Generation shift in family vs. working conditions as most important influence on women's mood?The Prospective Population Study of Women in Gothenburg, Sweden

Abstract

Objective – To find out whether family or working conditions is most important for mood in different ages in women.Design – Prospective study.Setting – Göteborg, Sweden, population about 430 000.Subjects – Representative samples of a general population of women, born in 1930 (n=276), 1942 (n=93) and 1954 (n=61), examined both in 1980–81 and 1992–93.Main outcome measures – Associations between “mood” and different social factors indicated by correlation coefficients and studied cross-sectionally and longitudinally.Results – In younger women, the variable “mood” was associated with variable work situation but not family situation (correlation coefficient 0.47, p<0.001, and correlation coefficient 0.26, not statistically significant, respectively), while in older women “mood” was associated with variable family situation as well as work situation (correlation coefficients 0.45 and 0.41, p<0.01 both). Changes in the mood variable between 1980–81 and 1992–93 were associated with changes in working conditions in the younger cohort, but with changes in variable family conditions in the older cohort.Conclusions – In the latest born cohort, the importance of women's paid work outside the home was increased as an influential factor on mood in comparison with the importance of the family situation, while the situation was the opposite in the earlier born cohorts.