Is temporary employment related to health status? : Analysis of the Northern Swedish Cohort.

• Aims: The aim of this study was to investigate whether temporary employment was related to non-optimal self-rated healthand psychological distress at age 42 after adjustment for the same indicators at age 30, and to analyze the effects of jobinsecurity, low cash margin and high job strain on this relationship.Methods: A subcohort of the Northern Swedish Cohortthat was employed at the 2007 follow-up survey (n¼907, response rate of 94%) was analyzed using data from 1995 and 2007questionnaires.Results: Temporary employees had a higher risk of both non-optimal self-rated health and psychologicaldistress. After adjustment for non-optimal self-rated health at age 30 and psychological distress at age 30 as well as forsociodemographic variables, the odds ratios decreased but remained significant. However, after adjustment for job insecurity,high job strain and low cash margin the odds ratio dropped for non-optimal self-rated health but remained significant forpsychological distress.Conclusions: Temporary employment may have adverse effects on self-rated health andpsychological health after adjustment for previous health status and sociodemographic variables. Our findingsindicate that low cash margin and job insecurity may partially mediate the association between temporaryemployment and health status.

Subject headings

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Hälsovetenskap -- Folkhälsovetenskap, global hälsa, socialmedicin och epidemiologi (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Health Sciences -- Public Health, Global Health, Social Medicine and Epidemiology (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Cash margin

cohort studies

employment

health status

job insecurity

job strain

mental health

prospective studies

self-rated health

temporary employment

folkhälsa

Public health

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)