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Explaining the gender gap in sickness absence.
K A Østby1, A Mykletun1,2,3, W Nilsen1,4
1Department of Mental Disorders, Division of Mental and Physical Health, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway.
Occupational Medicine (Oxford, England)
|April 20, 2018
Summary
Gender differences in health and stressors explain only a portion of the gender gap in sickness absence. Most of the disparity in sick leave between men and women remains unexplained by these factors.
Area of Science:
- Sociology
- Public Health
- Occupational Health
Background:
- Women in Western countries exhibit higher sickness absence rates than men.
- The extent to which health disparities contribute to this gender gap in sick leave is not well understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To quantify the degree to which health factors and work-family stressors explain the gender gap in sickness absence.
- To investigate the role of various stressors, including health, job characteristics, and family-related issues.
Main Methods:
- Cross-sectional study of Norwegian parents (Tracking Opportunities and Problems study).
- Linear regression analyses were used to assess the contribution of health and stressors to sickness absence.
- Data collected on health, job control/demands, work-home conflicts, parent-child conflicts, and stressful life events.
Main Results:
- Adjusting for health factors reduced the gender difference in sickness absence by 24%.
- Adjusting for work and family stressors reduced the difference by 22%.
- Simultaneous adjustment for both health and stressors explained approximately 28% of the gender gap in sick leave.
Conclusions:
- A significant portion of the gender gap in sickness absence remains unexplained by the factors studied.
- Health and stressors, while contributing, do not fully account for the higher sick leave rates in women.
- Additional factors beyond health, work, and family stressors likely influence gender differences in sickness absence.
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