Relative Deprivation and Sickness Absence in Sweden
(2013) In International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 10(9). p.3930-3953- 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... (More)
- 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. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/4022554
- author
- Helgertz, Jonas LU ; Hess, Wolfgang LU and Scott, Kirk LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2013
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- duration analysis, sickness absence, Sweden, relative deprivation
- in
- International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
- volume
- 10
- issue
- 9
- pages
- 3930 - 3953
- publisher
- MDPI AG
- external identifiers
-
- wos:000328620200009
- pmid:23996012
- scopus:84883387660
- pmid:23996012
- ISSN
- 1660-4601
- DOI
- 10.3390/ijerph10093930
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 7197df51-2be5-4de7-897c-bdb47d4dae78 (old id 4022554)
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-01 10:20:34
- date last changed
- 2022-02-17 17:06:06
@article{7197df51-2be5-4de7-897c-bdb47d4dae78,
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.}},
author = {{Helgertz, Jonas and Hess, Wolfgang and Scott, Kirk}},
issn = {{1660-4601}},
keywords = {{duration analysis; sickness absence; Sweden; relative deprivation}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{9}},
pages = {{3930--3953}},
publisher = {{MDPI AG}},
series = {{International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health}},
title = {{Relative Deprivation and Sickness Absence in Sweden}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph10093930}},
doi = {{10.3390/ijerph10093930}},
volume = {{10}},
year = {{2013}},
}