Occupational Requirements Research Articles

Why the Construction Trades Have a Valuable Role in Meeting the Climate Challenge

The construction industry accounts for 18 per cent of Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions. There is extensive evidence that this can be reduced significantly by implementing aggressive net zero building practices. However, the way the industry is organized impedes this achievement because it fails to promote the development of a broadly based, highly qualified, climate-literate workforce. Successful low carbon construction requires enhancement of workers’ knowledge, skills, and competencies because it requires much higher energy performance standards than traditional construction practice. Yet the industry remains wedded to the current system of low-bid, low-quality construction to cut costs. The organization of much construction work reflects a Taylorist approach, with extensive piecework and subcontracting that relies heavily on precarious, unskilled, and semi-skilled workers. Most employers avoid investing in trades training, leaving it to governments, unions, and individual workers to fund workforce development. Committed to a deregulated market with minimal government interference in their profit-making activities, many contractors oppose tougher building and energy regulations while lobbying against higher labour standards, occupational certification requirements, and union organizing. To meet their net zero targets, governments must recognize that market forces are inadequate to create the well-trained, highly skilled workforce needed. Major policy interventions are required to force industry to make the necessary changes in vocational education and training (vet) and employment practices – changes designed to upskill the construction workforce and give workers and unions a greater voice in shaping climate-informed building practice.

AI-Based Controls for Thermal Comfort in Adaptable Buildings: A Review

Due to global weather changes and pandemics, people are more likely to spend most of their time in indoor environments. In this regard, indoor environment quality is a very important aspect of occupant well-being, which is often ignored in modern building designs. Based on our research, thermal comfort is one of the essential items in building environments that can improve the mental stability and productivity of the occupants if the building’s indoor environment is created in a way that meets the occupants’ comfort requirements. Buildings nowadays operate on adaptive or stationary models to attain thermal comfort, which is based on Fanger’s model of the Predicted Mean Vote (PMV). Based on the literature review, limited work has been carried out to enhance the quality of the inside environment, and most research work has been devoted to building energy management. Moreover, there have been no definite solutions so far that have the capability to detect the thermal comfort requirements of multiple occupants in real time. Modern buildings tend to operate on predefined set point parameters to control the indoor environment based on the measured room temperature, which can be different from the thermal comfort requirements of the occupants. This paper discusses the limitations and assumptions that are associated with the existing thermal comfort solutions and emphasises the importance of having a real-time solution to address the thermal requirements of occupants.

A Threefold Examination of University Digital Leadership, Teacher Digital Competency, and Teacher Technology Behavior for Digital Transformation of Education

In the digital age, it is imperative that Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) should cultivate digital talent to adapt to social development and occupational requirements. To achieve this, HEIs need to effectively implement digital transformation by understanding how leadership and teacher competencies contribute to technology use in educational settings. This study explored universities’ digital leadership and its relationship with teacher technology behavior, with teacher digital competency serving as a mediating variable in universities from Jilin Province, China. Data were collected through convenience sampling of 402 teachers from 25 universities in Jilin Province, and analyzed using descriptive analysis and structural equation modeling. Findings revealed that all three key variables are highly significant. Moreover, digital leadership has a strong effect on teacher digital competency, a weak effect on teacher technology behavior, and teacher digital competency has a moderate effect on teacher technology behavior. The findings also indicated that teacher digital competency mediates the relationship between digital leadership and teacher technology behavior. In conclusion, this study provides valuable insights into the ways in which HEIs can navigate digital transformation by leveraging leadership and focusing on building teacher competency, which in turn can enhance technology usage in teaching practices. This study considered how higher education institutions can cope with the complex challenges of the digital age and suggested ways in which the implications of this research can better enable universities to promote digital transformation.

Повышение мотивации сотрудников производственных объектов нефтегазовой отрасли в области промышленной безопасности и охраны труда

The study considers problems of motivation for compliance with industrial and occupational safety requirements by employees engaged in production facilities and the necessity of motivation to achieve the required protection level. A set of measures implemented at enterprises to ensure industrial and occupational safety has been outlined; special attention has been paid to the need for diagnostics of the psycho-physical state of employees, their training, and motivation methods (external and internal). Most respondents have shown their interest in improving their knowledge to reduce accident risks at production. They believe that safety can be increased via the use of reminders at each stage of work. The study helped to identify the basic causes of low motivation for compliance with industrial and occupational safety rules and determine approaches to resolving the issue. The factors affecting low motivation and the degree of involvement in the process are insufficient attention to safety issues from the top management, insufficient involvement in the decision-making to improve safety, lack of material incentives for compliance with safety rules, and lack of opportunities for professional development. Criteria enabling the establishment of safe activity motivation principles have been identified, and certain measures to improve motivation have been proposed. The respondents have listed the following methods to increase the motivation of employees of oil and gas production facilities in the area of industrial safety: practice-oriented training with visual aids and case studies, the use of both material and moral components of positive encouragement to reinforce safe behavior, re-evaluation of safety programs based on employees’ feedback, results of monthly surveys and studies, and video recording of the work process.

Effect of prevalent irregular configuration of infills on the seismic collapse of Indian RC buildings

Rapid urbanization and land scarcity obligated the urban population for multi-use of Reinforced Concrete (RC) buildings to meet both residential and commercial purposes together. Un-Reinforced Masonry (URM) infills are often placed irregularly in plan and or elevation of the buildings in some floor(s), particularly in the ground floor to suit the need of occupational requirements accompanied by the inherent irregularities due to openings for doors and windows to meet functional requirements for residence. Seismic performance of infilled frame highly depends upon degree of infill-frame interaction, and it is of utmost importance to classify infilled frame buildings in various Model Building Types (MBTs) based on the type of irregular placement of infills in addition to the parameters affecting seismic performance. Based on field pilot surveys carried out in Indian cities, URM infilled buildings have been classified into 14 different MBTs. Seismic performance of the prevalent categories of MBTs have been evaluated through Incremental Dynamic Analysis (IDA). It has been observed that irregular placement of infills increases the seismic collapse risk significantly, and reduces collapse capacity to approximately 50% as compared to ideal uniformly infilled building. Global collapse occurred due to failure of structural members in the vicinity of irregularity created due to infills.

Towards various occupants with different thermal comfort requirements: A deep reinforcement learning approach combined with a dynamic PMV model for HVAC control in buildings

Reinforcement learning (RL) has great potential in achieving energy-efficient, comfortable and intelligent control of heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems. Although research on RL-based HVAC control has attracted increasing interest, current studies generally use simple building simulation as the environment to train agents, and the definition of thermal comfort is limited to a wide temperature range, which cannot meet the different thermal comfort requirements of various occupants. This study proposes a deep reinforcement learning (DRL) control framework based on the Dueling Deep Q-network (DQN) algorithm, combined with a self-designed environmental model and reward function, for HVAC control meeting different thermal comfort requirements. Specifically, based on the theory of building thermal dynamics, a nonlinear equation modified by experimental data is used for the environmental model that reflects the actual thermal change of building. Different thermal comfort requirements are considered and analysed through a dynamic predicted mean vote (PMV) model that focuses on the metabolic rate and clothing level of occupants. By systematically exploring different heating modes for occupants and control time intervals, the proposed framework demonstrates that heating energy consumption can be reduced by 4.8%-39.58% under various conditions compared to rule-based control. In addition, the study found that the HVAC control based on DRL has greater potential in saving energy when the heating demand of building is higher. Our study is helpful for researchers to make HVAC control more energy-efficient and user-friendly with the help of artificial intelligence.

A Novel Job Similarity Index for Career Transition in the Mining Industry

In this study, with the primary goal of capturing ongoing digital transformation and automation impacts on the mining industry and its workforce, we conduct several interviews with mining industry experts in the USA and analyze our survey reports qualitatively and quantitatively through exploratory analysis. After the interpretation of the insights of industry experts, we proceed to generate a personalized and customized data analysis through a novel metric based on skills, knowledge, competencies, and occupational requirements, which quantifies the job similarities for occupations in the mining industry based on the publicly available database of the United States Department of Labor. We utilize text analytics to tokenize and classify the interviews to capture a better understanding of major response categories. The temporal analysis shows that the critical competency needs in the data science and autonomy category increases from 28% in current demands to 43%. In defining our metric, we also calculate Kullback–Leibler (KL) divergence for each job profile that enables determining whether and to what extent that job is transitionary in our test set based on the mean, standard deviation, and kurtosis of each job of interest. Our analysis reveals that the in-group job transitions are significantly easier than the between-group transitions, proving our initial assumptions and common sense. The generated heat maps provide the opportunity to present the gap between the current job and desired job profiles that provide feasible career change options, among others, offering individualized career paths for job seekers and promoting potential job transitions. Through the collection of industry-specific individual employee data, the AI system is envisaged to continue to learn as end users engage with the system, thus creating a central data hub specifically for the future workforce in the mining industry. Although the study has limitations on generalizability for qualitative assessments, it presents itself as a valuable application of how qualitative and quantitative approaches could be of value for future worker training in the mining sector.

A Prospective Comparative Study of Ray Resection versus Amputation through Proximal Phalanx for Nonviable Digits of Upper Limb

Abstract Background Finger amputations aim at preserving function and optimizing cosmesis. The crucial decision here is whether to preserve a stump or to do a ray amputation. The present study aimed to compare the functional outcome and postoperative quality of life after ray amputation or amputation through the proximal phalanx. Methods A prospective study was conducted from January 2019 to June 2020 in patients requiring single-finger amputation through the proximal phalanx or metacarpal. Patients were divided into two groups; Group A: amputation through the proximal phalanx and Group B: ray amputation of the finger. The following functional parameters were assessed: grip strength, hand circumference, palmar volume, and webspace span. The Michigan Hand Outcomes Questionnaire (MHQ) score was employed to score hand function and aesthesis at 6 months in both hands. Results Thirty patients were enrolled. Findings in 26 patients (52 hands) were subjected to further analysis, 12 in Group A and 14 in Group B. Patients in both groups lost grip strength significantly compared with their contralateral normal hands (29.22 ± 14.88 [Group A] and 34.57 ± 19.12 [Group B]); however, it was statistically nonsignificant between the two groups. There was reduced mean palmar circumference in both groups' involved hands, but the decrease in circumference was statistically significant, only for Group B. Group B patients scored better in all the six subscales of the MHQ; however, only the Aesthetics score was significantly superior. The operated hand's webspace span increased significantly with respect to the normal contralateral web by a mean of 4.55 mm. Conclusion The study concluded that both the surgical options for the level of amputation should be discussed with the patients in detail, taking into account their occupational and personal requirements. Our study findings will help to objectively counsel the patients regarding expectations in functional and aesthetic outcomes following either technique.

[Translated article] Temporary work disability following trapezial resection and suspension arthroplasty for thumb carpometacarpal osteoarthritis

PurposeThe aim of this study is to assess the time to return to work (TRW) in patients undergoing trapezial resection using the Mini TightRope® system at our centre and to investigate factors that might delay return to work following this surgery. Material and methodsA retrospective study was conducted on patients who underwent Trapezial resection and suspensionplasty using the Mini TightRope® system between 2015 and 2016, with a minimum one-year follow-up. Telephone interviews were conducted along with a review of medical records and radiology reports, as well as temporary work disability documents, collecting epidemiological and occupational data. Groups were compared based on age, gender, dominant hand, biomechanical occupational requirements of the patients, and whether they had experienced prior temporary work disability. ResultsA total of 36 patients (29 women and 7 men) with an average age of 55.7 years were included. The median time to return to work was 126 days. Self-employed workers re-entered the workforce 72 days earlier on average; workers who had experienced prior temporary work disability had a greater total temporary work disability duration and took 91 days longer to return to work compared to those who had not. ConclusionsPatients employed by others and those who had experienced prior temporary work disability before the surgery had longer temporary work disability periods. In our study, no differences were observed based on gender, dominant hand, or biomechanical work demands of the intervened patients.

Psychometric properties of the Perth emotional labour scale: Preliminary support for a new measure with theoretical implications.

Emotional labour is the process by which people regulate emotions congruently with occupational requirements. Research consistently links emotional labour to greater levels of burnout. However, we argue this literature is potentially confounded by measurement error. We sought to validate an English adaptation of a recent emotional labour measure that addresses measurement error concerns in an under-researched sample at risk of burnout-psychologists providing psychotherapy. We termed this measure the Perth Emotional Labour Scale (PELS) which is based upon Andela and colleagues' (2015) original measure. Additionally, we explored what factors of emotional labour contributed most to burnout in this group. We recruited 418 psychologists (81.58% female, 17.46% male, 0.96% non-binary) across Australia (N=362, 86.60%) and New Zealand (N=56, 13.40%). Factor analyses and correlational analyses examined the PELS' reliability and validity. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis explored whether each component of emotional labour contributed unique variance to emotional exhaustion (EE). Preliminary support for the PELS' psychometric properties was found and emotional dissonance was found to be the only emotional labour factor that uniquely contributed to EE. We demonstrate preliminary psychometric support for the PELS but recommend further development and argue our findings have unique implications for research and practice.

Co-designing of a prototype mobile application for fetal radiation dose monitoring among pregnant radiographers using a design thinking approach.

This study aimed to develop a prototype mobile application to enhance fetal dosimetry among pregnant radiographers in #### through a design thinking approach. Eleven participants were recruited to engage in a participatory design workshop, which encompassed five stages: Empathise, Ideate, Define, Prototype and Test. The participants were divided into two teams. Qualitative datasets from the workshop included field notes and FIGMA screens. The data were analysed through thematic analysis, from which three major themes emerged: (1) Unsafe working environments for pregnant radiographers, (2) The need for enhanced fetal radiation dose monitoring by pregnant radiographers as an occupational health and safety requirement, and (3) Co-designing of the prototype mobile application, PregiDose. The participants contributed towards a prototype mobile application which addressed challenges experienced in the real-life setting. Hence, the prototype can be used as an effective framework by which to guide the development of the final artefact.

The Effect of Occupant Behavior on the Residential Visual Environment: A Case Study from Annaba, Algeria

The construction of comfortable, energy-efficient and health-friendly homes is more crucial than ever at a time whenthe health crisis is forcing us to reconsider our way of life. This article used a post-occupancy evaluation of theinhabited space in residential buildings at Oued El-Fourcha neighborhood in Annaba to assess user satisfaction withoccupied buildings, examine the impact of daylighting and human behavior on the lighting ambience. The results ofthe study were processed by SPHINX Lexica software, focusing mainly on the qualitative aspects of daylighting in theinhabited space, taking into account occupant preferences. The study demonstrated an unfavorable level of internalilluminance, and that adequate lighting also needs to meet occupant requirements in order to make these windowsusable, which must satisfy a number of socio-cultural, climatic and environmental factors.

CHARACTERISTICS OF PSYCHOLOGICAL MATURITY AS A SOFT-SKILL OF A MODERN PERSONALITY

The aim of the article is to substantiate the essence and component structure of psychological maturity, and the set of soft skills as an integral part of an individual’s psychological maturity. For this research, the author employed general scientific theoretical research methods including anal- ysis, synthesis, generalisation, induction, deduction, explanation, and classification. The author has found that a modern person should be able to question established opinions and judg- ments, engage in competent and rational dialogue, determine the essence of problems and seek alterna- tive solutions, and always be able to distinguish verifiable facts from assumptions and personal subjective opinions. This, in turn, should be inherent in every mature personality, since all modern specialists are peo- ple with a wide range of knowledge and the ability to quickly adapt to new situations. As a result, they can effectively interact with colleagues and solve theoretical and practical problems. Today, the labour market requires their comprehensive development, so along with this, the ability to quickly respond to labour mar- ket demands, ensure continuous self-education, communication skills and a sense of responsibility for the results of their activities play an important role for each individual. In general, to succeed in the modern labour market, it is important to develop not only professional skills but also a wide range of so called soft skills. Only when these qualities are combined can future pro- fessionals be competitive and advance their professional careers. In order to carry out a comprehensive analysis and further practical application of the research re- sults, the author analysed 76 scientific publications related to the subject of scientific research, namely psy- chological maturity and soft skills of a modern personality. It has been determined that the characteristics of psychological maturity can be interpreted as soft skills of a personality through the prism of the defini- tion of “hard kills”, “soft skills” and “meta skills”, because they have a fundamental difference, but are in- terdependent. In general, the development of soft skills leads to an increase in self-awareness and self-un- derstanding, the formation of clear life values and goals, an increase in the ability of self-regulation and ad- aptation, and a level of life satisfaction, and are important factors in a person’s overall mental well-being. Scientific research shows that psychological maturity, which describes a set of characteristics neces- sary for successful functioning in society, is closely related to soft skills, as the study of psychological maturi- ty can help in better understanding and development of soft skills, which is extremely relevant today. There- fore, the purpose of this study is to theoretically analyse the available publications describing psychological maturity in order to identify the main (most frequently mentioned) characteristics of psychological matu- rity. To conduct this study, the author used general scientific theoretical methods of information research, namely analysis, synthesis, generalisation, induction, deduction, explanation and classification. The author determines that modern research and the experience of leaders in various fields of work indicate an increase in the role of soft skills in occupational programs and requirements for candidates for employment, which in turn leads to an improvement in positive emotional integrity in terms of increasing the team’s performance, the effectiveness of training and mutual development, a positive perception of any challenges and solving urgent problems of the enterprise, and the way to use one’s own creativity, flexibil- ity, responsibility and independence. The results of the study suggest that further research will be aimed at studying methods and tools for developing soft skills of a psychologically mature personality, as well as at studying the impact of these qualities on various aspects of human life. The study is based on the analysis of scientific publications and requires further empirical confirmation.

Occupational health disorders among physical education teachers compared to classroom and subject specialist teachers.

During the course of their work, teachers may be subjected to conditions that cause different health problems. This study examines occupational health disorders in a representative sample of 858 teachers (528 female; age 44.0 ± 9.67 years) divided into three groups of teachers with specific occupational requirements: specialist physical education teachers (specialist PETs), classroom teachers, and specialist teachers. The number of health disorders in the last 12 months was recorded using the Chronic Health Disorders Questionnaire. The differences between the different types of teachers, controlled for sex and age, were analyzed using binary logistic regression. The results showed that 89% of teachers experienced colds as the most frequently reported health problem, followed by 58% for lower back problems, 57% for headaches, 51% for hoarseness, and 43% for neck problems. A binary logistic regression showed that specialist PETs were the group with the highest health risk. They were about twice as likely to have musculoskeletal or hearing disorders than the other two groups of teachers. They were also significantly more likely to suffer from hoarseness. Understanding these different health challenges is critical to developing targeted interventions and robust support systems. These interventions should include initiatives aimed at raising awareness of health risk factors, implementing injury interventions and vocal cord hygiene programs, making ergonomic adjustments, and promoting awareness of self-care (both mental and physical). Given that the teaching profession is currently struggling with an aging workforce and a shortage of teachers, addressing these challenges is critical to the continued well-being of the teaching professionals.

Penerapan Sertifikasi Laik Fungsi Terhadap Bangunan Publik di Kota Banda Aceh

Certificate of Occupancy (CO) is a certificate issued by the Regional Government for a building that has been completed and has met the requirements for the proper occupancy of the building, which is also applied to public buildings in Banda Aceh. The problem of this research is whether the building owner/user knows about CO and whether the building owner/user already knows about the implementation of CO in accordance with the law. This study aims to investigate the owner/users knowledge on CO and to determine the owner/users of the building knowledge about the application of CO in accordance with the law. The data collection technique was carried out by distributing questionnaires to 100 respondents, namely owners/users of public buildings in Banda Aceh. The variables used in this study are architectural components, structural, mechanical, electrical, outdoor layout, and the reliability of buildings to public buildings. The results of the factor analysis show that the correlation between a variable and the factors formed is > 0.5, so the factors formed have a relationship to summarize the six variables which has been analyzed. The results of the validity test of the r-table value of 0.197 meet the requirements of rcount > r table. The reliability test results qualify with Cronbach's Alpha value greater than 0.6. The results of descriptive analysis show that the frequency of building owners who know about CO is 6% and building users who know about CO is 2%, while the frequency of owners who know about the application of CO in accordance with the law is 2% and users who know about the application of CO are in accordance with the law is 1%. This indicates that there are still many users/owners of public buildings in Banda Aceh who do not know about CO and do not understand about the application of CO in accordance with the law. Therefore, the Banda Aceh Government needs to disseminate information about the implementation of CO, especially to owners of public buildings.

Status of Livability in Indonesian Affordable Housing

Indonesia is experiencing population growth, as well as urbanization, thus increasing the needs of housing. As a result, land prices are soaring, and the housing supply cannot meet the demand. The most recent measure to overcome housing problems is the One Million House Program, which aims to provide more than a million homes annually, with the majority of them being simple housing. The main characteristics of simple housing are limited space, limited facilities, and the use of basic materials. Regulation stated that any housing must satisfy the requirement of livable housing, which means the fulfilment of safety, health, and living-area requirements. This paper looks at affordability, livability, and sustainability criteria based on government regulation. It is found that the performance of housing cannot satisfy some of the requirements. The problems come from either inherently limited housing design, occupant requirements, or local climates. The existing research only focuses on one of three factors. Intertwined relationships between the three factors make an integrated approach necessary. A solution based on integrated performance modeling of the criteria is proposed.

Dans quelles conditions la flexibilité cognitive contribue-t-elle plus à la performance adaptative ?

<p>Adaptive performance (AP) represents the worker's ability to adapt their behaviours to changing job circumstances. An antecedent of AP would be the cognitive flexibility (CF) of employees. However, the strength of the relationship between these variables fluctuates empirically, suggesting the involvement of moderators such as knowledge work (KW). This study tested whether CF contributes more to AP in the presence of high versus low KW perceived demands. The results (n = 674) indicate that CF is related to AP and that, contrary to our hypothesis, KW does not moderate this relationship. However, an exploratory analysis of objective occupational job requirements reveals a more complex pattern of results: the relation between CF and AP depends on the interaction between the requirements of knowledge and the requirements of autonomy. Further, we found that CF contributes less to AP in jobs with higher social demands.</p>

The Cyclical Battle of Insomnia and Mental Health Impairment in Firefighters: A Narrative Review.

The occupational requirements of full-time non-administrative firefighters include shift-work schedules and chronic exposure to alerting emergency alarms, hazardous working conditions, and psychologically traumatic events that they must attend and respond to. These compiling and enduring aspects of the career increase the firefighter's risk for insomnia and mental health conditions compared to the general population. Poor sleep quality and mental health impairments are known to coincide with and contribute to the symptom severity of one another. Thus, it is important to determine approaches that may improve sleep and/or mental health specifically for firefighters, as their occupation varies in many aspects from any other occupation. This review will discuss symptoms of insomnia and mental health conditions such as PTSD, anxiety, depression, substance abuse, and suicide in firefighters. The influencing factors of sleep and mental health will be examined including anxiety sensitivity, emotional regulation, and distress tolerance. Current sleep and mental health interventions specific to full-time firefighters are limited in number; however, the existing experimental studies will be outlined. Lastly, this review will provide support for exploring exercise as a possible intervention that may benefit the sleep and mental health of this population.

Cognitive reserve in ALS: the role of occupational skills and requirements

Objective Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is a heterogeneous neurodegenerative condition featuring variable degrees of motor and cognitive impairment. We assessed the impact of specific, empirically derived occupational skills and requirements on cognitive and motor functioning in ALS. Methods Individuals with ALS (n = 150) were recruited from the University of Pennsylvania’s Comprehensive ALS Clinic. The Edinburgh Cognitive and Behavioral ALS Screen (ECAS) measured cognition, and the Penn Upper Motor Neuron (PUMNS) and ALS Functional Rating Scales (ALSFRS-R) measured motor symptoms. We derived 17 factors representing distinct occupational skills and requirements from the Occupational Information Network (O*NET), which were related to cognitive and motor scores using multiple linear regression. Results Occupational roles involving greater reasoning ability (β = 2.12, p < .05), social ability (β = 1.73, p < .05), analytic skills, (β = 3.12, p < .01) and humanities knowledge (β = 1.83, p<.01) were associated with better performance on the ECAS, while jobs involving more exposure to environmental hazards (β=−2.57, p < .01) and technical skills (β=−2.16, p<.01) were associated with lower ECAS scores. Jobs requiring more precision skills (β = 1.91, p < .05) were associated with greater motor dysfunction on the PUMNS. Conclusions Occupational histories involving more cognitively complex skills and activities were related to preserved cognitive functioning in ALS consistent with the cognitive reserve hypothesis, while jobs with greater exposure to environmental hazards and technical demands were linked to poorer cognitive functioning. Jobs involving more repetitive movements were associated with worse motor functioning, possibly due to overuse. Occupational history provides insight into protective and risk factors for variable degrees of cognitive and motor dysfunction in ALS.

Emerging health disparities among college graduates: Understanding the health consequences of education-occupation mismatch

This study examines the health consequences and underlying pathways of education-occupation mismatch. Using a longitudinal sample of college graduates from the Panel Studies of Income Dynamics (1984–2019) and employing longitudinal hybrid models, we found that contemporary vertical mismatch (between education level and educational requirements of occupation) was associated with poorer psychological well-being and bio-behaviors (obesity and smoking), but not physical health. In contrast, horizontal mismatch (between field of study and field required for occupation) did not show clear health consequences. Sequence analysis was employed to uncover the mismatch trajectories and revealed that persistent vertical mismatch over one's career had a greater impact on psychological distress and smoking than episodic mismatch experiences. Furthermore, the linkage between vertical mismatch and health outcomes was likely shaped by psychosocial processes rather than reduced material well-being. These findings imply that education-occupation vertical (mis)match produces health disparities between occupationally matched and mismatched college graduates.