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Gender differences in insomnia and the role of paid work and family responsibilities

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Abstract

Purpose

A higher prevalence of insomnia in females has been consistently demonstrated across countries and cultures. The aim of this study was to clarify whether gender differences in insomnia could be explained by gender differences in paid work and family responsibilities.

Methods

Participants were employees at two local governments in Hokkaido, Japan, who underwent annual health checkups from April 2003 to March 2004. All data were obtained via self-administered questionnaires. Insomnia was evaluated by the Athens Insomnia Scale. For work and family characteristics, occupation, working hours, days off, shift work, visual display terminal (VDT) work, occupational stress, marital status, hours spent on household tasks, childcare, and caregiving were chosen. Data from 7,451 participants (5,951 men and 1,500 women) were analyzed. Logistic regression analysis examined how much paid work and family responsibilities explained gender differences in insomnia.

Results

The prevalence of insomnia in female subjects (31.0%) was significantly larger than in males (23.2%), but the gender difference disappeared after adjustment for paid work and family responsibilities. The results of stratified analyses revealed that significant gender differences were found only among workers with comparatively favorable work and family conditions, such as non-shift work, less than 6 h/day of VDT work, exposure to low levels of occupational stress, household tasks for less than 1 h/day, and not living with persons who needed care and support.

Conclusions

These results suggest that gender differences in insomnia are explained, in the main, by gender differences in work and family characteristics.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Mr. Manabu Shojiguchi, Mr. Hiyoruki Arizuka, Ms. Toyoko Enomoto, Mr. Takanori Mogi, Mr. Naoto Sasaki, Mr. Takeshi Tsuda, Ms. Tomoko Arihara, Mr. Chizuko Sato, Dr. Takehito Nakabayashi, Mr. Masahiro Odajima, and Ms. Tomoko Hinoda for their excellent assistance with data collection and thank Ms. Akemi Onodera, Ms. Maki Fukushima, and Ms. Aki Yasuike for their assistance with data checking.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Public Health Sciences, Hokkaido University Graduate School of Medicine, Kita 15, Nishi 7, Kita-ku, Sapporo, 060-8638, Japan

    Eiji Yoshioka, Toshiko Kita, Hiroki Satoh, Tomonori Fukui & Reiko Kishi

  2. Department of Health Science, Asahikawa Medical College, Midorigaoka E2-1-1-1, Asahikawa, Hokkaido, 078-8510, Japan

    Yasuaki Saijo

  3. Department of Comprehensive Development Nursing, Faculty of Health Sciences, Hokkaido University, Kita 12, Nishi 5, Kita-ku, Sapporo, 060-0812, Japan

    Mariko Kawaharada

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  1. Eiji Yoshioka
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  2. Yasuaki Saijo
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  3. Toshiko Kita
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Correspondence to Eiji Yoshioka.

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Yoshioka, E., Saijo, Y., Kita, T. et al. Gender differences in insomnia and the role of paid work and family responsibilities. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 47, 651–662 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-011-0370-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-011-0370-z

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