Quality of employment, psychosocial risks and mental health among salaried workers in Chile: a gender perspective

Ximena DíazAmalia Mauro

IAFFE Annual Conference

June 27, 28 y 29, 2012 in Barcelona, Spain

Objectives of the survey:

To characterize employment conditions and psychosocial risks of salaried workers in Chile considering social and gender inequalities

To analyze the relationship between the quality of employment and psychosocial risk factors according to gender

To analyze unpaid domestic and care-giver work as a factor of psychosocial risk

To discover the associations between psychosocial risks and some indicators of mental health according to gender

Methodological aspects

TARGET POPULATION

The universe of the study was composed of male and female salaried workers, from all socioeconomic levels from the whole country. Domestic servants were excluded.

The study is based on a nationally representative probabilistic sample of salaried workers.

Was composed of 3010 cases, 1,486 women and 1,524 men

Women were over-represented in the sample. The analysis was weighted by sex according to the respective participation of women and men in the labour market.

Information collection instrument: Survey with 77 closed-ended questions

Period of application of the survey: April – June 2011

Issues addressed by the survey: Sociodemographic data Conditions of employment Working conditions: psychosocial dimensions Unpaid domestic work and the work-family

relationship Indicators of mental health

First Results of the Araucaria Survey

Social and gender inequalities in employment conditions.

Salaried: men and women belonging to the poorest economic strata have the poorest quality work. They report:

Low wagesMore temporary contractHigher proportion of unemployment

High proportion of unprotected jobs, and Longer period of unemployment.

RESPONDENTS ACCORDING TO SEX AND AVERAGE PERSONAL MONTHLY INCOME

25,421,7

25,3

17,3

6,93,4

44,3

19,616,6

13,4

3,7 2,4

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

250.000 ó menos

250.001 -350.000

350.001 -550.000

550.001 - 1 millón

Más de 1 millón NR

Hombres Mujeres

(BASE: TOTAL MUESTRA)

Psychological risks in the workplace: social and gender inequalities

Karasek and Theorell’s model: demands/control/social support:

Persons that perceive high psychosocial demands, low control over their work process, and low levels of social support, experience work-related stress

Siegrist:effort–reward imbalance:Persons that experience imbalance between the

efforts they invest in their work and the rewards they receive are affected by stress.

Work-family and family-work interference: a psychosocial risk factor that influence on mental health:

Women and men workers perceive:

high psychological demands little control over his/her work and opportunity

to exercise abilities low social support from their peers and

superiors high imbalance between efforts and rewardshigh levels of work-family interference among

women

More women than men perceive high demands, low control, high effort and reward imbalance

EXPOSURE TO WORK-RELATED PSYCHOSOCIAL RISK, BY SEX

56,2

41,2 40,7

18,9

10,9

26,4

47,251,0

58,8

44,741,4

23,4

13,9

29,7

52,555,0

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Baja latitud decisional

Altas demandas psicológicas

Bajo soporte social

Tensión psíquica Isostrain Altos esfuerzos Bajas recompensas

Desbalance esfuerzo/

recompensa

Hombres Mujeres

(BASE: TOTAL MUESTRA)

The survey showed a strong association between the

quality of employment and exposure to psicosocial risk at

work

Demand/control/social support by quality of employment: the less exposed groups

Workers with the best quality of work are less exposed to

psychological tension or depressive symptomology: managers, professionals and technicians (in less proportion)

They report high demands, high level of control, and high level of social support

|

Demand/control/social support by quality of employment: the most exposed groups

Workers with the poor quality of work are the most

exposed to psychological tension or depressivesymptomology: unskilled workers (services,

agriculture,industry and transportation sectors)Most of them report high demands, low level

of control, and low level of social support. Some of them report low demands and low

control, that represents the poorest quality of work.

Perception of effort/rewards imbalance by sex

In both sexes, the perception of high efforts decreases from good quality of employment to poor quality of employment

In contrast, in both sexes, the perception of receiving low rewards increases from poor quality of employment to good quality of employment

A higher proportion of women than men in all occupations report low rewards, although the magnitude of difference varies

Depressive symtomology, distress and psychotropics consumption by sex

More women than men report symptomology associated to

health mental problems:

5% of men and 15% of women report high depressive symptomology

15% of men and 24% of women report high distress

10% of men and 20% of women report psychotropics consumption

Psychosocial risk and mental health problems: first results Some association are perceived between:

efforts/reward imbalance and high distres, depressive symptomology and psychotropics consumption

low control and high distress

No important association is perceived between high demands and health mental problems

We are still working on the statistical analysis related to psychosocial risk and mental health work related problems.

Work-family interference: two dimensions

• There are moments or situations when you need to be at work and at home at the same time?

• When you are at work do you think about domestic and family tasks?

Women workers in agreement with the statement: There are times or situations when you need to be at work and at home at the same time?, according to occupations (in %)

Occupations Women

Managers 63.7

Professional 63.0

Technician 74.8

Office worker 67.2

Salesperson 72.0

Factory workers 72.3

Service workers 75.0

Unskilled service workers 65.9

Unskilled agricultural, industrial and transport workers

75.6

Total 68.5

Women workers in agreement with the statement: When you are at work do you think about domestic tasks?, according to occupations (in %)

Occupations Women

Managers 43.8

Professional 38.1

Technician 45.3

Office worker 46.7

Salesperson 57.4

Factory workers 63.9

Service workers 60.2

Unskilled service workers 56.1

Unskilled agricultural, industrial and transport workers

60.5

Total 50.3

Work-family interference and mental health problemsOf all women that agree with the statement

“there are times or situations when you need to be at work and at home at the same time”:

Only 22% report not to suffer distress: 50% report moderate distress, and 27% high distress

16% report to suffer high depressive symptomatology

21% report to consume psychotropics

Work-family interference and mental health problemsOf all women that agree with the statement:

“when you are at work do you think about domestic and family tasks”:

Only 18% report not to suffer distress: 50% report moderate distress, and 32% high distress

19% report to suffer high depressive symptomatology

25% consume psychotropics

Mental health: a national health problem

In Chile the first cause of sick leaves is mental health problems. In this type of leaves women duplicate men although they are less in the work force.

Mental health problems are not recognized as occupational diseases in Chile

Thank you very much

For more information:

www.proyectoaraucaria.cl