“I have yet to hear a man ask for advice on how to combine marriage and a career.”
Gloria Steinem
A recent study by Fiona Jones and colleagues suggest that women under stress at work are significantly more likely than men to exercise less, consume more caffeinated drinks, and eat more unhealthy foods such as high-fat snacks, high sugar treats ((Jones, F. et al. (2007). Impact of daily mood, work hours and iso-strain variables on self-reported health behaviors. Journal of Applied Psychology, 92 (6), 1731-1740)).
For men, it seemed to be moods and not total number of hours worked or the type of pressure jobs they occupied that was associated with poor eating habits or lack of exercise.
The study by Jones was done by asking 422 employees to complete daily diaries measuring moods and health behaviors over a 4-week period. Whereas negative mood was negatively related to health behavior for both men and women, work hours had negative impacts for women only.
This study also verified what has been shown in previous research–jobs with a greater sense of control built into them (even when there is a heavy work load and pressure) are better for a person’s health and that low control and high demand jobs are significantly worse.
For women with multiple roles and trying to balance work and family demands, this study suggests that long hours at work are particularly dangerous to health. Ideally, employers should continue to support physical activity at work and look at ways to promote healthy snacking.
This study is consistent with earlier research of mine with 879 professional working women ((Nowack, K. & Pentkowski, A. (1994). Lifestyle habits, substance use and predictors of job burnout in professional working women. Work and Stress, 8 (1), 19-34)). In this study, professional working women most likely to report high levels of burnout included those who reported:
- High levels of work and life stress
- High levels of Type A behavior (both achievement striving and anger/hostility)
- Low hardiness (sense of control, commitment to work/life and view of change as threatening as opposed to stimulating)
- Poor overall lifestyle habits (e.g., exercise, eating/nutrition, sleep)
For women, it’s still tough to have it all…Be well….
[tags]work life balance, unhealthy workplace behaviors, stress, coping, job strain, job burnout, health, control, kenneth nowack, ken nowack, nowack[/tags]
Ken Nowack
Kenneth Nowack, Ph.D. is a licensed psychologist (PSY13758) and President & Chief Research Officer/Co-Founder of Envisia Learning, is a member of the Consortium for Research on Emotional Intelligence in Organizations. Ken also serves as the Associate Editor of Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research. His recent book Clueless: Coaching People Who Just Don’t Get It is available for free for a limited time by signing up for free blog updates (Learn more at our website)
