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Employment status and perceived health condition: longitudinal data from Italy
TL;DR: Evidence is offered on the relationship between self-reported health and the employment status in Italy using the Survey on Household Income and Wealth (SHIW), which finds that temporary workers, first-job seekers and unemployed individuals are worse off than permanent employees.
Abstract: The considerable increase of non-standard labor contracts, unemployment and inactivity rates raises the question of whether job insecurity and the lack of job opportunities affect physical and mental well-being differently from being employed with an open-ended contract. In this paper we offer evidence on the relationship between Self Reported Health Status (SRHS) and the employment status in Italy using the Survey on Household Income and Wealth; another aim is to investigate whether these potential inequalities have changed with the recent economic downturn (time period 2006-2010). We estimate an ordered logit model with SRHS as response variable based on a fixed-effects approach which has certain advantages with respect to the random-effects formulation and has not been applied before with SRHS data. The fixed-effects nature of the model also allows us to solve the problems of incidental parameters and non-random selection of individuals into different labor market categories. We find that temporary workers, unemployed and inactive individuals are worse off than permanent employees, especially males, young workers, and those living in the center and south of Italy. Health inequalities between unemployed/inactive and permanent workers widen over time for males and young workers, and arise in the north of the country as well.
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TL;DR: It is concluded that periods of economic recession are possibly associated with a higher prevalence of mental health problems, including common mental disorders, substance disorders, and ultimately suicidal behaviour.
Abstract: Countries in recession experience high unemployment rates and a decline in living conditions, which, it has been suggested, negatively influences their populations’ health. The present review examines the recent evidence of the possible association between economic recessions and mental health outcomes. Literature review of records identified through Medline, PsycINFO, SciELO, and EBSCO Host. Only original research papers, published between 2004 and 2014, peer-reviewed, non-qualitative research, and reporting on associations between economic factors and proxies of mental health were considered. One-hundred-one papers met the inclusion criteria. The evidence was consistent that economic recessions and mediators such as unemployment, income decline, and unmanageable debts are significantly associated with poor mental wellbeing, increased rates of common mental disorders, substance-related disorders, and suicidal behaviours. On the basis of a thorough analysis of the selected investigations, we conclude that periods of economic recession are possibly associated with a higher prevalence of mental health problems, including common mental disorders, substance disorders, and ultimately suicidal behaviour. Most of the research is based on cross-sectional studies, which seriously limits causality inferences. Conclusions are summarised, taking into account international policy recommendations concerning the cost-effective measures that can possibly reduce the occurrence of negative mental health outcomes in populations during periods of economic recession.
386 citations
Cites background from "Employment status and perceived hea..."
...[29] National population sample, Italy Cohort 37,782 (2006–2010) 15–64 y Inter-time Variables Psychosocial/economic indicators Pre- and post- recession period Employment Status Psychological Well-being Self-rated health Temporary workers, first job seekers and unemployed individuals all perceive their health as being worse than permanent workers do....
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...viduals were amplified after the onset of the recession [29]....
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...tion [28, 29, 33, 39], although Icelandic and Swedish...
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TL;DR: There is evidence that young people are especially vulnerable to health problems when unemployed or working in precarious conditions, and active labour market and training programmes, inclusive social security measures, improved working conditions and targeted health programmes are important for addressing this vulnerability.
Abstract: Background: The impact of unemployment and precarious employment on the health of young people is not well understood. However, according to social causation, higher socio-economic positions and th...
101 citations
Cites background from "Employment status and perceived hea..."
...Lack of economic and social benefits [36, 42, 48, 67, 70, 79]...
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...[12, 35-79] in the actual review (see Figure 1)....
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TL;DR: In this article, the authors apply a dynamic panel data estimator (system GMM) to account for both unobserved confounders and reverse causality, and find strong support for the causality thesis.
47 citations
TL;DR: Race by gender heterogeneity in the residual effect of restless sleep over depressive symptoms on CMC over 25 years suggests that comorbid poor sleep and depressive symptoms differently contribute to development of multi-morbidity among subpopulations based on the intersection of race and gender.
Abstract: Sleep and depression are comorbid problems that contribute to the development of chronic medical conditions (CMC) over time. Although racial and gender differences in the bidirectional associations between sleep, depression, and CMC are known, very limited information exists on heterogeneity of the residual effects of sleep problems over depressive symptoms on CMC across race by gender groups. Using a life-course perspective, the present study compared race by gender groups for residual effects of restless sleep over depressive symptoms on CMC. We used data from waves 1 (year 1986), 4 (year 2001), and 5 (year 2011) of the Americans’ Changing Lives Study (ACL). The study followed 294 White men, 108 Black men, 490 White women, and 237 Black women for 25 years. Restless sleep, depressive symptoms (Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression scale [CES-D]), and number of chronic medical conditions (hypertension, diabetes, chronic lung disease, heart disease, stroke, cancer, and arthritis) were measured in 1986, 2001, and 2011. We employed multi-group cross-lagged modeling, with chronic medical conditions as the outcome and race by gender as the groups. Major group differences were found in the residual effect of restless sleep on CMC over depressive symptoms across race by gender groups. Restless sleep in 2001 predicted CMC 10 years later in 2011 among Black women (standardized adjusted B = .135, P .05). Race by gender heterogeneity in the residual effect of restless sleep over depressive symptoms on CMC over 25 years suggests that comorbid poor sleep and depressive symptoms differently contribute to development of multi-morbidity among subpopulations based on the intersection of race and gender. Thus, interventions that try to prevent comorbid sleep problems and depression as a strategy to prevent medical conditions may benefit from tailoring based on the intersection of race and gender.
46 citations
TL;DR: Mental health was generally poorer in both male and female employees as a result of precarious employment, and males were also at higher risk of mortality.
Abstract: Aim:Precarious employment is known to be detrimental to health, and some population subgroups (young individuals, migrant workers, and females) are at higher risk of precarious employment. However,...
33 citations
References
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TL;DR: Living in more deprived neighbourhoods is associated with increased all cause mortality in the US and five European countries, independent of individual socioeconomic characteristics, and there is no evidence that country substantially modified this association.
Abstract: STUDY OBJECTIVE: Studies have shown that living in more deprived
neighbourhoods is related to higher mortality rates, independent of
individual socioeconomic characteristics. One approach that contributes to
understanding the processes underlying this association is to examine
whether the relation is modified by the country context. In this study,
the size of the association between neighbourhood unemployment rates and
all cause mortality was compared across samples from six countries (United
States, Netherlands, England, Finland, Italy, and Spain). DESIGN: Data
from three prospective cohort studies (ARIC (US), GLOBE (Netherlands), and
Whitehall II (England)) and three population based register studies
(Helsinki, Turin, Madrid) were analysed. In each study, neighbourhood
unemployment rates were derived from census, register based data. Cox
proportional hazard models, taking into account the possible correlation
of outcomes among people of the same neighbourhood, were used to assess
the associations between neighbourhood unemployment and all cause
mortality, adjusted for education and occupation at the individual level.
RESULTS: In men, after adjustment for age, education, and occupation,
living in the quartile of neighbourhoods with the highest compared with
the lowest unemployment rates was associated with increased hazards of
mortality (14%-46%), although for the Whitehall II study associations were
not statistically significant. Similar patterns were found in women, but
associations were not statistically significant in two of the five studies
that included women. CONCLUSIONS: Living in more deprived neighbourhoods
is associated with increased all cause mortality in the US and five
European countries, independent of individual socioeconomic
characteristics. There is no evidence that country substantially modified
this association.
103 citations
TL;DR: There is evidence that young people are especially vulnerable to health problems when unemployed or working in precarious conditions, and active labour market and training programmes, inclusive social security measures, improved working conditions and targeted health programmes are important for addressing this vulnerability.
Abstract: Background: The impact of unemployment and precarious employment on the health of young people is not well understood. However, according to social causation, higher socio-economic positions and th...
101 citations
TL;DR: This study isolates the direct effects of temporary work on depressive symptoms with varying lags of time since exposure, and estimates the effect of this type of employment on depressive symptom severity.
99 citations
"Employment status and perceived hea..." refers background in this paper
...Job insecurity has also contributed to an increase by 50% the level of depressive symptoms in the US [15]....
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TL;DR: The findings indicate that low cash margin and job insecurity may partially mediate the association between temporary employment and health status, and may have adverse effects on self-rated health and psychological health after adjustment for previous health status and sociodemographic variables.
Abstract: Aims: The aim of this study was to investigate whether temporary employment was related to non-optimal self-rated healthand psychological distress at age 42 after adjustment for the same indicators ...
83 citations
"Employment status and perceived hea..." refers background in this paper
...Insecurity due to the contract duration has been found to substantially decrease the perceived health condition [12], to increase psychological distress [13] and even poor physical health [14]....
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TL;DR: Job insecurity is a predictor for a decline in health in employed women in Denmark and a suggestive effect of job insecurity was found in employees aged 50 years or younger with poor labour market chances.
Abstract: Objective: To investigate if job insecurity and poor labour market chances predict a decline in self-rated health in the Danish workforce. Design: Job insecurity, labour market chances, self-rated health and numerous covariates were measured in 1809 women and 1918 men who responded to a questionnaire in 1995 and again in 2000. Multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to analyse the impact of job insecurity and labour market chances measured in 1995 on decline in health in 2000. Setting: Prospective cohort study with a representative sample of the Danish workforce using the Danish Work Environment Cohort Study (DWECS). All participants were employed at baseline. Main results: Women with job insecurity had an increased risk of a decline in health at follow-up, after adjustment for all covariates (OR = 1.78, 95% CI: 1.24 to 2.54). Effect estimates were strongest among women 50 years of age or younger with poor labour market chances (OR = 2.13, 95% CI: 1.32 to 3.45). Among men, there was no main effect for job insecurity. However, men aged 50 years or younger with poor labour market chances showed an OR of 1.64 (95% CI: 0.95 to 2.84) for a decline in health. Conclusion: Job insecurity is a predictor for a decline in health in employed women in Denmark. Among men, a suggestive effect of job insecurity was found in employees aged 50 years or younger with poor labour market chances.
82 citations