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Mental and physical health effects of meaningful work and rewarding family responsibilities

Positive feelings about work and family responsibilities benefit psychological well-being, but their physical health effects remain unexplored. The study assessed whether meaningful work and reward from taking care of family benefitted physical health to the same degree as mental health. Participant...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Dich, Nadya, Lund, Rikke, Hansen, Åse Marie, Rod, Naja Hulvej
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6481914/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31017925
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0214916
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author Dich, Nadya
Lund, Rikke
Hansen, Åse Marie
Rod, Naja Hulvej
author_facet Dich, Nadya
Lund, Rikke
Hansen, Åse Marie
Rod, Naja Hulvej
author_sort Dich, Nadya
collection PubMed
description Positive feelings about work and family responsibilities benefit psychological well-being, but their physical health effects remain unexplored. The study assessed whether meaningful work and reward from taking care of family benefitted physical health to the same degree as mental health. Participants were 181 Danes aged 49–51. Participants reported on working conditions, providing care to family, depressive symptoms, and perceived stress. Physical health was operationalized as a physiological dysregulation (e.g., hypertension, high levels of blood sugar and cholesterol, high body mass index). A multidimensional index of physiological dysregulation was created using parameters of cardiovascular, metabolic, and immune function. As expected, meaningful work and sense of reward from taking care of family members were associated with better mental health. However, in women, the very same factors were positively associated with higher physiological dysregulation. We conclude that work and family factors promoting psychological well-being may have physical health trade-offs, particularly in women.
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spelling pubmed-64819142019-05-07 Mental and physical health effects of meaningful work and rewarding family responsibilities Dich, Nadya Lund, Rikke Hansen, Åse Marie Rod, Naja Hulvej PLoS One Research Article Positive feelings about work and family responsibilities benefit psychological well-being, but their physical health effects remain unexplored. The study assessed whether meaningful work and reward from taking care of family benefitted physical health to the same degree as mental health. Participants were 181 Danes aged 49–51. Participants reported on working conditions, providing care to family, depressive symptoms, and perceived stress. Physical health was operationalized as a physiological dysregulation (e.g., hypertension, high levels of blood sugar and cholesterol, high body mass index). A multidimensional index of physiological dysregulation was created using parameters of cardiovascular, metabolic, and immune function. As expected, meaningful work and sense of reward from taking care of family members were associated with better mental health. However, in women, the very same factors were positively associated with higher physiological dysregulation. We conclude that work and family factors promoting psychological well-being may have physical health trade-offs, particularly in women. Public Library of Science 2019-04-24 /pmc/articles/PMC6481914/ /pubmed/31017925 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0214916 Text en © 2019 Dich et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Dich, Nadya
Lund, Rikke
Hansen, Åse Marie
Rod, Naja Hulvej
Mental and physical health effects of meaningful work and rewarding family responsibilities
title Mental and physical health effects of meaningful work and rewarding family responsibilities
title_full Mental and physical health effects of meaningful work and rewarding family responsibilities
title_fullStr Mental and physical health effects of meaningful work and rewarding family responsibilities
title_full_unstemmed Mental and physical health effects of meaningful work and rewarding family responsibilities
title_short Mental and physical health effects of meaningful work and rewarding family responsibilities
title_sort mental and physical health effects of meaningful work and rewarding family responsibilities
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6481914/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31017925
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0214916
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