, cleaning and cooking, weighted according to the number of individuals living in the home. The common mental disorders were assessed using SRQ-20.

Women with a high housework overload had a higher prevalence of CMD than women with a low overload (45.6% versus 36.2%). Multiple logistic regression analysis confirmed the association between housework overload and CMD (PR: 1.23; 95% CI: 1.05 - 1.44), adjusted for income, level of schooling and leisure activities.

The findings support the hypothesis that high housework overload is associated with mental disorders.