KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 26 — Women who work longer than 55 hours weekly are 7.3 per cent more prone to depression than those who work 35 to 40 hours, a British study has shown.
The Guardian reported that men who worked the same hours, however, did not show increased likelihood of suffering depression, which researchers attributed to women’s “double burden” of working at their job on top of chores at home.
“Women in general are more likely to be depressed than men, and this was no different in the study,” Gill Weston, the study’s lead author, was quoted saying.
“Independent of their working patterns, we also found that workers with the most depressive symptoms were older, on lower incomes, smokers, in physically demanding jobs, and who were dissatisfied with work,” added the University College London PhD student.
The results are reportedly based on data from over 20,000 British adults who participated in the “Understanding Society: The UK Household Longitudinal Study” that has been researching how UK lives are changing since 2009.
Both women and men who work on all or most weekends are also reportedly more likely to fall into depression than people who only work on weekdays.
Weston reportedly said the study did not prove that long working hours caused depression.
“This is an observational study, so although we cannot establish the exact causes, we do know many women face the additional burden of doing a larger share of domestic labour than men, leading to extensive total work hours, added time pressures and overwhelming responsibilities,” she was quoted saying.
