J Korean Community Nurs.  1995 Jun;6(1):84-97.

Effects of Employment and Marital Status on Health Status of Women and Men

• Park EO

Abstract

There is a widespread concern that women's increasing involvement in dual role (job plus family role) may harm their physical health. Longevity of women is longer than that of men. By contrast, prevalence rate is higher in women than men, and No. of prevalence days, No. of days in bed and No. of days with treatment are more in women. Generally, women live longer, but women are worse in health status than men. Rate of labor participation in women is increasing gradually in Korea. This study presents an analysis of the relationships between employment. marital status and health for both Korean women and men to examine how women's increasing involvements in dual role affect their physical health. The data used in this analysis were collected by The National Statistical Office in the spring of 1992. Households, which were sampled by using a three-stage stratified cluster sampling method, were interviewed. Response rate was 99.43%. Of these, student or widowed or divorced people were excluded. 47,552 women and men aged 21-50 were available for the analysis. Health status was measured by self-assessed health status (1=excellent, 5=poor), No. of prevalent days, No. of days with treatment, and No. of days in bed in two previous weeks. And control variables are age, and education. Research findings are as follows : 1. Men have better self-rated health, fewer prevalent days, fewer days in bed, and fewer days with treatment than women. 2. The employed are more healthier than the non-employed. 3. Unmarried people are more healthier than married people. 4. Interaction effects of sex, marital status, employment are significant. This finding shows that effects of empolyment, marital status on health status is not same for women and men. 5. For male, employed people are more healthier than non-employed people. Unmarried people are more healthier than married people. This differences are significant. For female, The employed are more healthier than the non-employed. However, no differences are noticed between the married and the unmarried in health status. In conclusion, there is no evidence that women's involvements in dual role affect their physical health negatively.

MeSH Terms

Divorce
Education
Employment*
Family Characteristics
Female
Humans
Korea
Longevity
Male
Marital Status*
Prevalence
Single Person
Widowhood