Comparisons of individual characteristics between Thai workers in Thailand and Taiwan
Participants’ age, educational level and living conditions were significantly different between Thai workers in Thailand and Taiwan (Table 1). Majority of Thai workers in Thailand were young aged between 20 and 29 years old, whereas migrant workers in Taiwan were mainly middle-aged between 30 and 39 years old (Mean age [Thailand: 33.52 ± 9.41; Taiwan: 37.28 ± 6.54]). Similar with distribution of age, there were more Thai workers in Taiwan married with more than one child under 12 years old. However, in terms of educational level, there were significant less migrants in Taiwan had bachelor’s degree or higher than workers in Thailand (Thailand: 21.8%; Taiwan: 6.0%). Regarding living condition, majority of workers in Thailand lived with their families (57.7%), while most migrants in Taiwan lived with their friends or colleagues (50.0%).
Table 1
Comparison of individual characteristics of Thai workers in Thailand and Taiwan
| Thailand (N = 223) | Taiwan (N = 86) | |
Variables | n (%) | n (%) | p-value |
Sex | | | |
Male | 154 (69.4%) | 61 (70.9%) | 0.789 |
Female | 68 (30.6%) | 25 (29.1%) | |
Age group | | | |
20–29 | 88 (41.5%) | 9 (11.1%) | < 0.001*** |
30–39 | 61 (28.8%) | 46 (56.8%) | |
40–60 | 63 (29.7%) | 26 (32.1%) | |
Education | | | |
Elementary and junior high school | 54 (25.0%) | 38 (45.8%) | < 0.001*** |
High school level | 115 (53.2%) | 40 (48.2%) | |
Bachelor's degree or higher | 47 (21.8%) | 5 (6.0%) | |
Marital status | | | |
Single | 108 (49.3%) | 32 (37.2%) | 0.073* |
Married | 93 (42.5%) | 41 (47.7%) | |
Others (divorced, widow) | 18 (8.2%) | 13 (15.1%) | |
Have children under 12 years old | | | |
Yes | 61 (30.8%) | 29 (39.3%) | 0.167 |
No | 137 (69.2%) | 44 (60.3%) | |
Living conditions | | | |
Alone | 17 (7.7%) | 8 (9.5%) | < 0.001*** |
Partner or spouse | 68 (30.9%) | 17 (20.2%) | |
Family members | 127 (57.7%) | 17 (20.2%) | |
Friends or colleague | 4 (1.8%) | 42 (50.0%) | |
Others | 4 (1.8%) | -- | |
*p < 0.1, ** p < 0.05, *** p < 0.01 |
Comparisons of working condition between Thai workers in Thailand and Taiwan
There were 57.7% Thai workers in Thailand engaged in their first job, while 40% Thai workers in Taiwan had previously worked abroad (Table 2). Also, workers in Thailand had significantly higher percentage of staying in the current job for longer years. The difference of income is statistically significant between workers in two countries that Thai workers in Taiwan had higher income than their colleges in Thailand.
The working hours and sleeping hours were also significantly different between Thai workers in Thailand and Taiwan. On average, migrants in Taiwan worked fewer hours per week and slept more hours per day than workers in Thailand.
Table 2
Comparisons of working condition between Thai workers in Thailand and Taiwan
| Thailand (N = 223) | Taiwan (N = 86) | |
Variables | n (%) | n (%) | p-value |
Working condition | | | |
Work abroad experience | | | |
Yes | 1 (0.5%) | 32 (40.0%) | < 0.001*** |
No (First Job) | 123 (57.7%) | 39 (48.8%) | |
No (Done more than one job) | 89 (41.8%) | 9 (11.3%) | |
Salary per month | | | |
<15,000 THB | 128 (63.4%) | 2 (2.4%) | < 0.001*** |
15,000–20,000 THB | 54 (26.7%) | 12 (14.5%) | |
20,000–25,000 THB | 14 (6.9%) | 59 (71.1%) | |
>25,000 THB | 6 (3.0%) | 10 (12.0%) | |
Current tenure | | | |
<5 years | 100 (48.8%) | 49 (62.0%) | 0.045** |
Above 5 years (including) | 105 (51.2%) | 30 (38.0%) | |
| Mean (SD) | Mean (SD) | |
Working hours per week ǂ | 47.99 (2.19) | 46.30 (11.38) | 0.040** |
Sleeping hours per day ǂ | 6.90 (1.07) | 7.73 (1.87) | < 0.001*** |
*p < 0.1, ** p < 0.05, *** p < 0.01 |
Comparisons of interpersonal social support, work stress and health risk behaviors between Thai workers in Thailand and Taiwan
The percentage of workers with strong ISS was significantly higher among Thai workers in Thailand (Table 3). Similarly, the average ISS score of migrants in Taiwan was significantly lower than the score of workers in Thailand (Thailand: 21.79 ± 4.99; Taiwan: 19.69 ± 4.50). Regarding work stress, the percentage of workers with high psychological job demands was significantly higher among Thai workers in Taiwan. However, the job control and workplace social support were not significantly different between groups.
The percentage of current smokers was higher among workers in Thailand than in Taiwan (Thailand: 38.0%; Taiwan: 25.6%). In contrast, the percentage of high-risk drinkers was significantly higher among Thai workers in Taiwan than in Thailand (54.9% vs 38.9%). Though the percentage of drinkers among two groups were not significantly different, Thai workers in Taiwan drink more frequently than their college in Thailand.
Table 3
Comparisons of interpersonal social support and work stress between Thai workers in Thailand and Taiwan
| Thailand (N = 223) | Taiwan (N = 86) | |
Variables | n (%) | n (%) | p-value |
Social support | | | |
Weak ISS (scores < 20) | 83 (37.2%) | 49 (57.0%) | 0.002*** |
Strong ISS (scores ≧ 20) | 140 (62.8%) | 37 (43.0%) | |
Work stress | | | |
Job control ǂ | | | |
Low control (scores < 70) | 102 (45.7%) | 45 (57.3%) | 0.299 |
High control (scores ≧ 70) | 121 (54.3%) | 41 (47.7%) | |
Psychological job demands ǂ | | | |
Low demand (scores < 30) | 100 (44.8%) | 18 (20.9%) | < 0.001*** |
High demand (scores ≧ 30) | 123 (55.2%) | 68 (79.1%) | |
Workplace social support (WSS) ǂ | | | |
Low WSS (scores < 25) | 146 (65.5%) | 56 (67.5%) | 0.743 |
High WSS (scores ≧ 25) | 77 (34.5%) | 27 (32.5%) | |
Smoking behavior | | | |
Smoking risk | | | |
High risk (Current smokers) | 82 (38.0%) | 22 (25.6%) | 0.041** |
Low risk (Ex-smoker and never smoke) | 134 (62.0%) | 64 (74.4%) | |
Drinking behavior | | | |
Drinker status | | | |
Drinker | 140 (65.4%) | 61 (70.9%) | 0.628 |
Ex-drinker | 17 (7.9%) | 5 (5.8%) | |
Never | 57 (26.6%) | 20 (23.3%) | |
Frequency of alcohol intake | | | |
>2 times a week | 36 (17.2%) | 29 (35.4%) | 0.006*** |
2–4 times a month | 45 (21.5%) | 16 (19.5%) | |
Monthly or less | 55 (26.3%) | 12 (14.6%) | |
Never | 73 (34.9%) | 25 (30.5%) | |
Drinking risk a | | | |
High risk (score = 4 ~ 5) | 81 (38.9%) | 45 (54.9%) | 0.014** |
Low risk (score = 0 ~ 3) | 127 (61.1%) | 37 (45.1%) | |
a drinking risk is the combination of drinker status and drinking frequency. |
*p < 0.1, ** p < 0.05, *** p < 0.01 |
Associations between ISS, work stress and health risk behaviors by logistic regression analysis
Associations between ISS, work stress, and health risk behaviors by logistic regression analysis are shown in Table 4. In terms of smoking, working regions, sex, age and education were significant predictors of high-risk smoking behavior (Model 1–3). Migrant workers in Taiwan had significantly lower risk of having smoking behavior than workers in Thailand. Workers with educational level as high school and elementary or junior high school had 4 and 8 times more likely to have high-risk smoking behavior, respectively, than those with bachelor or higher degree workers. However, ISS and work stress including job control, psychological job demands, and workplace social support were not associated with migrants’ smoking behavior.
Table 4. Factors associated with high-risk smoking, drinking and frequency among workers by logistic regression model
Variables
|
Smoking
crude OR
|
Model 1
|
Model 2
|
Model 3
|
Drinking
crude OR
|
Model 4
|
Model 5
|
Model 6
|
Working region
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Thailand
|
(ref)
|
(ref)
|
(ref)
|
(ref)
|
(ref)
|
(ref)
|
(ref)
|
(ref)
|
Taiwan
|
0.56* (0.32-0.98)
|
0.32* (0.15-0.69)
|
0.36* (0.17-0.80)
|
0.30* (0.14-0.67)
|
1.91* (1.14-3.20)
|
2.02* (1.04-3.93)
|
2.21* (1.11-4.42)
|
1.92 (0.98-3.78)
|
Sex
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Female
|
(ref)
|
(ref)
|
(ref)
|
(ref)
|
(ref)
|
(ref)
|
(ref)
|
(ref)
|
Male
|
90.24* (12.35-659.64)
|
114.43* (15.20-861.43)
|
114.00* (15.12-859.21)
|
111.25* (14.77-838.23)
|
9.13* (4.58-18.22)
|
8.77* (4.26-18.07)
|
8.65* (4.21-17.75)
|
8.70* (4.21-17.98)
|
Age group
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
20-29
|
(ref)
|
(ref)
|
(ref)
|
(ref)
|
(ref)
|
(ref)
|
(ref)
|
(ref)
|
30-39
|
0.51* (0.29-0.92)
|
0.68 (0.30-1.52)
|
0.68 (0.30-1.52)
|
0.64 (0.29-1.43)
|
0.91 (0.51-1.62)
|
0.85 (0.42-1.71)
|
0.85 (0.42-1.70)
|
0.82 (0.41-1.66)
|
40-60
|
0.36* (0.19-0.68)
|
0.23* (0.10-0.55)
|
0.24* (0.10-0.56)
|
0.23* (0.10-0.55)
|
1.03 (0.57-1.88)
|
0.89 (0.43-1.83)
|
0.91 (0.44-1.90)
|
0.86 (0.42-1.79)
|
Education
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Bachelor's degree or higher
|
(ref)
|
(ref)
|
(ref)
|
(ref)
|
(ref)
|
(ref)
|
(ref)
|
(ref)
|
High school level
|
4.03* (1.70-9.54)
|
4.21* (1.54-11.51)
|
4.34* (1.58-11.87)
|
4.26* (1.56-11.65)
|
2.54* (1.26-5.09)
|
1.91 (0.85-4.28)
|
1.90 (0.85-4.24)
|
2.03 (0.90-4.57)
|
Elementary or junior high school
|
3.93* (1.59-9.68)
|
7.91* (2.52-24.77)
|
7.98* (2.55-24.91)
|
8.38* (2.70-26.06)
|
2.09 (0.99-4.42)
|
1.41 (0.57-3.48)
|
1.37 (0.56-3.38)
|
1.42 (0.58-3.51)
|
Interpersonal social support (ISS)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Strong ISS (scores>=20)
|
(ref)
|
(ref)
|
(ref)
|
(ref)
|
(ref)
|
(ref)
|
(ref)
|
(ref)
|
Weak ISS (scores <20)
|
2.00* (1.23-3.23)
|
1.31 (0.67-2.56)
|
1.35 (0.71-2.58)
|
1.41 (0.72-2.75)
|
1.59 (1.00-2.55)
|
1.09 (0.61-1.97)
|
1.08 (0.61-1.92)
|
1.05 (0.58-1.89)
|
Job control
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
High control (scores≧70)
|
(ref)
|
(ref)
|
--
|
--
|
(ref)
|
(ref)
|
--
|
--
|
Low control (scores <70)
|
1.35 (0.84-2.17)
|
1.24 (0.64-2.39)
|
--
|
--
|
1.09 (0.68-1.73)
|
1.07 (0.60-1.90)
|
--
|
--
|
Psychological job demands
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
High demand (scores≧30)
|
(ref)
|
--
|
(ref)
|
--
|
(ref)
|
--
|
(ref)
|
--
|
Low demand (scores <30)
|
1.90* (1.17-3.08)
|
--
|
1.61 (0.83-3.12)
|
--
|
1.18 (0.73-1.90)
|
--
|
1.36 (0.76-2.44)
|
--
|
Workplace social support (WSS)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
High WSS (scores≧25)
|
(ref)
|
--
|
--
|
(ref)
|
(ref)
|
--
|
--
|
(ref)
|
Low WSS (scores <25)
|
0.93 (0.56-1.53)
|
--
|
--
|
1.11 (0.56-2.21)
|
1.23 (0.75-2.00)
|
--
|
--
|
1.53 (0.84-2.79)
|
All data are shown in OR (95% CI). *p<0.05
For drinking behavior, workers’ working region and sex were significantly associated with their drinking risk behavior (Model 4–6). Migrants in Taiwan were twice as likely to engage in high-risk drinking behaviors than their college in Thailand. Furthermore, male workers were 8 times more likely to engage in high-risk drinking behaviors than female workers. Associations among ISS, work stress and migrant workers’ drinking behaviors were not found.