Do managers sleep well? The role of gender, gender empowerment and economic development.

Xiao Tan,Belinda Hewitt,Leah Ruppanner,David Maume,Sergio A Useche

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0247515

Xiao Tan, Belinda Hewitt + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0247515

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Journal: PloS one	Publication Date: Mar 17, 2021
Citations: 1	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: University of Melbourne, University of Cincinnati

Abstract

Work demands often disrupt sleep. The stress of higher status theory posits that workers with greater resources often experience greater stress. We extend this theory to sleep and ask: do managers report more disrupted sleep and does this vary by gender and country context? Data come from the 2012 European Social Survey Programme and our sample comprised those currently employed in their prime working age (n = 27,616; age 25–64) in 29 countries. We include country level measures of the Gender Development Index (GDI) and gross domestic product (GDP). We find that workers sleep better, regardless of gender, in countries where women are empowered. For managers, women sleep better as GDI increases and men as GDP increases. Our results suggest that men experience a sleep premium from economic development and women from gender empowerment.

Highlights

Sleep is increasingly understood as another form of inequality connected to our waking lives
Such a conventional view has been challenged by the stress of higher status theory, which highlights the increased level of stress exposure associated with higher-status positions
The literature documents that workers in such positions tend to experience higher levels of interpersonal conflict and work-to-home interference, which suppress the negative association between authority and poor health outcomes [23,24,25]

Summary

Introduction

Sleep is increasingly understood as another form of inequality connected to our waking lives. The literature on sleep and work can be divided into two broad streams. The first identifies the ways in which work demands impinge upon sleep. Negative experiences at work often result in poorer sleep quality [3]. Sleep complaints are higher for those who have physically strenuous working conditions, psychosocial job strain and work-family conflicts [4, 5]. This literature draws a clear link between sleep and work, illustrating that work time, stressful work experiences and sleep are intimately connected. Absent from this research is whether those who face greater workplace demands—managers—experience worse sleep

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