Maria Stanfors

Professor

Running on empty: Gender, time allocation, and daily stress experience across the life course

Author

Maria Stanfors

Summary, in English

Stress is a public health concern. One of the explanations to why women, more than men, receive stress-related diagnosis in connection to sickness absence is their responsibility for housework and caregiving. We investigate men’s and women’s time allocation and its association with everyday stress across life course stages (25-74 years), using individual time diary data (N=11,880) from the 2000/01 and 2010/11 Swedish Time Use Survey (SWETUS), including self-reported stress on the diary day. Women were more likely to experience stress than men, irrespective of life course stage. Daily stress is higher for ages 25-49 than 50-74. Both determinants of stress and stress associations with time use vary between these groups. Paid work is positively related to men’s stress, while caregiving – to own children or other adults – is the primary determinant of women’s stress. Results are independent of education, occupation, and income. Gender still structures individuals’ daily life and well-being.

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