Search

Background: Work-family conflicts are associated with poor health. However, work-family conflicts and health behaviors have been little studied., Purpose: This study examined the associations of conflicts between paid work and family life with unhealthy behaviors among British, Finnish, and Japanese employees., Method: Data were derived from postal questionnaire surveys among 40 to 60 years old employees from three cohorts, the British Whitehall II Study (n = 3,397), the Finnish Helsinki Health Study (n = 4,958), and the Japanese Civil Servants Study (n = 2,901). Outcomes were current smoking, heavy drinking, physical inactivity, and unhealthy food habits. Work-family conflicts were measured with eight items. Age, marital status, and occupational class were adjusted for in logistic regression analyses., Results: Work-family conflicts had few and inconsistent associations with unhealthy behaviors in all three cohorts. In the Finnish cohort, strong work-family conflicts were associated with current smoking among men. Women with strong conflicts had more often unhealthy food habits and were more often heavy drinkers than women with weaker conflicts. Likewise, British women with strong work-family conflicts were more often heavy drinkers., Conclusion: Although work-family conflicts were fairly prevalent in the examined cohorts, these conflicts had but few associations with the studied key health behaviors.

Adverse health behaviors and obesity are key determinants of major chronic diseases. Evidence on work-related determinants of these behavioral risk factors is inconclusive, and comparative studies are especially lacking. We aimed to examine the associations between job strain, working overtime, adverse health behaviors, and obesity among 45-60-year-old white-collar employees of the Whitehall II Study from London (n=3,397), Helsinki Health Study (n=6,070), and the Japanese Civil Servants Study (n=2,213). Comparable data from all three cohorts were pooled, and logistic regression analysis was used, stratified by cohort and sex. Models were adjusted for age, occupational class, and marital status. Outcomes were unhealthy food habits, physical inactivity, heavy drinking, smoking, and obesity. In London, men reporting passive work were more likely to be physically inactive. A similar association was repeated among women in Helsinki. Additionally, high job strain was associated with physical inactivity among men in London and women in Helsinki. In London, women reporting passive work were less likely to be heavy drinkers and smokers. In Japan, men working overtime reported less smoking, whereas those with high job strain were more likely to smoke. Among men in Helsinki the association between working overtime and non-smoking was also suggested, but it reached statistical significance in the age-adjusted model only. Obesity was associated with working overtime among women in London. In conclusion, job strain and working overtime had some, albeit mostly weak and inconsistent, associations with adverse health behaviors and obesity in these middle-aged white-collar employee cohorts from Britain, Finland, and Japan.