Patterns and stratification of stressor exposure among Canadian workers.

This research note identifies patterns of stressor exposure among Canadian workers, their stratification by occupational and socio-demographic factors, and their relationship to high self-reported work stress. Using latent class analysis and data from the Canadian Community Health Survey we examine the intersection of six stressors, identifying five distinct patterns (Few stressors, Multiple stressors, Physical, Monotonous, and Chaotic patterns of stressor exposure). Results show that the patterns of stressor exposure are stratified by gender, education, income, age group, and occupation; as well as give insight on how particular patterns of stressor exposure relate to individual perceptions of high self-reported work stress. The project also provides a research example of using quantitative data to examine qualitative differences in patterns of experience that provide more nuanced insight into complex social phenomena.

Cette note de recherche identifie les modèles d'exposition aux facteurs de stress chez les travailleurs canadiens, leur stratification en fonction de facteurs professionnels et sociodémographiques et leur relation avec un stress au travail autodéclaré élevé. À l'aide d'une analyse des classes latentes et des données de l'Enquête sur la santé dans les collectivités canadiennes, nous examinons l'intersection de six facteurs de stress, identifiant cinq modèles distincts (peu de facteurs de stress, plusieurs facteurs de stress, physiques, monotones et chaotiques d'exposition aux facteurs de stress). Les résultats montrent que les modèles d'exposition aux facteurs de stress sont stratifiés selon le sexe, le niveau de scolarité, le revenu, le groupe d'âge et la profession. Les résultats donnent également un aperçu de la manière dont certains schémas d'exposition sont liés aux perceptions individuelles du stress au travail. Le projet fournit également un exemple de recherche sur l'utilisation de données quantitatives pour examiner les différences qualitatives dans l'expérience, afin de fournir un aperçu plus nuancé de phénomènes sociaux complexes.

Trajectories of Work Disability and Economic Insecurity Approaching Retirement.

OBJECTIVES: In this article, we examine the connection between trajectories of work disability and economic precarity in late midlife. We conceptualize work disability as a possible mechanism linking early and later life economic disadvantage. METHODS: We model trajectories of work disability characterized by timing and stability for a cohort of Baby Boomers (22-32 in 1981) using 32 years of data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics and latent class analysis. Measures of childhood disadvantage are included as predictors of work disability trajectories, which are subsequently included in logistic regression models predicting four economic outcomes (poverty, asset poverty, home ownership, and pension ownership) at ages 54-64. RESULTS: Childhood disadvantage selected individuals into five distinct classes of work disability that differed in timing and stability. All of the disability trajectories were associated with an increased risk of economic insecurity in late midlife compared to the never work disabled. DISCUSSION: This study contributes to the aging literature through its incorporation of the early life origins of pathways of disability and their links to economic outcomes approaching retirement. Findings suggest work disability is anchored in early life disadvantage and is associated with economic insecurity later in life.

A Longitudinal Analysis of the Intergenerational Transmission of Health Inequality.

Objectives: Empirical investigations of cumulative dis/advantage typically treat health inequality as an intraindividual process rooted in early-life conditions and operating within the span of the individual life course, while literature on processes of intergenerational transmission has historically focused on socioeconomic mobility, largely overlooking health. The current study examines the persistence of work disability across generations and multiple explanations for this relationship, including the role of early-life disadvantage, childhood health, educational attainment, and social mobility. Methods: We model latent classes of midlife work disability characterized by timing and stability using longitudinal data from the intergenerational component of the U.S. Panel Study of Income Dynamics (N = 3,328). Latent class analysis captures the initial risk of experiencing a work disability and how this risk changes across mid-life as a function of early-life conditions, childhood health, educational attainment, mobility, and parent's work disability. Results: Early disadvantage, childhood health, and educational attainment were associated with patterns of midlife work disability, and although upward mobility provided some protection, intergenerational continuity in health remained net of all of these factors. Discussion: Findings support the importance of looking beyond the individual life course to the transmission of health inequality across generations within families.

Life Course Pathways of Economic Hardship and Mobility and Midlife Trajectories of Health.

We utilize over 40 years of prospective data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (N = 1,229) and repeated-measures latent class analysis to examine how long-term patterns of stability and change in economic hardship from childhood to adulthood are related to subsequent trajectories of midlife health. We review conceptual and methodological approaches to examining health inequality across the life course and highlight the contribution of a person-centered, disaggregated approach to modeling health and its association with long-term pathways of economic resources, including changing resources associated with mobility. Findings suggest those who experienced early mobility out of economic hardship were less likely than those in persistent economic hardship to experience a high-risk health trajectory, while experiencing later mobility did not lessen this risk. We conclude with a call for further investigation into the role of social mobility and the timing, degree, and direction of change in investigations of health inequality.

Economic hardship in childhood and adult health trajectories: An alternative approach to investigating life-course processes.

In this study, we advance existing research on health as a life course process by conceptualizing and measuring both childhood disadvantage and health as dynamic processes in order to investigate the relationship between trajectories of early life socioeconomic conditions and trajectories of health in midlife. We utilize a trajectory-based analysis that takes a disaggregated, person-centered approach to understand dynamic trajectories of health as latent variables that reflect the timing, duration and change in health conditions experienced by respondents over a period of 10 years in midlife as a function of stability and change in exposure to economic hardship in early life. Results from repeated-measures latent class analysis of longitudinal data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics indicate that economic hardship in childhood has long-term, negative consequences for health both among individuals beginning life and remaining in poverty as well as those moving into poverty. In contrast, adults with more advantaged early life experiences, or who moved out of poverty during the period of observation, were at a lower risk of experiencing health trajectories characterized by the early onset or increasing risk of disease. We argue that a person-centered, disaggregated approach to the study of the relationship between socioeconomic status and health across the life course holds potential for the study of health inequality and that a greater focus on trajectory-based analysis is needed.