Gender composition of the occupation, sexual orientation, and mental health in young adulthood

The gender composition of the occupation has important implications for work conditions, rewards, and experiences, but little is known about whether it impacts workers' mental health. The present study seeks to answer this question by focusing on depressive symptoms and drug dependence symptoms...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inStress and health Vol. 34; no. 1; pp. 3 - 14
Main Authors Ueno, Koji, Vaghela, Preeti, Nix, Amanda N.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published England Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01.02.2018
Subjects
Adult
depression
Depression - psychology
Drug dependence
drug use
Female
Gender
Humans
Male
Mental disorders
Mental Health
Minority & ethnic groups
National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health
Occupational exposure
Occupational health
Occupations
Sex Factors
Sexual behavior
Sexual Behavior - psychology
Sexual orientation
Social interactions
Substance-Related Disorders - psychology
Workers
Workplace - psychology
Young Adult
Young adults
drug use
depression
gender
occupations
sexual orientation
young adults
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Summary:The gender composition of the occupation has important implications for work conditions, rewards, and experiences, but little is known about whether it impacts workers' mental health. The present study seeks to answer this question by focusing on depressive symptoms and drug dependence symptoms as mental health outcomes and young adulthood as the life course context. The study further examines whether the association varies by sexual orientation, considering that occupational gender composition affects levels of stress exposure and social support availability in different ways for heterosexuals and sexual minorities. The analysis of the U.S. data, the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health), shows that among heterosexuals, working in a more female‐typical occupation is associated with lower levels of drug dependence symptoms for women and higher levels of depressive symptoms for men. Sexual minorities show a diverging pattern—working in a more female‐typical occupation is associated with worse mental health for sexual minority women and better mental health for sexual minority men.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
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ISSN:1532-3005
1532-2998
DOI:10.1002/smi.2755