Couple Dynamics and Sleep Quality in International Perspective

Abstract

Sleep, like paid work and unpaid family work, is situated in the work-family nexus, and can be shaped by national norms promoting gender equality. We tested this proposition using individual data from the European Social Survey matched to a country-level measure of gender inequality. At the individual level, we show that men's and women's sleep is affected by health, physical inactivity, work schedules, and stresses and worries about finances and family life. There are three ways in which gender inequality in sleep emerges: (1) women's sleep, but not men's, is most disrupted when they have a young child at home; (2) at all stages of the life course, women's sleep is worse than men's; and (3) the gender gap in sleep disruption increases with societal levels of gender inequality. This study adds to our understanding of gender differences in sleep quality and provides new evidence on the importance of the national context in shaping the pattern of gender inequality in the domestic sphere.