The Consequences of Work and Family Demands and Resources on Employees' Health and Health Behaviors

Background and Study Objective: Given current demographic and economic trends, there is growing interest in understanding how the demands of work, family, and their interactions affect individuals’ health and health behaviors.  We examine the relationship of work and family demands on the presence of stress-related conditions including (1) hypertension, (2) gastrointestinal disorders, and (3) anxiety or mood disorders, as well as health behaviors, measured by (4) lack of regular exercise and (5) smoking.

 Methods:  Our study uses the nationally representative Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) for 1997-2007. The MEPS provides detailed information on individuals’ demographics (age, sex, race, education, marital status, presence of children, income), employment (hours, compensation, job tenure), and health insurance, as well as a comprehensive assessment of medical conditions and utilization. We restrict attention to non-elderly adults who are employed full-time and report being continuously insured. We augmented the MEPS with detailed information on job demands from the federally-sponsored Occupational Information Network (O*NET) program. O*NET includes standardized descriptors for approximately 900 occupations, capturing day-to-day aspects of the job and qualifications of the typical worker.  We computed three job demand composites: (1) cognitive demands reflect the intellective and managerial activities required for the occupation (e.g., analyzing data); (2) physical demands (e.g., manual labor and physically demanding tasks); and (3) emotional labor demands reflect the management of emotional expression due to required interpersonal interactions (e.g., working with the public).  We linked job demands to MEPS respondents using confidential 4 digit standard occupation codes (accessed within a U.S. Census Bureau Research Data Center).  

We estimated binary logit models for the set of medical conditions and health behavior outcomes identified above. Explanatory variables included employee demographics, job demands (hours, job demand composites, job tenure), family demands (children), and the interaction of work and family demands. We stratified models by sex and marital status to allow for greater flexibility in model estimation.   

 Key Findings. Overall, our results suggest that work demands are generally detrimental to one’s health. Higher emotional labor demands were associated with a higher chance of reporting hypertension among married males and married females, suggesting the physiologically taxing nature of managing interpersonal interactions at work. However, emotional labor demands were also associated with more regular exercise among males (non-married) and females (married); perhaps as a stress relief mechanism for those in jobs with high interactions. Cognitive demands were also associated with a reduced likelihood of hypertension among married females.

Among married men, children were clearly beneficial; exhibiting an inverse relationship with probability of hypertension, gastrointestinal problems, or anxiety or mood disorders. For females, effects of children were minimal. Despite the beneficial effects of children, there is one outcome where they were harmful—regular physical activity. Results suggest children are associated with a lack of regular physical activity for both males and females. Although we do not examine marital status directly, the pattern of results suggests that marriage might also have protective effects on health.