Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Sleep Duration Moderates the Relationship Between Perceived Work-Life Interference and Depressive Symptoms in Australian Men and Women from the North West Adelaide Health Study

  • Special Issue: Sleep Science
  • Published:
International Journal of Behavioral Medicine Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Background

Mental health disorders are prevalent and costly to workplaces and individuals in Australia. Work-life interference is thought to contribute negatively. The interplay between work-life interference, depressive symptoms and sleep has not been explored to date in population data. The aims of this study were to establish whether sleep duration moderates the relationship between work-life interference and depressive symptoms, and whether this is expressed differentially in male and female respondents.

Methods

Data were drawn from the North West Adelaide Health Study (NWAHS) longitudinal, representative population-based cohort study. Working members of the cohort were invited to participate in a telephone survey about their work conditions, with an 86.7% response rate achieved. Data from 823 respondents were analysed after employing purposeful selection of covariates, using multivariable regression analysis.

Results

Sleep duration was found to moderate the relationship between work-life interference and depressive symptoms (F7,815 = 26.60, p < 0.001), and accounted for 19% of the variance observed in depressive symptoms. The strongest effect of work-life interference on depressive symptoms was observed in habitual short sleepers, with the effect weakening as sleep duration increased. The relationship was observed in male and female respondents, but was stronger in females.

Conclusions

Supporting and educating workers about the benefits of sleep for managing the relationship between work-life interference and depressive symptoms may offer a novel strategy for improving worker well-being, particularly when negative facets of work-life interference are not easily remedied or ‘reduced’. There is a need for education and support strategies around sleep in Australian workplaces.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Black Dog Institute. “Workplace wellbeing”. 2017. https://blackdoginstitute.org.au/docs/default-source/factsheets/workplacewellbeing.pdf. Accessed August 25, 2019.

  2. LaMontagne AD, Keegel T, Vallance D, Ostry A, Wolfe R. Job strain - attributable depression in a sample of working Australians: assessing the contribution to health inequalities. BMC Public Health. 2008;8:181. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-8-181.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  3. Strazdins L, D'Souza RM, Clements M, Broom DH, Rodgers B, Berry HL. Could better jobs improve mental health? A prospective study of change in work conditions and mental health in mid-aged adults. J Epidemiol Community Health. 2011;65(6):529–34. https://doi.org/10.1136/jech.2009.093732.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Pocock B, Skinner N, Ichii R. Work, Life and Workplace Flexibility: The Australian Work and Life Index 2009: University of South Australia 2009.

  5. Baker DJM; Denniss, R. Walking the tightrope: have Australians achieved work/life balance? The Australia Institute, 2014.

  6. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. “The changing nature of work and worker wellbeing”. 2017. https://www.aihw.gov.au/getmedia/ac1e8df0-4f19-4c59-9df8-3211c395bd3f/aihw-australias-welfare-2017-chapter4-1.pdf.aspx. Accessed August 25, 2019.

  7. OECD. How's Life? 2017: Measuring Well-being. Paris: OECD Publishing; 2017. https://doi.org/10.1787/how_life-2017-en.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  8. Skinner N, Pocock B. The persistent challenge: living, working and caring in Australia in 2014. The Australian Work and Life Index. Centre for Work and Life, University of South Australia 2014.

  9. Emslie C, Hunt K. ‘Live to Work’ or ‘Work to Live’? A Qualitative Study of Gender and Work–life Balance among Men and Women in Mid-life. Gend Work Organ. 2009;16(1):151–72. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0432.2008.00434.x.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Roberts B, Vincent GE, Ferguson SA, Reynolds AC, Jay SM. Understanding the differing impacts of on-call work for males and females: results from an online survey. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2019;16(3):370. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16030370.

    Article  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  11. Reynolds AC, Dorrian J, Liu PY, van Dongen H, Wittert GA, Harmer LJ, et al. Impact of five nights of sleep restriction on glucose metabolism, leptin and testosterone in young adult men. PLoS One. 2012;7(7):e41218. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0041218.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  12. Di Milia L, Vandelanotte C, Duncan MJ. The association between short sleep and obesity after controlling for demographic, lifestyle, work and health related factors. Sleep Med. 2013;14(4):319–23. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sleep.2012.12.007.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Adams RJ, Appleton SL, Taylor AW, Gill TK, Lang C, McEvoy R, et al. Sleep health of Australian adults in 2016: results of the 2016 sleep Health Foundation national survey. Sleep Health. 2017;3(1):35–42. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sleh.2016.11.005.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Reynolds AC, Appleton SL, Gill TK, Taylor AW, McEvoy R, Ferguson SA, et al. Sickness absenteeism is associated with sleep problems independent of sleep disorders: results of the 2016 sleep Health Foundation national survey. Sleep Health. 2017;3(5):357–61. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sleh.2017.06.003.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Park S, Cho MJ, Chang SM, et al. Relationships of sleep duration with sociodemographic and health-related factors, psychiatric disorders and sleep disturbances in a community sample of Korean adults. J Sleep Res. 2010;19(4):567–77. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2869.2010.00841.x.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  16. Biddle DJ, Hermens DF, Lallukka T, Aji M, Glozier N. Insomnia symptoms and short sleep duration predict trajectory of mental health symptoms. Sleep Med. 2018;54:53–61. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sleep.2018.10.008.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Zhai L, Zhang H, Zhang D. Sleep duration and depression among adults: a meta-analysis of prospective studies. Depress Anxiety. 2015;32(9):664–70. https://doi.org/10.1002/da.22386.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Hammig O, Bauer G. Work-life imbalance and mental health among male and female employees in Switzerland. Int J Public Health. 2009;54(2):88–95. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00038-009-8031-7.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  19. Park JB, Nakata A, Swanson NG, Chun H. Organizational factors associated with work-related sleep problems in a nationally representative sample of Korean workers. Int Arch Occup Environ Health. 2013;86(2):211–22. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00420-012-0759-3.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  20. Chazelle E, Chastang JF, Niedhammer I. Psychosocial work factors and sleep problems: findings from the French national SIP survey. Int Arch Occup Environ Health. 2016;89(3):485–95. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00420-015-1087-1.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  21. Carleton RN, Thibodeau MA, Teale MJN, et al. The Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale: a review with a theoretical and empirical examination of item content and factor structure. PLoS One. 2013;8(3):e58067. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0058067.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  22. Mallampalli MP, Carter CL. Exploring sex and gender differences in sleep health: a Society for Women's Health Research report. J Women's Health. 2014;23(7):553–62. https://doi.org/10.1089/jwh.2014.4816.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Meers J, Stout-Aguilar J, Nowakowski S. Chapter 3 - Sex differences in sleep health. In: Grandner MA, editor. Sleep Health. 1st ed. Academic Press; 2019. 21–9.

  24. Grant JF, Chittleborough CR, Taylor AW, et al. The North West Adelaide Health Study: detailed methods and baseline segmentation of a cohort for selected chronic diseases. Epidemiologic Perspectives & Innovations. 2006;3:4. https://doi.org/10.1186/1742-5573-3-4.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Grant JF, Taylor AW, Ruffin RE, Wilson DH, Phillips PJ, Adams RJ, et al. Cohort profile: the North West Adelaide Health Study (NWAHS). Int J Epidemiol. 2009;38(6):1479–86. https://doi.org/10.1093/ije/dyn262.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  26. Taylor AW, Dal Grande E, Grant J, Appleton S, Gill TK, Shi Z, et al. Weighting of the data and analytical approaches may account for differences in overcoming the inadequate representativeness of the respondents to the third wave of a cohort study. J Clin Epidemiol. 2013;66(4):461–4. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclinepi.2012.06.021.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  27. Taylor AW, Pilkington R, Feist H, Dal Grande E, Hugo G. A survey of retirement intentions of baby boomers: an overview of health, social and economic determinants. BMC Public Health. 2014;14:355. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-14-355.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  28. Chapman J, Skinner N, Pocock B. Work–life interaction in the twenty-first century Australian workforce: five years of the Australian Work and Life Index. Labour & Industry: a journal of the social and economic relations of work. 2014;24(2):87–102. https://doi.org/10.1080/10301763.2014.915786.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Pocock B, Skinner N, Williams P. Measuring work—life interaction: the Australian Work and Life Index (AWALI) 2007. Labour & Industry: a journal of the social and economic relations of work. 2008;18(3):19–43. https://doi.org/10.1080/10301763.2008.10669373.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Skinner N, Pisaniello S. Juggling work-life balance in South Australia AWALI. 2010.

  31. Radloff LS. The CES-D scale:a self-report depression scale for research in the general population. Appl Psychol Meas. 1977;1(3):385–401. https://doi.org/10.1177/014662167700100306.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. Crawford J, Cayley C, Lovibond PF, Wilson PH, Hartley C. Percentile norms and accompanying interval estimates from an Australian general adult population sample for self-report mood scales (BAI, BDI, CRSD, CES-D, DASS, DASS-21, STAI-X, STAI-Y, SRDS, and SRAS). Aust Psychol. 2011;46(1):3–14. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1742-9544.2010.00003.x.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. Herman S, Archambeau OG, Deliramich AN, Kim BS, Chiu PH, Frueh BC. Depressive symptoms and mental health treatment in an ethnoracially diverse college student sample. Journal of American college health : J of ACH. 2011;59(8):715–20. https://doi.org/10.1080/07448481.2010.529625.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  34. Gatz M, Johansson B, Pedersen N, Berg S, Reynolds C. A cross-national self-report measure of depressive symptomatology. Int Psychogeriatr. 1993;5(2):147–56. https://doi.org/10.1017/s1041610293001486.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  35. Mojtabai R, Olfson M. Major depression in community-dwelling middle-aged and older adults: prevalence and 2- and 4-year follow-up symptoms. Psychol Med. 2004;34(4):623–34. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0033291703001764.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  36. St John PD, Montgomery PR. Marital status, partner satisfaction, and depressive symptoms in older men and women. Can J Psychiatr. 2009;54(7):487–92. https://doi.org/10.1177/070674370905400710.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  37. Chang H-P, Chen J-Y, Huang Y-H, Tyan JY, Yeh CJ, Su PH, et al. Prevalence and factors associated with depressive symptoms in mothers with infants or toddlers. Pediatrics & Neonatology. 2014;55(6):470–9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pedneo.2013.12.009.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  38. Moon HJ, Lee SH, Lee HS, Lee K-J, Kim JJ. The association between shift work and depression in hotel workers. Annals of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. 2015;27(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40557-015-0081-0.

  39. Yoon Y, Ryu J, Kim H, Kang CW, Jung-Choi K. Working hours and depressive symptoms: the role of job stress factors. Annals of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. 2018;30(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40557-018-0257-5.

  40. Kivimaki M, Nyberg ST, Batty GD, et al. Long working hours as a risk factor for atrial fibrillation: a multi-cohort study. Eur Heart J. 2017;38(34):2621–8. https://doi.org/10.1093/eurheartj/ehx324.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  41. Hosmer DW, Lemeshow S. Multiple Logistic Regression. Applied Logistic Regression. 2nd ed. New York: Wiley; 2005. p. 31-46

    Google Scholar 

  42. Hayes AF, Little TD. Introduction to mediation, moderation, and conditional process analysis : a regression-based approach. 2nd ed. New York: The Guilford Press; 2018.

    Google Scholar 

  43. Preacher KJ, Curran PJ, Bauer DJ. Computational tools for probing interactions in multiple linear regression, multilevel modeling, and latent curve analysis. J Educ Behav Stat. 2006;31(4):437–48. https://doi.org/10.3102/10769986031004437.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  44. Zheng C, Molineux J, Mirshekary S, Scarparo S. Developing individual and organisational work-life balance strategies to improve employee health and wellbeing. Empl Relat. 2015;37(3):354–79.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  45. Nishinoue N, Takano T, Kaku A, Eto R, Kato N, Ono Y, et al. Effects of sleep hygiene education and behavioral therapy on sleep quality of white-collar workers: a randomized controlled trial. Ind Health. 2012;50(2):123–31. https://doi.org/10.2486/indhealth.ms1322.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  46. Redeker NS, Caruso CC, Hashmi SD, Mullington JM, Grandner M, Morgenthaler TI. Workplace interventions to promote sleep health and an alert. Healthy Workforce J Clin Sleep Med. 2019;15(4):649–57. https://doi.org/10.5664/jcsm.7734.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  47. Mead MP, Irish LA. Application of health behaviour theory to sleep health improvement. J Sleep Res. 2019:e12950. https://doi.org/10.1111/jsr.12950.

  48. Rebar A, Reynolds AC, Ferguson SA, Gardner B. Accounting for automatic processes in sleep health. Journal of Sleep Research accepted.

  49. Gustavson K, von Soest T, Karevold E, Roysamb E. Attrition and generalizability in longitudinal studies: findings from a 15-year population-based study and a Monte Carlo simulation study. BMC Public Health. 2012;12:918. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-12-918.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  50. Tambs K, Ronning T, Prescott CA, et al. The Norwegian Institute of Public Health twin study of mental health: examining recruitment and attrition bias. Twin research and human genetics : the official journal of the International Society for Twin Studies. 2009;12(2):158–68. https://doi.org/10.1375/twin.12.2.158.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  51. Scott LD, Hofmeister N, Rogness N, Rogers AE. An interventional approach for patient and nurse safety: a fatigue countermeasures feasibility study. Nurs Res. 2010;59(4):250–8. https://doi.org/10.1097/NNR.0b013e3181de9116.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  52. Arora VM, Georgitis E, Woodruff JN, Humphrey HJ, Meltzer D. Improving sleep hygiene of medical interns: can the sleep, alertness, and fatigue education in residency program help? Arch Intern Med. 2007;167(16):1738–44. https://doi.org/10.1001/archinte.167.16.1738.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  53. Lyall LM, Wyse CA, Graham N, Ferguson A, Lyall DM, Cullen B, et al. Association of disrupted circadian rhythmicity with mood disorders, subjective wellbeing, and cognitive function: a cross-sectional study of 91 105 participants from the UK biobank. Lancet Psychiatry. 2018;5(6):507–14. https://doi.org/10.1016/s2215-0366(18)30139-1.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  54. Vadnie CA, McClung CA. Circadian rhythm disturbances in mood disorders: insights into the role of the Suprachiasmatic nucleus. Neural plasticity. 2017;2017:1504507. https://doi.org/10.1155/2017/1504507.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  55. Paterson JL, Reynolds AC, Duncan M, Vandelanotte C, Ferguson SA. Barriers and enablers to modifying sleep behavior in adolescents and young adults: a qualitative investigation. Behav Sleep Med. 2017:1–13. https://doi.org/10.1080/15402002.2016.1266489.

Download references

Acknowledgement

ACR has received a speaker honorarium from Sealy Australia for scientific commentary.

Funding

This study was conducted using data from the North West Adelaide Health Study, which has received funding including the Premier’s Science and Research Fund. The survey was part of the Nutrition, Obesity, Lifestyle and Environment (NOBLE 2) ARC Project (LP0990065).

Author information

Author notes

  1. Layla J. Bunjo and Amy C. Reynolds contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Adelaide Medical School, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA, Australia

    Layla J. Bunjo & Tiffany K. Gill

  2. The Appleton Institute, CQUniversity, Adelaide, SA, Australia

    Amy C. Reynolds

  3. Adelaide Institute for Sleep Health, College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University, Bedford Park, Adelaide, SA, 5042, Australia

    Sarah L. Appleton & Robert J. Adams

  4. The Health Observatory, Discipline of Medicine, The Queen Elizabeth Hospital Campus, University of Adelaide, Woodville, Adelaide, SA, 5011, Australia

    Sarah L. Appleton & Robert J. Adams

  5. Freemason’s Centre for Men’s Health, Discipline of Medicine, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA, Australia

    Sarah L. Appleton

  6. Behaviour, Brain and Body (BBB) Research Group, Division of Health Science, University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia

    Jill Dorrian

  7. Department of Integrative Physiology, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, USA

    Céline Vetter

Authors
  1. Layla J. Bunjo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Amy C. Reynolds
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Sarah L. Appleton
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Jill Dorrian
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Céline Vetter
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Tiffany K. Gill
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Robert J. Adams
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Amy C. Reynolds.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of Interest

CV, JD, TKG, SLA and RJA have no conflicts to declare.

Ethical Approval

The approval was obtained from the Human Research Ethics Committee of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital and Lyell McEwin Hospitals (2,008,034 and 2,011,145).

Informed consent

Consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Additional information

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Electronic supplementary material

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Bunjo, L.J., Reynolds, A.C., Appleton, S.L. et al. Sleep Duration Moderates the Relationship Between Perceived Work-Life Interference and Depressive Symptoms in Australian Men and Women from the North West Adelaide Health Study. Int.J. Behav. Med. 28, 29–38 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12529-020-09866-9

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12529-020-09866-9

Keywords

Search

Navigation