Higher Occupational Status Research Articles

Occupational Class and Risk of Cardiovascular Disease Incidence inJapan: Nationwide, Multicenter, Hospital-Based Case-Control Study.

BackgroundIn contemporary Western settings, higher occupational class is associated with lower risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD) incidence, including coronary heart disease (CHD) and stroke. However, in non‐Western settings (including Japan), the occupational class gradient for cardiovascular disease risk has not been characterized.Methods and ResultsUsing a nationwide, multicenter hospital inpatient data set (1984–2016) in Japan, we conducted a matched hospital case‐control study with ≈1.1 million study subjects. Based on a standard national classification, we coded patients according to their longest‐held occupational class (blue‐collar, service, professional, manager) within each industrial sector (blue‐collar, service, white‐collar). Using blue‐collar workers in blue‐collar industries as the referent group, odds ratios and 95% CIs were estimated by conditional logistic regression with multiple imputation, matched for sex, age, admission date, and admitting hospital. Smoking and drinking were additionally controlled. Higher occupational class (professionals and managers) was associated with excess risk for CHD. Even after controlling for smoking and drinking, the excess odds across all industries remained significantly associated with CHD, being most pronounced among managers employed in service industries (odds ratio, 1.19; 95% CI, 1.08–1.31). On the other hand, the excess CHD risk in higher occupational class was offset by their lower risk for stroke (eg, odds ratio for professionals in blue‐collar industries, 0.77; 95% CI, 0.70–0.85).ConclusionsThe occupational “gradient” in cardiovascular disease (with lower risk observed in higher status occupations) may not be a universal phenomenon. In contemporary Japanese society, managers and professionals may experience higher risk for CHD.

A life course perspective on working after retirement: What role does the work history play?

Scientific studies on the predictors of working after retirement have mostly neglected individuals’ work histories. We present an integrative framework based on life course theory to investigate the extent to which characteristics of work histories explain the decision to work after retirement. The data are retrieved from the Survey of Health, Aging and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), combining information on life histories with information on current retirement. The results of our logistic models show that the larger the share of part-time work or self-employment over the work career, the higher the likelihood to work after retirement. Also, those with high occupational status and flexible careers are particularly likely to work after retirement. Regarding gender, we found that divorced women are particularly likely to work after retirement, but only if they did not remarry. We conclude that inequalities that develop across the life course continue to play a role after retirement.

Initial employment pathways of immigrants in Germany. Why legal contexts of reception matter – an analysis of life-course data

This article investigates the impact of legal status on economic integration opportunities after immigrants arrive in Germany. Those coming from European Union (EU) countries experience a legal context of reception quite distinct from those from outside the EU, i.e. third-country nationals. Of these third-country nationals, asylum-seekers are particularly vulnerable as long as their legal status is unresolved. The empirical analysis (National Educational Panel Study) of longitudinal employment patterns studies persons who moved to Germany as adults between 1964 and 2003. Results show that, while EU nationals had the highest likelihood of entering high-status occupations immediately after arrival, a large proportion of refugees persistently faced difficulties in entering the labour force or at most slowly gained access to unskilled jobs. By contrast, politically privileged ethnic German resettlers ( Aussiedler), though experiencing initial unemployment similar to refugees, managed to transition into employment fairly fast. Other third-country nationals are situated between resettlers and EU nationals.

Us versus Them: The Responses of Managers to the Feminization of High-Status Occupations

What happens when more and more women enter high-status occupations that were previously male-dominated occupations? This article explores how the processes by which the entrance of women into high-status occupations has affected the hiring, income, and perceived competence of women. I present the results of a general population experiment conducted on a large, random sample of the U.S. population. The experiment was designed to explore the hiring, income, and perceived competence of all women when high-status occupations become predominantly female. I show that when male managers are exposed to information about high-status occupations’ becoming predominantly female, they evaluate women who work in other high-status occupations as less competent, tend to hire them less frequently, and offer them lower salaries. Female managers, however, tend to respond to such changes in the labor force by valuing women more highly.

Issues of the Qualitative Research on Police Communication

Fundamentally, researching police communications exists on the boundary of two young sciences that have won independent recognition nearly simultaneously. Géza Finszter, the President of the Police Science subcommittee of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, has given voice to his concern in recent years that the police is uncovering the dysfunctions of its organization by employing authoritarian communications and citing secrecy considerations, thereby inhibiting the transformation of the police into a high status occupation, cooperation with the citizenry, and the creation of mutual trust. In this article, I am going to review the history and opportunities, as well as the challenges of research in police communications; what dilemmas the communications researcher must face in the diversity of methodologies.

Perception of donor breast milk and determinants of its acceptability among mothers in a developing community: a cross-sectional multi-center study in south-east Nigeria

BackgroundDue to the health and economic benefits of breast milk, the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that for infants who cannot receive breast milk from their own mothers, the next preferred option is donated breast milk. This recommendation is however rarely practiced in most developing countries where donor milk is not widely accepted.MethodsThis cross-sectional multi-center study enrolled mothers attending antenatal or pediatric clinics in six tertiary institution in south-east Nigeria using purposive and convenient sampling method. Data collection was done using pretested questionnaires. The study aimed to assess the knowledge, acceptability and willingness to donate breast milk and/or use donated breast milk for their infants It also explored factors that determine this behavior.ResultsA total of 1235 mothers participated; 39% (480/1225) have heard about the concept of donor milk, while only 10% (79/759) and 7% (81/1179), respectively, had adequate knowledge of the concept and policy on donor milk. Sixty percent indicated willingness to use donor milk or donate breast milk if need arises. Respondents with lower age (p = 0.049) and with higher occupational status (p = 0.001) were more likely to have adequate knowledge of donor breast milk, while respondents with lower educational attainment (p = 0.002) and those who are non-Christians (p = 0.004) were more likely to request financial inducement for donating their breast milk. Adequate knowledge of the concept of donor milk (p = 0.001), preference of donor milk to infant formula (p = 0.001) and requirement of financial remuneration (p = 0.001) were the only significant predictors of willingness to donate and/or receive donated breast milk.ConclusionThe knowledge of the concept of donor breast milk and awareness of policies regulating its practice in Nigeria is low, but the prospect of its acceptability is high among mothers surveyed in south-east Nigeria. Targeted public education by relevant government agencies in collaboration with clinicians, community and religious leaders about the concept of donor breast milk to families may help increase the acceptance and practice of donating breast milk and/or use of donated breast milk among mothers in the region.

‘Talent-spotting’ or ‘social magic’? Inequality, cultural sorting and constructions of the ideal graduate in elite professions

Graduate outcomes – including rates of employment and earnings – are marked by persistent inequalities related to social class, as well as gender, ethnicity and institution. Despite national policy agendas related to social mobility and ‘fair access to the professions’, high-status occupations are disproportionately composed of those from socially privileged backgrounds, and evidence suggests that in recent decades many professions have become less socially representative. This article makes an original contribution to sociological studies of inequalities in graduate transitions and elite reproduction through a distinct focus on the ‘pre-hiring’ practices of graduate employers. It does this through a critical analysis of the graduate recruitment material of two popular graduate employers. It shows how, despite espousing commitments to diversity and inclusion, constructions of the ‘ideal’ graduate privilege individuals who can mobilise and embody certain valued capitals. Using Bourdieusian concepts of ‘social magic’ and ‘institutional habitus’, the article argues that more attention must be paid to how graduate employers’ practices constitute tacit processes of social exclusion and thus militate against the achievement of more equitable graduate outcomes and fair access to the ‘top jobs’.

She Can’t Say That … or Can She? Perceptions of Men’s and Women’s Humor Use in the Workplace

Humor is associated with numerous positive outcomes in the workplace (e.g., building cohesiveness, stress reduction), and can be a useful tool for leaders (e.g., softening criticism). Although normative expectations for men’s and women’s behavior might allow both men and women to use communal forms of humor (i.e., affiliative humor), we hypothesized that gender role expectations would cause people to negatively evaluate women who use more agentic forms of humor (i.e., aggressive humor). Moreover, we predicted that this pattern would be more pronounced for women in low-status positions. We tested our hypotheses using two scenario-based studies; our first study included 96 MBA student participants who responded to two hypothetical scenarios, and a second follow up study included 228 undergraduate participants who responded to a third hypothetical scenario. Results from our two studies suggested that participants perceived women humorists more negatively when they used aggressive humor relative to affiliative humor, whereas no such difference was observed when the humorists were men. We also found that high occupational status counteracted this bias, but only when the target of the humor was a woman. In other words, women are at a disadvantage in their use of humor in general (i.e., negative perceptions of women who use aggressive humor), and even in workplace contexts where they have high status (i.e., status only protects them against negative perceptions when they use aggressive humor with female targets).

Direct evidence from lipid residue analysis for the routine consumption of millet in Early Medieval Italy

Millets have been cultivated in Europe since the Late Neolithic but, beyond recording their presence, little is known about their use and context of consumption. As a C4 plant, the contribution of millet on diet can be readily identified through stable isotope analysis of human bones. Using this approach, however, previous studies have been unable to distinguish direct consumption of the cereal from the consumption of millet fed animals. Historical evidence suggests that the latter was common practice. To address this issue, we present the first direct evidence for millet consumption in Medieval period using organic residue analysis. Lipid were extracted from 45 pottery vessels from the Episcopal centre in Padua, Northern Italy dating from the 6th to 10th centuries AD. Miliacin, a biomarker for broomcorn millet, was present in many of the cooking vessels tested. Based on the co-occurrence of miliacin with other food derived lipids and the vessel typologies, we suggest that millet was a common culinary ingredient during the Early Medieval period in this region. The earliest evidence dates to the 6th c. AD and notably derives from deposits associated with high status occupation of the site, a surprising result given the common association of these crops as low-status or starvation foods in the historic periods. It is likely that millet was a common cereal staple in human diet during this period in North-eastern Italy and that its use was far less restricted than previously thought. More broadly, our study highlights the efficacy of combining organic residue analysis and stable isotope analysis of bone to relate culinary and dietary information of ancient populations.

The Protective Effect of Cantonese/Mandarin Bilingualism on the Onset of Alzheimer Disease

Background: Several studies have found that bilingualism can delay the age of onset of Alz­heimer disease (AD). The interpretation of these findings is that switching between two languages can enhance cognitive reserve. However, some studies have provided inconsistent results. Diverse language pairs used by the bilinguals in different studies may contribute to the discrepancies. Cantonese and Mandarin are widely used in southern China, and regarded as bilingualism. The present study aims to determine if Cantonese/Mandarin bilingualism can delay the onset of AD. Methods: The data of 129 patients diagnosed with probable AD, including 48 Cantonese monolinguals, 20 Mandarin monolinguals, and 61 Cantonese/Mandarin bilinguals were analyzed. Results: Cantonese/Mandarin bilinguals were found to have an older age at AD onset, and older age at the first clinic visit than Mandarin monolinguals and Cantonese monolinguals. Both Mandarin monolinguals and Cantonese/Mandarin bilinguals had a higher education level and higher occupation status than the Cantonese monolinguals. Mandarin monolinguals did not differ from Cantonese/Mandarin bilinguals significantly in years of education and occupation status. The multiple linear regression analyses indicated that Cantonese/Mandarin bilingualism can delay the onset of AD independently. Conclusion: Constantly speaking both Cantonese and Mandarin from at least early adulthood can delay the onset of AD.

The influence of parents’ social capital on their children’s transition to vocational training in Germany

This study investigates the up-to-now strongly underexplored role of parents’ social capital in the school-to-work transition of adolescents. We base our empirical analyses on unique longitudinal largescale data from the German National Educational Panel Study. Parents’ social capital is measured with a position generator. Results show that adolescents with lower secondary education have better chances of finding an apprenticeship in a company if their parents know many persons with lower-status occupations for which vocational training is sufficient. This is especially the case for parents’ social contacts that have occupations in which many adolescents with lower secondary education are being trained in a company. The contrary is true for adolescents whose parents know many persons with higher-status occupations. Parents’ social networks do not show any effects on the quality of these apprenticeships or on the probability of entering school-based vocational training. Overall, our results indicate that parents’ social networks are important for a smooth school-to-work transition of their children. Moreover, our analyses confirm the idea that social capital is goal and labour market segment specific.

Parental Support and Youth Occupational Attainment: Help or Hindrance?

Although several concerns surround the transition to adulthood and youth increasingly rely on parental support, our knowledge about the implications of parental support for youth development and transition to adulthood is limited. This study fills this gap by conceptualizing development within a life course perspective that links social inequality and early life course transitions. It draws on a subsample of youth observed between age 18 and 28 from the Transition to Adulthood supplement of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics 2005-2015 (N = 7,542; 53% female, 51.3% white). Mixed-effects models reveal that the more direct financial transfers youth receive, the higher their occupational status. Yet, indirect financial support parents offer through co-residence shows the opposite pattern. Among youth receiving monetary transfers, college graduates have particularly high occupational status; however, among youth living with their parents, college graduates have the lowest occupational status. Although different types of parental support may equally act as safety nets, their divergent implications for youths' occupational attainment raise concerns about the reproduction and possible intensification of inequality during this developmental stage.

Cardiovascular risk goes up as your mood goes down: Interaction of depression and socioeconomic status in determination of cardiovascular risk in the CONSTANCES cohort

BackgroundRecent evidence suggests that the association of psychological variables with the risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) might depend upon socioeconomic status (SES). However, it is unclear whether the association between depressive symptoms and CHD risk might differ according to three SES indicators (education, occupational status and household monthly income). MethodsAmong 34,836 working participants of the French CONSTANCES cohort (16,221 men, mean age [SD]: 44.0 [10.4] years) without history of cardiovascular disease, depressive symptoms were assessed with the Center of Epidemiologic Studies Depression scale (CES-D). The Framingham risk equation calibrated to the French population estimated the participant's 10-year risk of CHD. Associations between depressive symptoms and CHD risk were estimated using linear regression models in SES strata. ResultsThe estimated 10-year risk of CHD was 16.9% in men and 1.8% in women. In men, the increased CHD risk in those with (versus without) depressive symptoms was more pronounced as occupational status decreased, being 0.65% (−0.57; 1.88), 1.58% (0.50; 2.66) and 3.19% (1.30; 5.07) higher in individuals of high, medium and low occupational status, respectively (p for interaction: 0.01). In contrast, effect modification by education or household income was less evident, despite similar trends. In women, no effect modification was found whatever the SES indicator. ConclusionsDepressive symptoms and 10-year estimated CHD risk were more tightly linked in individuals of lower SES, at least in men. Occupational status was the SES indicator that displays the most obvious effect modification on this association.

Occupational attainment influences longitudinal decline in behavioral variant frontotemporal degeneration

To evaluate whether occupational attainment influences the trajectory of longitudinal cognitive decline in behavioral variant frontotemporal degeneration (bvFTD). Single-center, retrospective, longitudinal study. Sixty-three patients meeting consensus criteria for bvFTD underwent evaluation at the University of Pennsylvania Frontotemporal Degeneration Center. All patients were studied longitudinally on letter-guided fluency, category-naming fluency and Boston Naming Test (BNT). Occupational attainment was defined categorically by assigning each individual's occupation to a professional or non-professional category. Linear mixed-effects models evaluated the interaction of neuropsychological performance change with occupational status. Regression analyses were used to relate longitudinal decline in executive function to baseline MRI grey matter atrophy. Higher occupational status was associated with a more severe slope of cognitive decline on letter-guided fluency and category-naming fluency, but not BNT. Faster rates of longitudinal decline on letter-guided and category-naming fluency were associated with more severe baseline grey matter atrophy in right dorsolateral and inferior frontal regions. Our longitudinal findings suggest that bvFTD individuals with higher lifetime cognitive experience demonstrate more rapid decline on measures of executive function. This finding converges with cross-sectional evidence suggesting that lifetime cognitive experiences contribute to heterogeneity in clinical progression in bvFTD.

Social determinants of community-level human papillomavirus vaccination coverage in aschool-based vaccination programme

ObjectiveTo assess social patterns in human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine coverage in a school-based, government-funded vaccination programme located within a single-payer universal healthcare system.DesignWe conducted a cross-sectional analysis of HPV vaccine...

Critical action as a pathway to social mobility among marginalized youth.

Marginalized youth's development occurs in contexts rife with racialized, gendered, and socioeconomic social identity threats and barriers to social mobility. An emergent line of inquiry suggests critical action-a component of critical consciousness, defined as engaging in individual or collective social action to produce social change-may bolster career development for those experiencing marginalization. Yet, the specific mechanisms underlying critical action-career development associations are not well understood. Applying structural equation modeling (SEM) to 4 waves of longitudinal data from the Maryland Adolescent Development in Context Study (when participants were 17, 19, 21, and 29 years old), the authors explore the role of critical action for African American participants from lower-SES households (n = 261). The obtained model, which links critical action to career expectancies in adolescence and occupational attainment in adulthood, converges with earlier research linking critical consciousness to career development, social mobility pathways, and occupational attainment among marginalized youth. This study adds to previous literature by suggesting that critical action: (a) plays a significant role in fostering career expectancies in adolescence, particularly during high school, among marginalized youth; and (b) may promote the attainment of higher-status occupations in adulthood. Given the role of occupational attainment in social mobility and inclusion, these findings suggest an important mechanism by which social inequities may be narrowed. (PsycINFO Database Record

Assessment of utilization of maternal health care services in rural field practice areas of VIMS, Ballari

Background: Maternal mortality and morbidity remains high even though national programs exist for improving maternal and child health in India. This could be related to several factors, an important one being non-utilization or delay in seeking care of maternal health-care services, especially amongst the rural poor and urban slum population due to either lack of awareness or access to health-care services. Our study was aimed to know the utilization of maternal health care services during antenatal and post natal period and factors affecting them.Methods: A Community based cross sectional study was carried in the rural field practice areas of VIMS, Ballari (three primary health centres (PHC) Kudithini, Koluru, Kurugodu) among all married women in the age group of 15-45 years who were in the post natal period (less than 2 months) at time of interview. A total 152 women were included in the study by door to door survey, among all the 3 PHC’s. The women absent during the survey were excluded.Results: Only 101 (66.44%) of women utilized antenatal care and 18 (11.8%) utilized post natal care (at least three postnatal visits) from the health care facility. Mothers who were of Muslim religion, <20 years of age, higher education of participant as well as husband, higher occupation status, high SES, less parity had higher odds of utilizing antenatal care. Health education by the health worker regarding post natal services to women ranged from 62.5-90.8%. Mothers of Muslim religion, higher education, higher occupation status, normal vaginal delivery and home delivery had higher odds of utilizing postnatal servicesConclusions: The study shows unacceptably low utilization of postnatal care services. It shows the coverage of postnatal care services is inadequate. This is an important message to health service providers and policy makers to strengthening not only antenatal health services and institutional deliveries but also postnatal care services to reduce maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality.

Predictors of Return to Work 6 Months After the End of Treatment in Patients with Common Mental Disorders: A Cohort Study

Purpose Common mental disorders (CMDs) account for a large portion of sickness absence. Even after attending return to work (RTW) interventions, many patients with a CMD remain on sick leave. To identify people at risk of long-term work disability, more needs to be known about factors that predict RTW after treatment. Methods This was a prospective cohort study that followed 106 former patients at an RTW outpatient clinic for CMDs for 6 months after the end of treatment. Changes in work participation and mental health status between the end of treatment and the 6-month follow-up were analysed. Changes in work participation were used to identify patients with successful RTW. Patient characteristics and end-of-treatment measures of mental health status, work ability, generalized self-efficacy and expectations of future work ability, and changes in clinical outcome measures during treatment were included in logistic regression analyses to identify predictors of RTW at the 6-month follow-up. Results In the final model, high occupational status and higher work ability at the end of treatment predicted successful RTW at the 6-month follow-up. Further analyses showed that if the expectancy of future work ability improved or remained positive from before to the end of treatment, this was also strongly associated with RTW at the 6-month follow-up. Conclusions Among patients treated for CMDs, those with a low occupational status and who report lower work ability at the end of treatment are at risk of long-term disability.

Does prestige affect us physiologically?

Past research dedicated to the impact of hierarchy on the autonomic nervous system has focused mainly on dominance. The current study extends this investigation by assessing the effect of social prestige, operationalized through occupational status, and examines whether people react differently when interacting with individuals of high or low occupational status. Participants’ heart rate and electrodermal activity were recorded while they interacted with a confederate who was introduced either as a neurosurgeon (high-status condition) or as a nurse aide (low-status condition). The results show that, contrary to the participants’ skin conductance level, their heart rate was modulated by the confederate’s status. In the high-status condition, participants’ heart rate increased when the “neurosurgeon” approached them, reaching a higher level than when interacting with the person in the low-status condition. We discuss our results in terms of the threats or opportunities that prestige may elicit.

Household registration, urban status attainment, and social stratification in China

Previous studies on the household registration system (hukou) have focused either on the selective process of hukou conversion to urban status and its impact on social stratification or on the socioeconomic disadvantages and the assimilation of rural migrant workers in cities. Pooling the data from two national probability surveys in China (CGSS 2003 and 2008), we investigate socioeconomic inequality in urban labor markets and the role played by successful and unsuccessful conversion to urban hukou status for those of rural origins. Specifically, we compare the earnings of three subgroups: those who acquired urban status through their own efforts, those who gained their urban hukou via the incorporation of their villages into cities, and rural migrants who have not obtained an urban hukou. Linear regression results show that the commonly observed earnings premium associated with urban hukou status is limited only to a subgroup of rural-origin people who obtained their urban hukou through a highly selective process. Propensity-score matching analyses further reveal that the effect of urban hukou status on earnings is positively associated with the propensity of hukou conversion to urban status, and that the urban hukou only pays off among people with better education and higher-status occupations within the state sector. These findings shed new light on the relationship between mobility processes and stratification outcomes, and bear important policy implications for the ongoing reform of the hukou system in the process of China’s urbanization.