Associations of Family Demands and Work–Life Conflict with Musculoskeletal Disorders among Korean Workers

Young-Mee Kim and Sung-il Cho
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Young-Mee Kim: Department of Public Health Science, Graduate School of Public Health, and Institute of Health and Environment, Seoul National University, 1 Gwanak-ro, Gwanak-gu, Seoul 08826, Korea
Sung-il Cho: Department of Public Health Science, Graduate School of Public Health, and Institute of Health and Environment, Seoul National University, 1 Gwanak-ro, Gwanak-gu, Seoul 08826, Korea

IJERPH, 2018, vol. 15, issue 7, 1-16

Abstract: Although family-related demands play a role in the effect of psychosocial work characteristics on health, research on work-related health has neglected the family domain. The aim of the present study was to identify the effects of family demands and work–life conflict (WLC) on musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) among Korean workers. We analyzed data from the nationally representative Korean Working Conditions Survey conducted with 50,007 workers in 2014. Logistic regression analyses stratified by gender were performed to identify gender differences, and interaction terms including WLCs and key covariates were also incorporated. Childcare demands (odds ratio (OR), 1.16) were related to MSD only in male workers, whereas homemaking (OR, 1.09) and eldercare (OR, 1.26) demands were related to MSDs only in female workers. WLC was also associated with MSDs among both male (OR, 1.50) and female (OR, 1.55) workers. We found no gender difference in the effect of WLC on MSDs ( p = 0.91). Moreover, childcare demands may exacerbate the effect of WLC on MSDs. Our data suggest that family demands and WLC could be important targets of workplace interventions to prevent MSDs, and future research should evaluate the role of family demands and WLC as stressors in the workplace.

Keywords: family demands; work–life conflict; work–family conflict; musculoskeletal disorder; gender differences (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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