Centre for Health Equity Studies (CHESS), Stockholm University/Karolinska Institutet, Sweden, Department of Clinical Sciences, Karolinska Institutet, Sweden.
Scand J Public Health. 2011 Aug;39(6):618-26. doi: 10.1177/1403494811414242. Epub 2011 Jul 6.
The aim of the study is to investigate whether the gender composition in workplaces is related to long-term sickness absence (LSA). We start off with Kanter's theory on ''tokenism,'' suggesting an increased risk of stress among minority groups (tokens), which, in turn, might increase the risk of ill health and LSA.
The dataset consists of information obtained from the Swedish level of Living Survey (LNU) and the Swedish Establishment Survey (APU), linked to register-based data from the Swedish Social Insurance Agency. The longitudinal data is representative for the Swedish population and consists of 496 women and 566 men, aged 20-55 at baseline. Our study group consisted of employed persons in 1991 and we analyze, by means of piecewise constant intensity regressions, the first entry into LSA with a follow-up period of nine years.
Compared with women in gender-integrated workplaces, women's risk of LSA is most elevated at both extremely male-dominated (0-20% females) and extremely female-dominated workplaces (80-100% females), although the result among women in the most male-dominated group did not reach statistical significance at the 5% level. Men's risk seems less varied by gender composition.
The present study suggests that the gender composition in the workplace has an impact on the risk of LSA, especially among women. Our findings lend no support for Kanter's theory on the effects of being a token. Most likely, women's and men's different status positions have an impact on the different associations found.
本研究旨在探讨工作场所的性别构成是否与长期病假（LSA）有关。我们从坎特的“象征性”理论开始，该理论表明少数群体（象征性群体）的压力风险增加，这反过来又可能增加健康不良和 LSA 的风险。
该数据集包含从瑞典生活水平调查（LNU）和瑞典机构调查（APU）获得的信息，与瑞典社会保险局的基于登记的数据库相关联。纵向数据具有代表性，涵盖了 496 名女性和 566 名男性，基线年龄为 20-55 岁。我们的研究组由 1991 年就业人员组成，我们通过分段常数强度回归分析，对首次进入 LSA 的人员进行了为期九年的随访。
与性别融合工作场所的女性相比，女性在性别极度男性化（女性占比 0-20%）和性别极度女性化（女性占比 80-100%）的工作场所中 LSA 的风险最高，尽管在女性中最男性化的群体中的结果在 5%的水平上没有达到统计学意义。男性的风险似乎受性别构成的影响较小。
本研究表明，工作场所的性别构成对 LSA 的风险有影响，尤其是对女性。我们的研究结果不支持坎特关于象征性效应的理论。很可能是女性和男性不同的地位对发现的不同关联有影响。
