Interference between work and outside-work demands relative to health: unwinding possibilities among full-time and part-time employees.
BACKGROUND
Demands from work and home may interfere with one another and the stress engendered by that can be detrimental to health.


OBJECTIVE
To study the relationship between experienced interference and subjective health, and address the impact of unwinding on these associations.


METHODS
Questionnaire data from a representative sample of the Swedish population are used considering full-time and part-time employed women and men aged 25-64. The associations between negative interference (either work-home or home-work) and sleep quality, self-rated health, and the use of sleeping pills/tranquillizers are analyzed by means of logistic regressions, compiling odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). The impact of adjustment for lack of unwinding on these associations is assessed.


RESULTS
Work-home interference is associated with suboptimal sleep quality and self-rated health for both women and men. The significance of this disappears among women after adjustment for lack of unwinding, regardless of work schedule. Among both sexes, home-work interference is associated with suboptimal sleep quality and self-rated health. When adjusting for lack of unwinding, the relationship to sleep quality disappears, but not the one to self-rated health, equally for women and men.


CONCLUSIONS
Only among women, unwinding seems to buffer the association between work-home interference and health.
Nylén
Lotta
L
Department of Public Health Sciences, Division of Social Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden. lotta.nylen@ki.se
Melin
Bo
B
Laflamme
Lucie
L
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological / Q000187:drug effects*; D000328:Adult; D003220:Conflict, Psychological; D004651:Employment / Q000523:psychology*; D005195:Family Relations; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D006993:Hypnotics and Sedatives / Q000627:therapeutic use; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000150:complications / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000523:psychology; D016017:Odds Ratio; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012647:Self-Assessment; D012737:Sex Factors; D012890:Sleep / Q000502:physiology; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000150:complications* / Q000188:drug therapy; D014149:Tranquilizing Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D016526:Workload / Q000523:psychology; D017132:Workplace / Q000523:psychology*
D006993:Hypnotics and Sedatives; D014149:Tranquilizing Agents