This study was conducted to investigate the association between emotional labor and dysmenorrhea among women working in sales and call centers in Seoul, South Korea.

Working women in sales jobs and call centers in Seoul were interviewed face-to-face by well-trained interviewers. In total, 975 participants were analyzed in the final model. Emotional labor was measured using a constructed questionnaire with two components: an emotive effort component with three questions and an emotive dissonance component with five questions. To examine the association between emotional labor and dysmenorrhea, chi-squared tests and logistic regression were applied.

The prevalence of dysmenorrhea among sales workers and call center workers were 43.0% and 61.1%, respectively. The adjusted odds ratios (OR) of emotive effort and emotive dissonance for dysmenorrhea in call center workers were 1.88 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.07–3.28) and 1.72 (95% CI, 1.13–2.63), respectively. The adjusted OR of emotive effort and emotive dissonance for dysmenorrhea in sales workers were 1.71 (95% CI, 0.92–3.16) and 1.15 (95% CI, 0.67–1.98), respectively.

Emotional labor was found to be associated with dysmenorrhea in call center workers. Further studies to investigate other factors, such as management strategies and the relationship between emotional labor and dysmenorrhea, are needed to support interventions to prevent dysmenorrhea that will further promote the quality of health and life of working women.