Gender, Occupational Stress, Resources, and Sleep Deprivation among Immigrant Micro-business Owners: Cross-sectional Survey of Korean Immigrants in Toronto, Canada

INTRODUCTION: Literature highlights occupational stressors as critical determinants of psychological well-being. Although immigrant micro-business owners (MBOs) tend to suffer from long work hours with heavy workloads in low-yielding service sectors, studies have rarely investigated their experiences. This study compares a sample of immigrant MBOs with matched (sex, age) samples of paid employees on: 1) occupational stressors (i.e., physical, psychological, and emotional demands), 2) occupational resources (i.e., autonomy, job satisfaction), and 3) sleep deprivation.

METHODS: Between March and November 2013, 1,288 Korean immigrant workers (51.4% men, 48.6% women, aged 20 to 64) living in and around the Greater Toronto Area were interviewed in person. Participants included owners of micro-businesses such as convenience stores, laundromats, and small restaurants. Paid employees consisted of professionals, office workers, and manual workers. The health outcome, sleep deprivation, was assessed by a standardized 9-item scale tapping sleeplessness, disturbed sleep, fatigue, and work dysfunction.

RESULTS: Compared to paid employees, MBOs reported a higher degree of occupational demands (physical, psychological, and emotional) and job autonomy. Among males, job satisfaction was higher for MBOs; female MBOs expressed less satisfaction than male MBOs and female professional and office workers. Among male samples, the effects of physical and emotional demands on sleep deprivation were greatest for MBOs; however, effect differences were not apparent within the female samples. Job satisfaction significantly mitigated the associations of sleep deprivation with physical demand (p=.011) for female MBOs and emotional demands (p=.053) for male MBOs, but not paid employees. Autonomy also seemed to benefit male MBOs in buffering the negative health effects of emotional demand (p=.0221). 

CONCLUSIONS: Immigrant MBOs experience elevated levels of occupational stress, but enjoy greater autonomy, which may buffer the impact of occupational stress on sleep deprivation. The stress buffering effects of occupational resources seem greater for male MBOs than for female MBOs.