ArticlePloS one2024
Gender inequalities of psychosomatic complaints at work vary by occupational groups of white- and blue-collar and level of skill: A cross sectional study.
Article in PloS one, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.
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Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed.
- Differences in cardiorespiratory fitness, physical activity, and pulmonary function across occupational groups and educational levels: a cross-sectional study.Annals of medicine · 2026Article
- Gender inequalities in high psychological distress vary across European regions and occupational subgroups.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Work stress trends in Germany: stable qualitative work overload but rising quantitative work overload across socio-demographic groups in a repeated cross-sectional study.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Trends in the Burden of Headache Disorders in Europe, 1990-2021: A Systematic Analysis from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Article
- A vertical-horizontal approach to examine social inequalities in early onset type 2 diabetes in the German workforce through occupational sector, education and income.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Gender differences in psychosomatic complaints across occupations and time from 2006 to 2018 in Germany: a repeated cross-sectional study.BMC public health · 2025Article
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4 authors.
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Abstract
backgroundPrevious research has shown that women report more psychosomatic complaints at work than men. However, knowledge about gender inequalities in psychosomatic complaints within occupational groups and specific symptoms is lacking. This study aims to compare gender inequalities in psychosomatic complaints in the occupational groups of white-collar high-skilled, white-collar low-skilled, blue-collar high-skilled and blue-collar low-skilled workers.
methodsThe study implemented a cross sectional design using data from the nationwide German Employment Survey of the Working Population on Qualification and Working Conditions conducted in 2017/ 2018. Psychosomatic complaints were operationalised by the following symptoms: headache, insomnia, tiredness, irritability, dejection, physical fatigue, and emotional fatigue. N = 20012 working German-speaking respondents were sampled. After excluding persons with missing data on the study variables, the sample consisted of N = 16359 persons.
resultsWomen reported significantly more psychosomatic complaints than men in the subgroups of white-collar high-skilled and white-collar low-skilled (ps < .05), inequalities in blue-collar high-skilled and blue-collar low-skilled only being numerical. Regarding specific symptoms, women reported more psychosomatic complaints then men in the subgroups of white-collar high-skilled workers, white-collar low-skilled workers, and blue-collar low-skilled workers. Headaches, physical fatigue, and emotional fatigue were the most common symptoms. The white-collar high-skilled subgroup had the highest number of symptoms with significant gender inequalities. These effects remained after controlling for age, working hours, parental status and marital status.
conclusionsGender inequalities in psychosomatic complaints are ubiquitous but vary in their frequency by occupational subgroup and specific psychosomatic complaint. Women in white-collar high-skilled jobs in particular report to be burdened more often by many specific psychosomatic symptoms. Future studies should investigate the reasons for these occupational inequalities and develop interventions to reduce health inequalities in the workplace.
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