Job mismatching, unequal opportunities and long-term sickness absence in female white-collar workers in Sweden

Abstract

To investigate associations between long-term sick-listing and factors at work and in family life. Associations were investigated in a cross-sectional case-referent study. The study base included women in white-collar jobs, aged 30-55 years, living in three urban areas in Sweden between February 2004 and October 2004. A postal questionnaire was constructed with questions on occupational and family circumstances, and sent to 513 randomly selected female white-collar workers, of whom 233 had ongoing sick-leave of 90 days or more. The response rate was 81% (n = 413). Most of the women in this study were in managerial positions. The unadjusted associations showed that sick-listed women with children showed the highest estimates regarding reported long working hours, bullying, high mental strain, low control and low influence at work, and work-family imbalance. In a regression model, the strongest associations were: experiencing too high mental strain in work tasks (odds ratio (OR) = 2.57, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 2.09-3.15) and low control and influence at work (OR=2.17, 95% CI= 1.60-2.94). Sick-listed women reported an overall higher dissatisfaction with their workplace and working life. There seems to be a greater tendency for the sick-listed women in this study to experience low control and too high mental strain at work and to live in traditional family relationships with unequal opportunities. The women who were sick-listed were probably less able to cope with work stress and to find a balance between work and family life.