The case of mental wellbeing among working women in Europe: The association between subjective wellbeing and work–life balance

Aims: The aim of this study was to examine the associations between two mental wellbeing (MWB) aspects – subjective wellbeing (SWB) and work–life balance (WLB) – among working women across European countries, further analysing the simultaneous influence of the study participants’ family- and work-related roles and responsibilities as well as macro-level context (country or welfare state categorization) on this association. Methods: A sub-set of data on working women (N = 6265) from the European Working Conditions Telephone Survey 2021 were utilized in multi-level mixed model analyses, where SWB measured with the WHO-5 instrument constituted the dependent variable. Results: WLB showed a statistically significant positive association with SWB. The association between European women’s SWB and WLB was only slightly weakened when considering the influence of the women’s roles and responsibilities in the family context (household structure and age of children) and work context (managerial position and full-time/part-time working arrangement). An effect of the country of residence, but not the five welfare state categories, appeared in relation to SWB in this sample of working women. Conclusions: Mental wellbeing is a multi-component concept and this study contributes to the growing evidence base on two key aspects of MWB and related interrelations among working women across Europe, with implications for public health strategies for promoting MWB.