Department of Social Statistics, University of Manchester, HBS Building, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL, UK.
Warwick Manufacturing Group, The University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2023 Feb 28;20(5):4364. doi: 10.3390/ijerph20054364.
Previous studies suggest that paid employment can improve workers' mental health status by offering a series of manifest and latent benefits (i.e., income, self-achievement and social engagement), which motivates policymakers' ongoing promotion of labour force participation as an approach to protect women's mental health status. This study extends the literature by investigating the mental health consequences of housewives' transition into paid employment across different gender role attitude groups. In addition, the study also tests the potential moderating role of the presence of children in relationships. This study yields two major findings by using nationally representative data (N = 1222) from the United Kingdom Longitudinal Household Study (2010-2014) and OLS regressions. First, from the first wave to the next, housewives who transitioned into paid employment reported better mental health status than those who remained housewives. Second, the presence of children can moderate such associations, but only among housewives with more traditional gender role attitudes. Specifically, among the traditional group, the mental benefits of transition into paid employment are more pronounced among those without children. Therefore, policymakers should develop more innovative approaches to promote housewives' mental health by considering a more gender-role-attitudes-sensitive design of future labour market policies.
先前的研究表明，有偿就业可以通过提供一系列明显和潜在的利益（即收入、自我实现和社会参与）来改善工人的心理健康状况，这促使政策制定者不断推动劳动力参与，以此作为保护妇女心理健康状况的一种手段。本研究通过调查不同性别角色态度群体中家庭主妇转变为有偿就业对心理健康的影响，扩展了这一文献。此外，该研究还测试了关系中是否存在孩子的潜在调节作用。本研究使用英国纵向家庭研究（2010-2014 年）的全国代表性数据（N=1222）和 OLS 回归得出了两个主要发现。首先，从第一波到下一波，转为有偿就业的家庭主妇报告的心理健康状况比那些仍然是家庭主妇的人要好。其次，孩子的存在可以调节这种关联，但仅在具有更传统性别角色态度的家庭主妇中。具体来说，在传统群体中，对于没有孩子的人来说，过渡到有偿就业的心理益处更为明显。因此，政策制定者应该制定更具创新性的方法，通过考虑对未来劳动力市场政策进行更具性别角色态度敏感性的设计，来促进家庭主妇的心理健康。
