Full Citation
Title: Relative deprivation and sickness absence in Sweden.
Citation Type: Journal Article
Publication Year: 2013
ISBN:
ISSN: 1660-4601
DOI: 10.3390/ijerph10093930
NSFID:
PMCID:
PMID: 23996012
Abstract: BACKGROUND A high prevalence of sickness absence in many countries, at a substantial societal cost, underlines the importance to understand its determining mechanisms. This study focuses on the link between relative deprivation and the probability of sickness absence. METHODS 184,000 men and women in Sweden were followed between 1982 and 2001. The sample consists of working individuals between the ages of 19 and 65. The outcome is defined as experiencing more than 14 days of sickness absence during a year. Based on the complete Swedish population, an individual's degree of relative deprivation is measured through income compared to individuals of the same age, sex, educational level and type. In accounting for the possibility that sickness absence and socioeconomic status are determined by common factors, discrete-time duration models were estimated, accounting for unobserved heterogeneity through random effects. RESULTS The results confirm that the failure to account for the dynamics of the individual's career biases the influence from socioeconomic characteristics. Results consistently suggest a major influence from relative deprivation, with a consistently lower risk of sickness absence among the highly educated. CONCLUSIONS Altering individual's health behavior through education appears more efficient in reducing the reliance on sickness absence, rather than redistributive policies.
Url: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23996012
Url: http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=PMC3799500
User Submitted?: No
Authors: Helgertz, Jonas; Hess, Wolfgang; Scott, Kirk
Periodical (Full): International journal of environmental research and public health
Issue: 9
Volume: 10
Pages: 3930-53
Countries: