Informal employment and poor mental health in a sample of 180,260 workers from 13 iberoamerican countries

The aim of this study is to estimate the association between employment conditions and mental health status in the working population of Iberoamerica. In this cross-sectional study, we pooled individual-level data from nationally representative surveys across 13 countries. A sample of 180,260 worker...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Silva-Peñaherrera, Michael, 1984-, Santiá, Paula, Benavides, Fernando G. (Fernando García)
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2022
País:España
Institución:Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya)
Repositorio:Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya
OAI Identifier:oai:recercat.cat:10230/54009
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10230/54009
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19137883
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Health inequalities
Informal employment
Mental health
Occupational health
Working conditions surveys
Descripción
Sumario:The aim of this study is to estimate the association between employment conditions and mental health status in the working population of Iberoamerica. In this cross-sectional study, we pooled individual-level data from nationally representative surveys across 13 countries. A sample of 180,260 workers was analyzed. Informality was assessed by social security, health affiliation, or contract holding. Mental health was assessed using several instruments. We used Poisson regression models to estimate the contribution of informality to poor mental health by sex and country, adjusted by sociodemographic and work-related characteristics. Then, we performed a meta-analysis pooling of aggregate data using a random-effects inverse-variance model. Workers in informal employments showed a higher adjusted prevalence ratio (aPR) of poor mental health than those in formal employment in Peru (aPR men 1.5 [95% confidence intervals 1.16; 1.93]), Spain (aPR men 2.2 [1.01; 4.78]) and Mexico (aPR men 1.24 [1.04; 1.47]; women 1.39 [1.18; 1.64]). Overall estimates showed that workers in informal employment have a higher prevalence of poor mental health than formal workers, with it being 1.19 times higher (aPR 1.19 [1.02; 1.39]) among men, and 1.11 times higher prevalence among women (aPR 1.11 [1.00; 1.23]). Addressing informal employment could contribute to improving workers' mental health.