College of Health

This study examined to what extent gender, occupation and family situations influenced the occurrence and frequency of overnight work-related travel that US employees experienced. Unlike previous work, the data analysis allowed for differentiation of the factors associated with being in jobs with any overnight travel demand and the factors related to how frequently respondents travelled. This study particularly tested the hypotheses of occupational segregation and family demands, separately by gender. Consistent with the occupational segregation hypothesis, the occurrence and frequency of work travel varied across the types of occupation and men had a higher chance both to be in jobs with travel overnight demands and to travel more often than women did. The family demands hypothesis was supported by the findings that living with a spouse or partner and taking responsibility for a family member in need of extensive care were associated with the prevalence of work travel.