A study in 27 member states of the EU has found that in continental and Southern Europe, the combination of long working hours and family responsibilities has a negative effect on the health of women and men.

Responsibilities
However, in the Nordic and Eastern European countries such relationship doesn´t exist. In these countries long working hours of work and family responsibilities are not associated with poor health thanks to the presence of good quality public services. In Anglo-Saxon countries, the combination of work and family responsibilities affects health more in men than in women, primarily among main breadwinners.

European
The study, framed in the European project SOPHIE, has been coordinated by Lucia Artazcoz, researcher at the Public Health Agency of Barcelona and at the CIBER of Epidemiology and Public Health (CIBERESP), part of the Institute of Health Carlos III.

Traditional
"The association of long working hours and family responsibilities with worse health of men and women depends on the model of family policy that it is followed. It occurs in countries with traditional family models, but not in countries where the labour market participation of both members of the couple is promoted and good public services allow outsourcing the caring of children and dependent people", explains Artazcoz.

The press release on this study is published on the project website.

Also read the article in the European Journal of Public Health.