Job control and demands, work-life balance and wellbeing among self-employed men and women in Europe

Self-employed persons and their enterprises are regarded as important to the economy for their contribution to economic development. However, an understanding of the relationship between the psychosocial working conditions, the work-life balance and outcomes, such as health and wellbeing among the self-employed and micro-enterprise is limited. The main aim of this article is to study the relationships between control and demands at work, the work-life balance and wellbeing among self-employed men and women. Data were obtained from the European Social Survey (ESS) programme 2004, which is an interview survey conducted in 26 European countries (n =15 789). Wellbeing is measured by the WHO-Five Wellbeing Index and work-life balance is measured by an index consisting of two questions on work-life balance/conflict. The results show that men and women who are self-employed experience a lower level of work-life balance than those employed and this result is found more in men than women. When job control and demands are held constant for the self-employed and the employed, self-employed women experience a significantly higher level of work-life balance than do employed women, but self-employed men experience a similar level of work-life balance as do employed men. Self-employed women have a slightly higher level of wellbeing than do employed women and the difference between the self-employed and the employed men is non-significant. When controlling for the level of job control, the relationship between self-employment and wellbeing is non-significant among women and is significantly negative among men. The results of this study confirm that the psychosocial working conditions are important because demands and control in work influence work-life balance and wellbeing among self-employed men and women.