Work-life conflict and self-rated health of Brazilian civil servants : Findings from the Brazilian Longitudinal Study of Adult Health (ELSA-Brasil)

Abstract: Abstract Objectives The relationship between work-life conflict and self-rated health is widely researched but whether the association differs according to educational level has received less attention. This study investigated the association of work-life conflict with self-rated health taking gender, education, working conditions and socio-demographic characteristics into account. Methods The cross-sectional data came from the ELSA-Brasil (2008-2010), a cohort study of civil servants 35-74 years old from six states of Brazil. Complete information was available for 12121 individuals (48% men). Work-life conflict was measured by four indicators representing different aspects, i.e. work-to-family time-based, work-to-family strain-based, family-to-work and lack of leisure time. Multiple logistic regression analyses stratified by gender and educational level were performed. Results More frequent work-life conflict was associated with poor self-rated health in all the indicators. The magnitude of association was greater for women and the same occurred with the higher educated respondents. An exception is in the family-to-work indicators where it affected lower educated women more than higher educated. Conclusions There is an association between work-life conflict and self-rated health and it differs according to work-life conflict indicator. Stratifying by gender and educational level presents an important addition to research in the field of work-life conflict.