TY - JOUR
T1 - Sex and gender differences in depressive symptoms in older workers
T2 - the role of working conditions
AU - de Breij, S.
AU - Huisman, M.
AU - Boot, C.R.L.
AU - Deeg, D.J.H.
N1 - Funding Information: This study was financially supported by a ZonMW grant (project number 555003020). The LASA is supported by a grant from the Netherlands Ministry of Health Welfare and Sports, Directorate of Long-Term Care. The data collection in 2012–2013 was financially supported by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) in the framework of the project “New cohorts of young old in the twenty-first century” (file number 480–10-014). The funding bodies have no role in any part of the conduct of this study. Publisher Copyright: © 2022, The Author(s).
PY - 2022/12/1
Y1 - 2022/12/1
N2 - © 2022, The Author(s).Background: Female older workers generally leave the work force earlier than men. Depressive symptoms are a risk factor of early work exit and are more common in women. To extend working lives, pathways leading to these sex inequalities need to be identified. The aim of this study was to investigate the association of sex and gender with depressive symptoms in older workers, and the role of working conditions in this association. Methods: We used data from the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam (2012–2013/2015–2016, n = 313). Our outcome was depressive symptoms, measured by the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale. We included biological sex, a gender index ranging from masculine to feminine (consisting of six items measuring gender roles: working hours, income, occupation segregation, education, informal caregiving, time spent on household chores), and working conditions (physical demands, psychosocial demands, cognitive demands, autonomy, task variation, social support) in our models. We examined the differential vulnerability hypothesis, i.e., sex/gender moderates the association between working conditions and depressive symptoms, and the differential exposure hypothesis, i.e., working conditions mediate the association between sex/gender and depressive symptoms. Results: Female sex and feminine gender were both associated with more depressive symptoms. The differential vulnerability hypothesis was not supported by our results. We did find that femininity was negatively associated with autonomy and task variation. In turn, these working conditions were associated with fewer depressive symptoms. Thus, autonomy and task variation partially mediated the association between gender and depressive symptoms, supporting the differential exposure hypothesis. Mediation effects for sex inequalities were not significant. Conclusions: Older female workers and older feminine workers have more depressive symptoms than their male/masculine counterparts. Autonomy and task variation appeared to be important in – partially – explaining gender differences in depressive symptoms rather than sex differences. By improving these conditions, gender inequality in mental health among older workers can be reduced, so that both genders have similar chances to reach the retirement age in good mental health.
AB - © 2022, The Author(s).Background: Female older workers generally leave the work force earlier than men. Depressive symptoms are a risk factor of early work exit and are more common in women. To extend working lives, pathways leading to these sex inequalities need to be identified. The aim of this study was to investigate the association of sex and gender with depressive symptoms in older workers, and the role of working conditions in this association. Methods: We used data from the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam (2012–2013/2015–2016, n = 313). Our outcome was depressive symptoms, measured by the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale. We included biological sex, a gender index ranging from masculine to feminine (consisting of six items measuring gender roles: working hours, income, occupation segregation, education, informal caregiving, time spent on household chores), and working conditions (physical demands, psychosocial demands, cognitive demands, autonomy, task variation, social support) in our models. We examined the differential vulnerability hypothesis, i.e., sex/gender moderates the association between working conditions and depressive symptoms, and the differential exposure hypothesis, i.e., working conditions mediate the association between sex/gender and depressive symptoms. Results: Female sex and feminine gender were both associated with more depressive symptoms. The differential vulnerability hypothesis was not supported by our results. We did find that femininity was negatively associated with autonomy and task variation. In turn, these working conditions were associated with fewer depressive symptoms. Thus, autonomy and task variation partially mediated the association between gender and depressive symptoms, supporting the differential exposure hypothesis. Mediation effects for sex inequalities were not significant. Conclusions: Older female workers and older feminine workers have more depressive symptoms than their male/masculine counterparts. Autonomy and task variation appeared to be important in – partially – explaining gender differences in depressive symptoms rather than sex differences. By improving these conditions, gender inequality in mental health among older workers can be reduced, so that both genders have similar chances to reach the retirement age in good mental health.
KW - Ageing
KW - Differential exposure hypothesis
KW - Differential vulnerability hypothesis
KW - Gender roles
KW - Inequalities
KW - Job demands
KW - Mental health
KW - The Netherlands
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85130334774&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-022-13416-1
DO - https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-022-13416-1
M3 - Article
C2 - 35597949
SN - 1471-2458
VL - 22
JO - BMC public health
JF - BMC public health
IS - 1
M1 - 1023
ER -