Under contract and in good health: a multigroup cross-lagged panel model of time use and health-related quality of life in working-age men and women.

The way we spend our time directly predicts our health perceptions, but in the same vein our health also predicts how we can spend our time. Contracted time in particular was associated with positive HRQoL, across genders, and beyond sociodemographic predictors, highlighting the important role of employment in health, for men and women alike. The impact of commitments beyond contracted time-use-like household chores and childcare-however, continues to affect mainly women, which ultimately reflects in poorer health outcomes.