Therapeutic management in the low-wage workplace.

Medicalization represents an increasingly significant form of social control. Emergent evidence suggests that workplace managers take up medicalized practices and discourses to produce a compliant labor force, but this phenomenon has received limited sociological attention. This paper extends prior theories of medicalization to investigate therapeutic management in the low-wage workplace. I draw upon eight months of ethnographic fieldwork in Disability Works, a nonprofit job training program for people with mental illnesses, and interviews with other providers and advocates within this field. Disability Works harnesses therapy, psychiatry, and "softer" therapeutic practices such as mindfulness meditation, sleep hygiene, and positive affirmations to produce its workforce. This paper identifies two dimensions of therapeutic management: (1) it aims to inculcate work norms at the level of client-workers' embodied dispositions, and (2) it aims to transform structural problems into individual ones. Findings illuminate therapeutic management as an emergent workplace regime and may guide future research on its effects.

Causal Relationships between Personal Networks and Health: A Comparison of Three Modeling Strategies.

Prior research documents associations between personal network characteristics and health, but establishing causation has been a long-standing research priority. To evaluate approaches to causal inference in egocentric network data, this article uses three waves from the University of California Berkeley Social Networks Study (N = 1,159) to investigate connections between nine network variables and two global health outcomes. We compare three modeling strategies: cross-sectional ordinary least squares regression, regression with lagged dependent variables (LDVs), and hybrid fixed and random effects models. Results suggest that cross-sectional and LDV models may overestimate the causal effects of networks on health because hybrid models show that network-health associations operate primarily between individuals, as opposed to network changes causing within-individual changes in health. These findings demonstrate uses of panel data that may advance scholarship on networks and health and suggest that causal effects of network support on health may be more limited than previously thought.

Network Support and Negative Life Events Associated With Chronic Cardiometabolic Disease Outcomes.

INTRODUCTION: Stress from negative life events may be an important risk factor for chronic cardiometabolic conditions, which are increasingly prevalent among young adults. Support from personal networks is known to buffer stress from negative life events. Yet, evidence for these relationships among both young and older adults remains unclear. METHODS: Longitudinal data came from the University of California, Berkeley Social Networks Study (2015-2018), which followed young (aged 21-30 years) and late middle-aged (aged 50-70 years) adults over 4 years. Weighted hybrid fixed and random effects models (completed in 2020) were used to examine the causal relationships among 4 negative life events, distinct forms of network support (e.g., social companionship, emergency help), and self-reported chronic cardiometabolic disease outcomes (i.e., hypertension, diabetes, or a heart condition). RESULTS: Among young adults, both the death of a close tie (average marginal effect=0.10, p<0.001) and financial difficulties (average marginal effect=0.07, p<0.05) were associated with a higher probability of chronic cardiometabolic outcomes. Higher numbers of confidants (average marginal effect= -0.03, p<0.01) and practical helpers (average marginal effect= -0.02, p<0.01) were associated with a lower probability of chronic cardiometabolic outcomes, whereas higher numbers of social companions were associated with a higher probability of having chronic cardiometabolic outcomes among young adults (average marginal effect=0.02, p<0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Negative life events may be important risk factors for chronic cardiometabolic disease outcomes, particularly among young adults. Although there is no evidence of network support mediating the effects of negative life events, increases in network support were directly associated with chronic cardiometabolic outcomes.

Direct and Moderating Causal Effects of Network Support on Sleep Quality: Findings From the UC Berkeley Social Network Study.

BACKGROUND: Sleep is an important, restorative behavior for health, yet many adults report troubled sleep. The existence of a support network may be beneficial for sleep quality, including as a buffer for stressful events, yet few studies have examined these relationships longitudinally. PURPOSE: To examine the causal effect of changes in personal network support on sleep quality both directly and as a buffer of negative life events among young and older adults. METHODS: The UC Berkeley Social Network survey collected data from young (21-30 year old, n = 475) and late middle-age (50-70 year old, n = 637) adults across three waves between 2015 and 2018. Participants reported on personal network characteristics, negative life events, and number of nights with trouble falling and staying asleep. Fixed effects models are used to examine causal relationships among each age cohort. RESULTS: Direct effects of network support on sleep quality were observed among older adults. Insufficient practical support predicted higher rates of trouble falling asleep (incident rate ratio [IRR] = 1.40, p < .01), while a desire for more social companions predicted lower rates of trouble staying asleep (IRR = 0.81, p < .01). Buffering effects of network support on sleep quality were observed among young adults. Changes in partnership status buffer the negative effects of the death of a close tie on trouble falling asleep (IRR = 0.75, p < .01) and persistent difficulties paying bills on trouble staying asleep (IRR = 0.45, p < 0.001) among young adults. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides evidence for the direct and buffering role of network support on sleep quality. Our results indicate that efforts to improve sleep quality should address personal networks and the support they provide, perhaps especially during times of stress for younger adults.

Online maternity information seeking among lesbian, bisexual, and queer women.

OBJECTIVE: recent research has concluded that barriers to maternity health care exist for lesbian, bisexual, and queer women. This mixed methods study aims to understand patterns in seeking and sharing online health information for LBQ women attempting conception. DESIGN: researchers performed a qualitative content analysis of 400 discussions in lesbian-oriented Facebook groups, containing 1764 total instances of text. 400 discussions from heterosexual-oriented conception and parenting Facebook groups were examined for comparison purposes, though they will not be the focus of this analysis. This paper also presents descriptive statistics on posts observed. SETTING: posts were drawn from a representative sample of lesbian-oriented conception, pregnancy, and parenting Facebook groups. Posts examined for comparison purposes were drawn from groups that appeared to primarily serve heterosexual women. MEASUREMENTS AND FINDINGS: many participants in lesbian-oriented Facebook groups sought and provided medical information. Their queries focused on the insemination process, and frequently related to posters' specific situations, while heterosexual women tended to seek general advice about the conception and pregnancy process. The accuracy of the content of responses varied, and group members seemed to view the prevalence of contradictory information as positive evidence of diverse perspectives. Even when information was technically correct, posters did not always apply it properly to the question at hand. KEY CONCLUSIONS: barriers to maternity care, or a lack of education and initiative among primary care providers, may drive lesbian, bisexual, and queer women to seek health information from peers on the Internet when trying to become pregnant. These exchanges may contribute to misinformation, which may negatively affect lesbian, bisexual, and queer women's fertility outcomes and overall health. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: clinicians should be conscious of online health information seeking as both a symptom of and cause of sexuality-based disparities.