Employment and women's health: Effects of paid employment on women's mental and physical health.

Abstract

This article reviews empirical evidence con- cerning the effects of paid employment on women's mental and physical health, with special attention to variations in the effects of employment depending on the character- istics of women and their jobs. We highlight methodolog- ical issues and focus primarily on studies with longitudinal data for representative samples of women. We conclude that women's employment does not have a negative effect on their health, on the average. Indeed, employment ap- pears to improve the health of unmarried women and married women who have positive attitudes toward em- ployment. Possible mediators linking employment to health outcomes are discussed. Current evidence suggests that increased social support from co-workers and super- visors may be one important mediator of the beneficial health effects of employment. Given the paucity of avail- able longitudinal studies, we encourage additional pro- spective research examining the mental and physical health consequences of employment according to job characteristics, personal characteristics, and disease out- come. We also recommend research on several promising mediators of employment-health relationships.

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