Associations among Employment Status, Health Behaviors, and Mental Health in a Representative Sample of South Koreans.
The purpose of the present study was to compare the health behaviors, general health, and mental health of South Korean employees according to their employment status, and to examine how these associations vary across genders using the latest Korean National Examination Health and Nutrition Survey data. Logistic regression analyses were performed using employment status-permanent job, temporary job, and unemployed-as predictor variables and health-related variables as the outcome variables. Results indicated that temporary workers and the unemployed have higher odds of poor mental health regardless of gender. On the other hand, only male permanent workers were found to have a higher risk of problematic drinking compared to precarious workers and the unemployed. Meanwhile, only women showed a higher risk of current smoking in the temporary job and unemployed groups compared with permanent employees. Regarding general health, women, not men, in the temporary job group reported poorer general health (i.e., low health-related quality of life and higher self-perceived poor health) than those in other groups. These findings suggest that the development and implementation of intervention services, as well as organizational actions, need to consider differential impacts of unfavorable employment status on health issues according to gender.
['Park|Se Jin|SJ|', 'Kim|Soo Yeon|SY|', 'Lee|Eun-Sun|ES|', 'Park|Subin|S|']
D000293:Adolescent D000328:Adult D004651:Employment D005260:Female D015438:Health Behavior D006304:Health Status D006801:Humans D008297:Male D008603:Mental Health D008875:Middle Aged D011788:Quality of Life D056910:Republic of Korea D055815:Young Adult
employment status health behavior mental health general health