Commuting – more women than men find it stressful
As the number of available jobs continues to decrease, more and more people are having to find employment opportunities outside of their local area. This can often involve a time consuming commute back and forward to work, which can have many effects on the mental health of an individual.
The British Household Panel Survey is an information source which consists of details of an annual poll taken from households in the UK, looking at various lifestyle factors such as health/well-being social/economic and employment. Recent data taken from this source, has suggested that commuting can have a negative effect on the psychological health of women, whereas men do not seem to suffer any effects.
The opinions from researchers suggest that the cause of this may be down to the hectic schedule most women have to commit to, including childcare responsibilities and domestic chores. Many women find themselves running a number of errands whilst commuting, so have a lot of unreasonable time constraints and less flexibility. Men, however, usually don’t have the same level of household duties to adhere to, or the same responsibility for childcare. Thus, they can use the commute as an opportunity to relax and unwind, rather than stress about anything.
Information which has been released by The Journal of Health Economics goes into much more depth on the psychological impact of commuting for women. One of the interesting revelations of the study, shows that women with children who are younger than school age, seem to be affected the most. This would back up the claim made by researchers, that the increased negative effects may be largely due to childcare issues. It is worth mentioning that this figure is four times greater among women than men.
View the original Guardian article.