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Hard work, long hours, and Singaporean young adults' health—A qualitative study

BACKGROUND: As young adults in their 20s to 30s transitioning toward new careers and independence, their dietary and physical activity practices often change, increasing their risk of weight gain. This study explored the ways that Singaporean young adults perceived and experienced the interaction be...

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Autores principales: Leu, Jodie, Rebello, Salome A., Sargent, Ginny M., Kelly, Matthew, Banwell, Cathy
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10291095/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37377556
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2023.1082581
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author Leu, Jodie
Rebello, Salome A.
Sargent, Ginny M.
Kelly, Matthew
Banwell, Cathy
author_facet Leu, Jodie
Rebello, Salome A.
Sargent, Ginny M.
Kelly, Matthew
Banwell, Cathy
author_sort Leu, Jodie
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: As young adults in their 20s to 30s transitioning toward new careers and independence, their dietary and physical activity practices often change, increasing their risk of weight gain. This study explored the ways that Singaporean young adults perceived and experienced the interaction between their working hours, work, and health practices. METHODS: This research used semi-structured interviews to explore the perspectives and experiences of participants. Purposive and snowball sampling was used to recruit 15 men and 18 women, aged 23 to 36, who had worked full-time at their respective jobs in Singapore for at least 1 year. An inductive and deductive thematic analysis approach was employed. RESULTS: Young working adults' commitment to work was driven by a hard-working culture, a desire to attain better jobs and remuneration, and to fulfill cultural expectations to support their multi-generation families. Their non-work time was largely spent recuperating from work by socializing over food and in sedentary activities. CONCLUSION: For young working adults, long work hours are normalized, even though they are a barrier to healthy diets and physical activity. Existing social and institutional norms support a culture that values commitment to work and encourages young adults to devote long hours to building a sound financial future and achieving personal and cultural aspirations. These findings have implications for long-term population health and should be considered in health promotion activities targeting young adults and barriers.
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spelling pubmed-102910952023-06-27 Hard work, long hours, and Singaporean young adults' health—A qualitative study Leu, Jodie Rebello, Salome A. Sargent, Ginny M. Kelly, Matthew Banwell, Cathy Front Public Health Public Health BACKGROUND: As young adults in their 20s to 30s transitioning toward new careers and independence, their dietary and physical activity practices often change, increasing their risk of weight gain. This study explored the ways that Singaporean young adults perceived and experienced the interaction between their working hours, work, and health practices. METHODS: This research used semi-structured interviews to explore the perspectives and experiences of participants. Purposive and snowball sampling was used to recruit 15 men and 18 women, aged 23 to 36, who had worked full-time at their respective jobs in Singapore for at least 1 year. An inductive and deductive thematic analysis approach was employed. RESULTS: Young working adults' commitment to work was driven by a hard-working culture, a desire to attain better jobs and remuneration, and to fulfill cultural expectations to support their multi-generation families. Their non-work time was largely spent recuperating from work by socializing over food and in sedentary activities. CONCLUSION: For young working adults, long work hours are normalized, even though they are a barrier to healthy diets and physical activity. Existing social and institutional norms support a culture that values commitment to work and encourages young adults to devote long hours to building a sound financial future and achieving personal and cultural aspirations. These findings have implications for long-term population health and should be considered in health promotion activities targeting young adults and barriers. Frontiers Media S.A. 2023-06-12 /pmc/articles/PMC10291095/ /pubmed/37377556 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2023.1082581 Text en Copyright © 2023 Leu, Rebello, Sargent, Kelly and Banwell. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Public Health
Leu, Jodie
Rebello, Salome A.
Sargent, Ginny M.
Kelly, Matthew
Banwell, Cathy
Hard work, long hours, and Singaporean young adults' health—A qualitative study
title Hard work, long hours, and Singaporean young adults' health—A qualitative study
title_full Hard work, long hours, and Singaporean young adults' health—A qualitative study
title_fullStr Hard work, long hours, and Singaporean young adults' health—A qualitative study
title_full_unstemmed Hard work, long hours, and Singaporean young adults' health—A qualitative study
title_short Hard work, long hours, and Singaporean young adults' health—A qualitative study
title_sort hard work, long hours, and singaporean young adults' health—a qualitative study
topic Public Health
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10291095/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37377556
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2023.1082581
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