796.3
Gender Difference in the Influence of Non-Regular Employment on Mental Health: The Case of Japan
Studies on the relationship between non-regular employment (NRE; such as temporary or precarious employment) and health have been increasing since the 2000s. Most of the studies reported that NRE has a negative effect on various health outcomes (including mental health).
The purpose of this study is to investigate the gender difference in the relationship between NRE and mental health in Japan. The number of NRE workers in Japan has been increasing since the 1970s, when most of them were married women who worked to financially assist their household under the male-breadwinner model. However, male NRE workers has been rising since the latter half of the 1990s. In the case of men, socioeconomic disadvantages of NRE cause a strong conflict between the male-breadwinner model and their socioeconomic status. Therefore, we can expect that the impact of NRE on mental health is more serious for men than for women.
2. Data
The “Japanese Study of Stratification, Health, Income, and Neighborhood” (J-SHINE) survey data is used. This is a computer-assisted personal interview survey that was administered in Tokyo and four suburban cities in 2010 (N=4381, age range of 25 to 50 years).
3. Findings and Discussion
In this study, I use three mental health outcomes as dependent variables: depression (K6), mental component summary score (SF8) and suicidal ideation. The results of preliminary analyses are summarized as follows. First, NRE has significant negative effects on three outcomes in the case of men. In contrast, NRE has no effects in the case of women. Second, after controlling for covariates, the effects of NRE are disappeared: marital status (married) and subjective SES have consistent positive effects on outcomes. These results suggest that lower SES of male NRE workers decrease the possibility of getting marriage and it influences on mental health.