The Mediating Role of Cumulative Job Characteristics in SES-Health Relationships

John R. Warren, University of Minnesota
Jennie E. Brand, University of Wisconsin at Madison

We will estimate the cumulative impact of the conditions of paid employment between ages 35 and 53 on health at age 53. Our goal is to consider the extent to which cumulative job characteristics account for SES-health associations. We ask how cumulative exposures to physical and psychosocial job conditions mediate associations between SES and general/overall health, depression, and cardiovascular and musculoskeletal health. We use data from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (WLS), which allow us to observe high quality measures of SES, occupational histories from age 35 to 53, health risk factors, and health outcomes at age 53. In this part of our work we are concerned with both the DURATION and TRAJECTORY of exposure to job conditions. To estimate the effects of both duration and trajectory of exposure to job conditions on health we will need to use some form of latent growth curve or latent class analysis.