Working Life Sequences over the Life Course Among 9269 Women and Men in Sweden; a Prospective Cohort Study

Overview

Journal PLoS One

Specialties General Medicine
Science

Date 2023 Feb 15

PMID 36791056

Authors

Katalin Gemes

Katriina Heikkila

Kristina Alexanderson

Kristin Farrants

Ellenor Mittendorfer-Rutz

Marianna Virtanen

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Objectives: To investigate working life courses in women and men and possible associations with socioeconomic, health-, and work-related factors.

Methods: A 15-year prospective cohort study of individuals aged 18-50 in paid work at baseline and answering the Swedish Living Conditions Surveys (2000-2003, N = 9269) and their annual economic activity, using nationwide registers. We used sequence and cluster analyses to identify and group similar working life sequences. Multinomial logistic regression was used to examine associations of sex, socioeconomic, health-, and work-related factors with sequence cluster memberships.

Results: We identified 1284 working life sequences, of which 65% represented continuous active (in paid work/studying) states. We then identified five sequence clusters, the largest one with individuals who were continuously active (n = 6034, 65% of the participants; 54% of women and 76% of men) and smaller ones with interruptions of the active state by long-term parental-leave, unemployment, and/or sickness absence/disability pension (SA/DP), or retirement. Women were more likely than men to belong to the "Parental-leave periods" (odds ratio [OR]: 33.2; 95% confidence intervals [CI]: 25.6, 43.1) and the "SA/DP periods" sequence clusters (OR: 1.8; 95% CI: 1.4, 2.1), also after adjustment for covariates. In both sexes, low education and poor health were the strongest predictors of belonging to the sequence cluster "Unemployment & SA/DP periods". Predictors of the "Parental-leave periods" sequence cluster differed between women and men.

Conclusions: In a cohort of individuals in paid work at baseline, the majority of women and men worked most of each year although women were more likely to have some interruptions characterized by long-term parental-leave or SA/DP periods than men, independently of socioeconomic, health-, and work-related factors.

Citing Articles

Correction: Working life sequences over the life course among 9269 women and men in Sweden; A prospective cohort study.

Gemes K, Heikkila K, Alexanderson K, Farrants K, Mittendorfer-Rutz E, Virtanen M PLoS One. 2025; 20(3):e0319833.

PMID: 40043072 PMC: 11882063. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0319833.

References

Ludvigsson J, Otterblad-Olausson P, Pettersson B, Ekbom A . The Swedish personal identity number: possibilities and pitfalls in healthcare and medical research. Eur J Epidemiol. 2009; 24(11):659-67. PMC: 2773709. DOI: 10.1007/s10654-009-9350-y. View

Virtanen M, Oksanen T, Batty G, Ala-Mursula L, Salo P, Elovainio M . Extending employment beyond the pensionable age: a cohort study of the influence of chronic diseases, health risk factors, and working conditions. PLoS One. 2014; 9(2):e88695. PMC: 3929527. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0088695. View

Campos-Serna J, Ronda-Perez E, Artazcoz L, Moen B, Benavides F . Gender inequalities in occupational health related to the unequal distribution of working and employment conditions: a systematic review. Int J Equity Health. 2013; 12:57. PMC: 3765149. DOI: 10.1186/1475-9276-12-57. View

Lacey R, Sacker A, Bell S, Kumari M, Worts D, McDonough P . Work-family life courses and BMI trajectories in three British birth cohorts. Int J Obes (Lond). 2016; 41(2):332-339. PMC: 5309340. DOI: 10.1038/ijo.2016.197. View

Lacey R, Stafford M, Sacker A, McMunn A . Work-Family Life Courses and Subjective Wellbeing in the MRC National Survey of Health and Development (the 1946 British birth cohort study). J Popul Ageing. 2016; 9:69-89. PMC: 4785208. DOI: 10.1007/s12062-015-9126-y. View

Knardahl S, Johannessen H, Sterud T, Harma M, Rugulies R, Seitsamo J . The contribution from psychological, social, and organizational work factors to risk of disability retirement: a systematic review with meta-analyses. BMC Public Health. 2017; 17(1):176. PMC: 5299735. DOI: 10.1186/s12889-017-4059-4. View

Duchaine C, Aube K, Gilbert-Ouimet M, Vezina M, Ndjaboue R, Massamba V . Psychosocial Stressors at Work and the Risk of Sickness Absence Due to a Diagnosed Mental Disorder: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. JAMA Psychiatry. 2020; 77(8):842-851. PMC: 7113841. DOI: 10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2020.0322. View

Gonas L, Wikman A, Vaez M, Alexanderson K, Gustafsson K . Gender segregation of occupations and sustainable employment: A prospective population-based cohort study. Scand J Public Health. 2018; 47(3):348-356. DOI: 10.1177/1403494818785255. View

Ludvigsson J, Almqvist C, Edstedt Bonamy A, Ljung R, Michaelsson K, Neovius M . Registers of the Swedish total population and their use in medical research. Eur J Epidemiol. 2016; 31(2):125-36. DOI: 10.1007/s10654-016-0117-y. View

10.

Weisshaar K, Cabello-Hutt T . Labor Force Participation Over the Life Course: The Long-Term Effects of Employment Trajectories on Wages and the Gendered Payoff to Employment. Demography. 2020; 57(1):33-60. DOI: 10.1007/s13524-019-00845-8. View

11.

de Wind A, Geuskens G, Ybema J, Blatter B, Burdorf A, Bongers P . Health, job characteristics, skills, and social and financial factors in relation to early retirement--results from a longitudinal study in the Netherlands. Scand J Work Environ Health. 2013; 40(2):186-94. DOI: 10.5271/sjweh.3393. View

12.

Mussino E, Duvander A . Use It or Save It? Migration Background and Parental Leave Uptake in Sweden. Eur J Popul. 2019; 32(2):189-210. PMC: 6241100. DOI: 10.1007/s10680-015-9365-x. View

13.

Virtanen M, Oksanen T, Pentti J, Ervasti J, Head J, Stenholm S . Occupational class and working beyond the retirement age: a cohort study. Scand J Work Environ Health. 2017; 43(5):426-435. DOI: 10.5271/sjweh.3645. View

14.

McMunn A, Lacey R, Worts D, Kuh D, McDonough P, Sacker A . Work-family life courses and psychological distress: Evidence from three British birth cohort studies. Adv Life Course Res. 2023; 50:100429. DOI: 10.1016/j.alcr.2021.100429. View

15.

Kivimaki M, Elovainio M, Vahtera J . Workplace bullying and sickness absence in hospital staff. Occup Environ Med. 2000; 57(10):656-60. PMC: 1739873. DOI: 10.1136/oem.57.10.656. View

16.

Gilbert-Ouimet M, Trudel X, Aube K, Ndjaboue R, Duchaine C, Blanchette C . Differences between women and men in the relationship between psychosocial stressors at work and work absence due to mental health problem. Occup Environ Med. 2020; 77(9):603-610. DOI: 10.1136/oemed-2019-106242. View

17.

. World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki. Ethical principles for medical research involving human subjects. Bull World Health Organ. 2001; 79(4):373-4. PMC: 2566407. View

18.

Waenerlund A, Gustafsson P, Hammarstrom A, Virtanen P . History of labour market attachment as a determinant of health status: a 12-year follow-up of the Northern Swedish Cohort. BMJ Open. 2014; 4(2):e004053. PMC: 3927714. DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2013-004053. View

19.

Nielsen M, Indregard A, Overland S . Workplace bullying and sickness absence: a systematic review and meta-analysis of the research literature. Scand J Work Environ Health. 2016; 42(5):359-70. DOI: 10.5271/sjweh.3579. View

20.

Klein J, Reini K, Saarela J . Sickness Absence and Disability Pension in the Very Long Term: A Finnish Register-Based Study With 20 Years Follow-Up. Front Public Health. 2021; 9:556648. PMC: 7956975. DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2021.556648. View