Does sleep moderate the relationship between work-life balance and depression differentially in men and women? Findings from the North West Adelaide Health Study

Objectives/Introduction: Work‐life balance is important for workers’ mental health. Sleep also affects mental health, but its moderating effect on the relationship between work‐life balance and depression has received little attention. Gender differences in this relationship are rarely considered, limiting the specificity of management advice. Our aim was to explore the relationship between worklife balance, job strain and job security, and depression in a sample of Australian adults, and determine whether sleep duration moderates this relationship differentially between genders. Methods: Data were collected on self‐reported work characteristics and sleep duration in 1,024 male and 618 female working adults aged ≥18 years participating in the ongoing North West Adelaide Health Study, a population‐based community‐dwelling cohort. Conditional PROCESS models determined the moderating effect of sleep duration on the relationship between work‐life balance (Australian Work and Life Index) and depression scores (CES‐D), adjusted for age and income, with the Johnson‐Neyman technique employed to determine the point at which sleep duration significantly moderated this relationship. Significance of p < 0.01 was selected due to multiple comparisons. Results: Reduced overall work‐life balance was positively associated with higher depression scores in females (B (CI): 17.1 (5.29, 29.0), p = 0.005) but not males (1.4 (−12.2, 9.4), p = 0.799). This relationship for females was largely explained by overall work‐life balance dissatisfaction (23.55 (10.23, 36.9), p = 0.001), which was moderated by sleep duration (−3.0 (−4.9, −1.1) < 7.1 hr). In men, the perception of work interfering with responsibilities outside work was associated with depression (25.3 (11.1, 39.5) p = 0.001), moderated by sleep duration (−3.0 (−5.0, −0.9) < 7.6 hr). Men perceived work interfered with the ability to maintain connections and friendships (25.0 (10.2, 39.8)), moderated by sleep duration (−2.8 (−5.0, −0.7) < 7.8 hr); but sleep duration did not moderate overall work‐life balance dissatisfaction. Conclusions: The relationship between work‐life balance and depression is expressed differentially in men and women with sleep duration moderating some aspects of the relationship. This suggests that while a global score of work‐life balance may be useful for identifying risk of depressive symptoms in females, it may not in males. The benefits of sleep interventions may depend on which aspects of work‐life balance are perceived to be affected by the worker.