Associations between Temporary Employment,Alcohol Dependence and Cigarette Smoking among Turkish Health Care Workers

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the association between contract type (temporary vs permanent employment) and unhealthy behaviour (alcohol dependence and cigarette smoking) in a sample of Turkish health care workers (N = 480). The authors hypothesize that temporary compared with permanent workers are more likely to depend on alcohol and to smoke cigarettes owing to increased work-related stress. Conditional logistic regressions were used to estimate the odds ratios of alcohol dependence and smoking status according to contract type. Controlling for gender, occupational position, education, family status, age, tenure and income, temporary workers compared with permanent workers were 5.6 times more likely to be alcohol dependent. However, no significant differences were established for smoking status. The study underlines the association between temporary employment and alcohol dependence, and, in particular, the possibility of reversed causation and possibilities for generalizing results to other populations and to other countries, as an important route for future research.