Department of Public Health Science, Graduate School of Public Health, Institute of Health and Environment, Seoul National University, 1 Gwanak-ro, Gwanak-gu, Seoul, 08826, South Korea.
Red Cross College of Nursing Chung-Ang University, Seoul, South Korea.
BMC Public Health. 2023 Dec 6;23(1):2442. doi: 10.1186/s12889-023-17072-x.
In recent years, researchers have been examining the impact of work-life balance (WLB) on mental health, considering it as a potential risk factor. However, it remains unclear whether the traditional understanding of WLB applies to older adults who worked for fewer hours before full retirement and whose children are likely to be independent adults. Therefore, this study aims to propose a modified form of WLB specifically for older adults. Within this context, we hypothesize that an optimum balance between working hours and social engagement protects against depressive symptoms among older adults.
We conducted an analysis using data on 5,751 Korean adults older than 55 years from the Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging 2016. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to evaluate the relationships among working hours, social engagement, and depressive symptoms.
Older adults who worked fewer than 35 h per week were less likely to experience depressive symptoms than were non-working older adults and those working 35 h or more per week. Additionally, older adults with a high level of informal social participation, thus occurring almost every day or two to three times per week, were less likely to experience depressive symptoms than were those with a low level of such participation (once a month or less). Furthermore, depressive symptoms were less frequent among those who worked fewer than 35 h per week and engaged in a high level of informal social participation compared to non-working older individuals and those with a low level of informal social participation.
Maintaining an optimal number of working hours and degree of social engagement are necessary to minimize the risk of depressive symptoms in older adults. Based on these findings, we suggest that fulfillment for work and life and their balance are important for older adults and propose work-life fulfillment balance.
近年来，研究人员一直在研究工作生活平衡（WLB）对心理健康的影响，将其视为一个潜在的风险因素。然而，对于工作时间较少且子女可能已经成年独立的老年人来说，传统的 WLB 概念是否适用仍不清楚。因此，本研究旨在为老年人提出一种改良的 WLB 形式。在这种情况下，我们假设工作时间和社会参与之间的最佳平衡可以保护老年人免受抑郁症状的影响。
我们使用了 2016 年韩国老龄化纵向研究中 5751 名 55 岁以上韩国成年人的数据进行分析。采用多变量逻辑回归分析评估工作时间、社会参与与抑郁症状之间的关系。
与不工作的老年人和每周工作 35 小时或以上的老年人相比，每周工作少于 35 小时的老年人出现抑郁症状的可能性较小。此外，与社会参与程度较低（每月一次或更少）的老年人相比，每周有较高程度非正式社会参与（几乎每天或每两到三次）的老年人出现抑郁症状的可能性较小。与不工作的老年人和社会参与程度较低的老年人相比，每周工作少于 35 小时且有较高程度非正式社会参与的老年人出现抑郁症状的频率较低。
保持适当的工作时间和社会参与程度对于降低老年人抑郁症状的风险是必要的。基于这些发现，我们认为工作和生活的满足感及其平衡对老年人很重要，并提出工作生活满足平衡的概念。
