The contribution of unpaid labour to poor mental health in the Swedish working population

Abstract Background Poor mental health is debilitating and of global public health concern. Unpaid labour has been recognised as an important yet neglected determinant of mental health. We examined the contribution of unpaid labour/domestic work to poor mental health, in relation to other known risk factors, in employed adults. Methods Study data is from 5,462 employed Swedish women and men aged 30-49 years responding a population survey in 2022. Independent associations between time in domestic work, experiencing domestic work as burdensome, economic difficulties, loneliness, physical inactivity, risk consumption of alcohol and job dissatisfaction, and self-reported diagnosed depression and anxiety were examined by multiple logistic regression. Gender-specific population attributable risks (PARs) were calculated to assess the contributions. Results 10% of the women and 6% of the men reported depression while 12% and 6%, respectively, reported anxiety. Experiencing domestic work as burdensome explained 47% (95% CI: 31-57%) (PAR) of the prevalence of depression in women, whereas no independent association was found in men. Loneliness, economic difficulties and physical inactivity explained a smaller proportion in both women and men. Burdensome domestic work was associated with anxiety in both genders and explained 22-25% of the prevalence. Conclusions Among this 30-49-year-old working population, almost half of the prevalence of diagnosed depression in women was explained by burdensome domestic work. In addition, it was a significant explanatory factor for diagnosed anxiety in both genders. Whilst longitudinal studies are needed, these results imply that unpaid labour is a highly important contributing factor to poor mental health in the working population, especially among women. Key messages • Almost half of the prevalence of diagnosed depression in employed women was explained by experiencing domestic work sometimes, all or most of the time as burdensome. • Experiencing domestic work as burdensome was also a significant explanatory factor for diagnosed anxiety in both genders.