Employment insecurity and sleep disturbance: Evidence from 31 European countries

Abstract

For nearly half a century, jobs have become increasingly characterized by employment insecurity. We examined the implications for sleep disturbance with cross-sectional data from the European Working Conditions Survey (2010). A group of 24,553 workers between the ages of 25 and 65 years in 31 European countries were asked to indicate whether they suffered from "insomnia or general sleep difficulties" in the past 12 months. We employed logistic regression to model the association between employment insecurity and sleep disturbance for all countries combined and each individual country. For all countries combined, employment insecurity increased the odds of reporting insomnia or general sleep difficulties in the past 12 months. Each unit increase in employment insecurity elevated the odds of sleep disturbance by approximately 47%. This finding was remarkably consistent across 27 of 31 European countries, including Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Turkey and UK. These results persisted with adjustments for age, gender, immigrant status, household size, partnership status, number of children, child care, elder care, education, earner status, precarious employment status, workplace sector, workplace tenure and workplace size. Employment insecurity was unrelated to sleep disturbance in four European countries: Malta, Poland, Portugal and Romania. Our research continues recent efforts to reveal the human costs associated with working in neoliberal postindustrial labour markets. Our analyses contribute to the external validity of previous research by exploring the impact of employment insecurity across European countries.

Sleep Quality and the Stress‐Buffering Role of Religious Involvement: A Mediated Moderation Analysis

“…Although research in this area has focused on various sources of stress (e.g., Hale, Hill, and Burdette ; Mai et al. ), the study of major life events has a long history in the literature on sleep outcomes (Guastella and Moulds ; Healey et al. ; Williamson et al.…”

“…Psychosocial stress has been established as a robust determinant of sleep impairment (Kim and Dimsdale 2007). Although research in this area has focused on various sources of stress (e.g., Hale, Hill, and Burdette 2010;Mai et al 2018), the study of major life events has a long history in the literature on sleep outcomes (Guastella and Moulds 2007;Healey et al 1981;Williamson et al 1995). Stressful events may increase the risk of insomnia and other forms of sleep disruption partly because distressed individuals experience high levels of cognitive arousal and rumination (Guastella and Moulds 2007;Morin, Rodrigue, and Ivers 2003).…”

“…Indeed, major life events and chronic conditions can take a significant toll on sleep (Hale, Hill, and Burdette ; Mai et al. ; Williamson et al. ).…”

“…One particularly robust predictor of impaired sleep is psychosocial stress (Kim and Dimsdale 2007). Indeed, major life events and chronic conditions can take a significant toll on sleep (Hale, Hill, and Burdette 2010;Mai et al 2018;Williamson et al 1995). Consequently, researchers have worked to identify factors that may mitigate the effects of psychosocial stress on sleep outcomes, such as social support and coping skills, among others (Morin, Rodrigue, and Ivers 2003).…”

Multiple Job Holding and Mental Health among Low-Income Mothers

“…Multiple job holders work more hours on average than those with a single job (Taylor & Sekscenski, 1982). If holding multiple jobs means that individuals spend more time at work, or more time in nonstandard work hours, this may limit time for health promoting activities, such as exercising, sleeping, or accessing mental health services (Mai, Hill, Vila-Henninger, & Grandner, 2018;Marucci-Wellman, Lin, Willetts, Brennan, & Verma, 2014;Marucci-Wellman, Lombardi, & Willetts, 2016). Multiple job holding may also increase stress and lead to role overload.…”