Gender differences in minor morbidity among full time employees of a British university

Study objective-To examine gender differences in minor morbidity among men and women working in similar circumstances, and to test whether the relatio n between reported working conditions and health is similar for men and wom en. Design-Multivariate analysis of data collected from a postal questionnaire distributed to full time employees in white collar jobs within a single org anisation. Setting-A British university. Participants-1641 employees (1009 men and 632 women) working full time in w hite collar occupations in the university. Main results-Overall, female university employees reported more "physical" symptoms (2.0 v 1.7, p<0.001) and more "malaise" symptoms (1.4 v 1.1, p<0.0 01) than male employees, but mean scores on a measure of minor psychiatric morbidity did not differ by gender. Poor perceived working conditions land particularly lack of job stimulation, job drain and poor physical condition s) were consistently related to all three measures of minor morbidity, and these variables accounted for most of the variance in these health measures in this sample. When the analysis controlled for occupational grade, perce ived working conditions and orientation to gender roles, there was no diffe rence between men and women for any of the health measures. The relations f or the predictor variables were generally the same for men and women land t here were no interactions with gender for any of the work related variables ). Conclusions-Although small gender differences in recent experience of malai se and physical symptoms remain when examining men and women in as similar working circumstances as possible, these differences are cumulatively erode d by taking account of occupational grade, reported working conditions and orientation to gender. These results lend support to a differential exposur e, rather than a differential vulnerability, model of gender differences in health.