Disentangling the indirect links between socioeconomic status and health: The dynamic roles of work stressors and personal control.

Abstract

Prior research has documented an indirect link between socioeconomic status (SES) and health, and the goal in this study was to help unravel this phenomenon from a dynamic perspective. The authors hypothesized that SES would be positively related to feelings of personal control and negatively related to perceived work stressors. Drawing on dynamic conceptualizations of these psychosocial factors, they suggest that these psychosocial factors relate to one another over time. Individuals who have higher levels of personal control experience increasingly fewer work stressors over time than do those with lower levels of personal control, and those who experience greater work stressors increasingly perceive less personal control over time than do those with fewer work stressors. Finally, the authors argue that trajectories of personal control and work stressors are associated with the accumulation of health problems over the same period. Their model was tested with 3-wave data (over 4 years) from a nationally representative sample of Canadian employees (N ϭ 3,419). Latent curve modeling provides support for the proposed dynamic model. Conceptual and practical implications are drawn, and suggestions for future research are outlined.

Developing agency through good work: Longitudinal effects of job autonomy and skill utilization on locus of control

“…The items measure "the extent to which one regards one's life changes as being under one's own control in contrast to being fatalistically ruled" (Pearlin & Schooler, 1978, p.5), which is consistent with the definition of internal LOC (Rotter, 1966). This measure has been used to indicate general LOC in several past studies (e.g., Christie & Barling, 2009) including a meta-analytic study (Wang et al, 2010). Sample items are "I have little control over the things that happen to me" (reversed item), "What happens to me in the future mostly depends on me," and "I can do just about anything I really set my mind to do."…”

An Examination of Race, Socioeconomic Status, and Individualism-Collectivsm as Moderators of the Work/Family Antecedent and Work-Family Conflict Relationship

“…In addition, role involvement, a traditional antecedent of same-domain conflict (Greenhaus & Beutell, 1985) is also present in the model for the current study, however in line with source-attribution models the current research uses involvement as a cross-domain predictor of WFC (Hypotheses 3a-b). Despite being an established variable in other areas of stress-focused research (Christie & Barling, 2009), SES has not been emphasized by WFC researchers; however, the present study suggests that it both impacts role involvement (Hypotheses 4a-b) and is a moderator of the work/family antecedent and WFC relationship (Hypotheses 6a-d). In line with calls from previous researchers (e.g., Grzywacz et al, 2007), the present study also seeks to incorporate considerations of racial membership in work-family research, and includes race as a moderator of the work/family antecedent and WFC relationship as well (Hypotheses 5a-d).…”

“…The addition of SES as a moderator of work/family antecedents and WFC furthers the field theoretically because, as Christie and Barling (2009) point out, SES impacts the way individuals interpret their environments (Snibbe & Markus, 2005); and thus, across economic strata, individuals experience work differently (Aquino, Galperin, & Bennett, 2004). As Aquino et al (2004) note, individuals deprived of resources are most likely to require social validation.…”

“…However, previous researchers (Christie & Barling, 2009;Krieger, Williams, & Moss, 1997) have suggested that there are three components to SES: income, occupational prestige, and education. While interrelated, these components are still distinct (Gallo & Matthews, 2003).…”

“…As noted before, previous WFC research has measured and tested the contribution of SES to the WFC domain. However, when it has done so, it has generally not incorporated all three indicators suggested by researchers who have examined in-depth the impact of SES on health outcomes (e.g., Christie & Barling, 2009). By examining SES using multiple facets, instead of merely employing income as a proxy for SES, future research should be able to more accurately capture how this construct impacts the work/family antecedents and WFC relationship.…”