Women and work stress: evidence from the 1946 birth cohort

Abstract

Women at work throughout Britain, all members of the National Survey of Health and Development, were asked whether they were under nervous strain in their work. Data are presented for 826 women at work at age 26 years and 734 women at work at age 32 years. Two in every five women working full-time reported that they were under strain, this proportion being very similar to that for men in full-time work at the same age. Women in part-time work were much less likely to report strain. Strain at work was found to relate both to the level of work (jobs in higher social-group categories having a higher report of strain) and to the level of supervisory responsibility. Women reporting strain were also more likely to report problems with their sleep, frequent headaches, pain in the pit of the stomach and trouble with their back, but such reports seem more closely related to a prior susceptibility to anxiety than to the demands of the present job. It is concluded that, with the possible exception of pregnant women, it may not be helpful to consider women as a group of workers with particular problems in withstanding stress at work.