Quality of employment, psychosocial risks and mental health among salaried workers in Chile: a gender perspective Ximena Díaz Amalia Mauro IAFFE Annual Conference June 27, 28 y 29, 2012 in Barcelona, Spain

Objectives of the survey:  To characterize employment conditions and psychosocial risks of salaried workers in Chile considering social and gender inequalities  To analyze the relationship between the quality of employment and psychosocial risk factors according to gender  To analyze unpaid domestic and care-giver work as a factor of psychosocial risk  To discover the associations between psychosocial risks and some indicators of mental health according to gender

Methodological aspects TARGET POPULATION The universe of the study was composed of male and female salaried workers, from all socioeconomic levels from the whole country. Domestic servants were excluded. The study is based on a nationally representative probabilistic sample of salaried workers. Was composed of 3010 cases, 1,486 women and 1,524 men Women were over-represented in the sample. The analysis was weighted by sex according to the respective participation of women and men in the labour market.

 Information collection instrument: Survey with 77 closed-ended questions  Period of application of the survey: April – June 2011  Issues addressed by the survey:  Sociodemographic data  Conditions of employment  Working conditions: psychosocial dimensions  Unpaid domestic work and the work-family relationship  Indicators of mental health

First Results of the Araucaria Survey

Social and gender inequalities in employment conditions. Salaried: men and women belonging to the poorest economic strata have the poorest quality work. They report: Low wages More temporary contract Higher proportion of unemployment High proportion of unprotected jobs, and Longer period of unemployment.

RESPONDENTS ACCORDING TO SEX AND AVERAGE PERSONAL MONTHLY INCOME (BASE: TOTAL MUESTRA)

Psychological risks in the workplace: social and gender inequalities

Karasek and Theorell’s model: demands/control/social support: Persons that perceive high psychosocial demands, low control over their work process, and low levels of social support, experience work-related stress Siegrist:effort–reward imbalance: Persons that experience imbalance between the efforts they invest in their work and the rewards they receive are affected by stress. Work-family and family-work interference: a psychosocial risk factor that influence on mental health :

Women and men workers perceive:  high psychological demands  little control over his/her work and opportunity to exercise abilities  low social support from their peers and superiors  high imbalance between efforts and rewards  high levels of work-family interference among women More women than men perceive high demands, low control, high effort and reward imbalance

EXPOSURE TO WORK-RELATED PSYCHOSOCIAL RISK, BY SEX (BASE: TOTAL MUESTRA)

 The survey showed a strong association between the quality of employment and exposure to psicosocial risk at work

Demand/control/social support by quality of employment: the less exposed groups Workers with the best quality of work are less exposed to psychological tension or depressive symptomology: managers, professionals and technicians (in less proportion)  They report high demands, high level of control, and high level of social support |

Demand/control/social support by quality of employment: the most exposed groups Workers with the poor quality of work are the most exposed to psychological tension or depressive symptomology: unskilled workers (services, agriculture, industry and transportation sectors)  Most of them report high demands, low level of control, and low level of social support.  Some of them report low demands and low control, that represents the poorest quality of work.

Perception of effort/rewards imbalance by sex In both sexes, the perception of high efforts decreases from good quality of employment to poor quality of employment In contrast, in both sexes, the perception of receiving low rewards increases from poor quality of employment to good quality of employment A higher proportion of women than men in all occupations report low rewards, although the magnitude of difference varies

Depressive symtomology, distress and psychotropics consumption by sex More women than men report symptomology associated to health mental problems: 5% of men and 15% of women report high depressive symptomology 15% of men and 24% of women report high distress 10% of men and 20% of women report psychotropics consumption

Psychosocial risk and mental health problems: first results  Some association are perceived between:  efforts/reward imbalance and high distres, depressive symptomology and psychotropics consumption  low control and high distress  No important association is perceived between high demands and health mental problems We are still working on the statistical analysis related to psychosocial risk and mental health work related problems.

Work-family interference: two dimensions There are moments or situations when you need to be at work and at home at the same time? When you are at work do you think about domestic and family tasks?

Women workers in agreement with the statement: There are times or situations when you need to be at work and at home at the same time?, according to occupations (in %) OccupationsWomen Managers63.7 Professional63.0 Technician74.8 Office worker67.2 Salesperson72.0 Factory workers72.3 Service workers75.0 Unskilled service workers65.9 Unskilled agricultural, industrial and transport workers75.6 Total68.5

Women workers in agreement with the statement: When you are at work do you think about domestic tasks?, according to occupations (in %) OccupationsWomen Managers43.8 Professional38.1 Technician45.3 Office worker46.7 Salesperson57.4 Factory workers63.9 Service workers60.2 Unskilled service workers56.1 Unskilled agricultural, industrial and transport workers60.5 Total50.3

Work-family interference and mental health problems Of all women that agree with the statement “there are times or situations when you need to be at work and at home at the same time”:  Only 22% report not to suffer distress: 50% report moderate distress, and 27% high distress  16% report to suffer high depressive symptomatology  21% report to consume psychotropics

Work-family interference and mental health problems Of all women that agree with the statement: “when you are at work do you think about domestic and family tasks”:  Only 18% report not to suffer distress: 50% report moderate distress, and 32% high distress  19% report to suffer high depressive symptomatology  25% consume psychotropics

Mental health: a national health problem In Chile the first cause of sick leaves is mental health problems. In this type of leaves women duplicate men although they are less in the work force. Mental health problems are not recognized as occupational diseases in Chile

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