THE HEALTH-EFFECTS OF WORK AND FAMILY ROLE CHARACTERISTICS - GENDER AND RACE COMPARISONS

Many studies have documented the benefits of work and family roles for both physical and mental health. A number of these studies have sugge sted that work and family roles are beneficial to the degree that they entail rewarding relationships and activities. Using data from the Na tional Survey of Families and Households (N = 10633; 17 percent Africa n-American), this paper examines three questions: (a) Are gender and r ace differences in health explained by gender and race differences in work and family roles? (b) How do characteristics of work and family r oles contribute to health? (c) Are there gender and race differences i n the effects of work and family role characteristics? Simple occupanc y of work and family roles does not explain away gender and race diffe rences in health. Several characteristics of work and family roles hav e significant health effects, but there are few significant gender and race differences in those effects, and role characteristics do not ch ange the pattern of gender and race differences in health.