Employees who have more control over their daily activities
and do challenging work they enjoy are likely to be in
better health, according to a new study from The University
of Texas at Austin published in this month's Journal of
Health and Social Behavior.
"The most important finding is that creative activity
helps people stay healthy," said lead author John
Mirowsky, a sociology professor with the Population Research
Center at The University of Texas at Austin. "Creative
activity is non-routine, enjoyable and provides opportunity
for learning and for solving problems. People who do that
kind of work, whether paid or not, feel healthier and
have fewer physical problems."
Although people who work do give up some control over
their daily activities, the study found that being employed
leads to better health generally, regardless of the amount
of creativity required in their work.
"One thing that surprised us was that the daily
activities of employed persons are more creative than
those of non-employed persons of the same sex, age and
level of education," Mirowsky said.
The study was composed of 2,592 adults who responded
to a 1995 national telephone survey that was followed
up in 1998. The survey addressed general health and physical
functioning, as well as how people spent their daily time
on and whether their work, even if unpaid, gave them a
chance to learn new things or do things they enjoy.
"The health advantage of being somewhat above average
in creative work (in the 60th percentile) versus being
somewhat below average (in the 40th percentile) is equal
to being 6.7 years younger," Mirowsky said.
It is also equal to having two more years of education
or 15 times greater household income, he added.
Although the authors didn't examine specific job positions
that may confer this health advantage, professions considered
not to involve a creative environment included those in
which people work in assembly lines. Jobs that are high-status,
with managerial authority, or that require complex work
with data, generally provide more access to creative work,
Mirowsky said.
"People with a wide variety of jobs manage to find
ways to make them creative," Mirowsky said. "And,
people with higher levels of education tend to have more
creative activities in their lives, paid or not."
