Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #106669

Margaret M. Weden, PhD, Population Health, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 610 North Walnut Street, 1007 WARF Office Building, Madison, WI 53726, 608-890-0200, weden@wisc.edu

Objectives: This study relates job-strain in early adulthood to changes in two risk factors for chronic diseases in later life, and then considers how these relationships shape health disparities over the life course.

Method: Data are from the U.S. National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979-2000 and the 1995-1996 National Survey of Midlife Development in the U.S. Non-proportional hazards models are used to assess the effects of job-strain (active, high strain, low strain and passive jobs) on smoking cessation and changes in weight for a cohort followed twenty years. Controls include material and social resources (education, salary, benefits, co-worker/supervisor support).

Results: High strain and passive jobs are associated with the lowest cessation; active jobs are associated with the highest cessation. In adolescence, active jobs are associated with the lowest likelihood of becoming overweight, and high strain jobs are associated with the highest likelihood. By midlife, high strain jobs are associated with the lowest likelihood of becoming overweight, and passive jobs are associated with the highest likelihood. These differences in cessation and overweight are instructive for understanding racial, ethnic and gender differences in health since the data show that women are less likely to age into active than high strain jobs, and African Americans are the least likely to age out of passive jobs.

Conclusions: Job-strain has critical implications for social disparities in health that originate in early adulthood. Programs to promote health and reduce risk factors should extend beyond individual-oriented interventions and address workplace conditions such as job-strain.

Learning Objectives:

• Describe a theoretical model relating resources and psychosocial conditions experienced in the workplace to racial, ethnic and gender disparities in risk factors for chronic diseases.
• Detail the differences in coping behaviors, such as tobacco smoking and overeating, between work environments and their relevance for disparities in health.
• Identify occupations which should be targeted for interventions to help reduce job-strain and promote healthy coping behaviors.

Keywords: Underserved Populations, Health Disparities

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.