The Effects of First Occupation on Long Term Health Status: Evidence from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study

In this paper, we use a longitudinal survey that has collected information for 50 years on a large cohort of Wisconsin high school graduates and their siblings to examine the long term impact of early occupational choice on health status. We find evidence that beginning a career in a blue collar occupation is correlated with several measures of poor health outcomes at ages 50–65. Since our dataset includes usually unobserved pre-labor market characteristics, including IQ and childhood health status, we can show that controlling for these variables is important for many results and suggests a high level of selection into occupation based on health and ability. We also provide evidence of gender differentials in the association between first occupation and later health. Then, we replace our basic measure of occupational categories with summary measures of job characteristics and find that employment at “bad jobs” at the beginning of an individual’s career predicts later health outcomes. Finally, we use sibling information in the dataset to show that unmeasured family background factors explain a large share of the effects of occupation on later health. Overall, the evidence points to limited, though heterogeneous, long term effects of health from blue collar employment.     

The effects of teenage childbearing on long-term health in the US: a twin-fixed-effects approach

This paper explores the effect of teenage childbearing on long-term health outcomes and behaviors of mothers using the Midlife Development in the US dataset. Within-family estimations, using samples of siblings, and twin pairs, are employed to overcome the bias generated by unobserved family background and genetic traits. The results suggest no significant effects on health outcomes, and modest effects on health behaviors, including exercise and preventive care. However, accounting for life-cycle effects demonstrates that teenage childbearing has significant effects on both health outcomes and behaviors early in life, but very few significant effects later in life. Moreover, teenage childbearing has a particularly acute effect among minorities. Finally, this paper provides evidence that the effects operate through reduced income and labor force participation, and matching with a lower “quality” spouse.     

The effect of obesity,alcohol misuse and smoking on employment and hours worked: evidence from the Icelandic economic collapse

In this study the relationship between obesity, alcohol misuse, smoking and changes in quantity of labor supplied during an economic meltdown are examined. The data used stem from a health and lifestyle panel survey carried out by the Public Health Institute of Iceland in 2007 and 2009. Probit analysis was used to assess if pre-crisis body weight, alcohol misuse or smoking were related to subsequent job-loss or a reduction in hours worked following the 2008 economic collapse in Iceland. Results indicated that body weight, alcohol misuse and smoking are related to reductions in quantity of labor supplied for females only. Female body mass index was positively related to the probability of a reduction in quantity of labor supplied, while alcohol misuse and smoking were negatively related to the probability of decreasing hours worked for females.     

Does perceived discrimination affect health? Longitudinal relationships between work discrimination and women's physical and emotional health

This study uses longitudinal data to examine the causal relationships between perceived work discrimination and women's physical and emotional health. Using data on 1,778 employed women in the National Longitudinal Survey of Mature Women, we investigate the structural and individual characteristics that predict later perceptions of discrimination and the effects of those perceptions on subsequent health. We find that perceptions of discrimination are influenced by job attitudes, prior experiences of discrimination, and work contexts, but prior health is not related to later perceptions. However, perceptions of discrimination do impact subsequent health, and these effects remain significant after controlling for prior emotional health, physical health limitations, discrimination, and job characteristics. Overall, the results provide even stronger support for the health impact of workplace discrimination and suggest a need for further longitudinal analyses of causes and consequences of perceived discrimination.     

In sickness and in health: an examination of relationship status and health using data from the Canadian National Public Health Survey

There is an extensive literature suggesting that marriage confers benefits to both men and women in the form of increased earnings, better health and a longer life. Yet, where the focus is on health, most of this work has centered on one or two measures of health outcomes or on certain health behaviors such as smoking or alcohol use and has often failed to include those who cohabit as a separate relationship status. In this paper, we extend the research on the links between health and relationship status in three important ways. First, we consider a wide array of health indicators including self-reported health, chronic conditions, physical limitations, a measure of mental health, body mass index (BMI), and a number of health-related behaviors. Second, we use data from eight waves of the Canadian National Public Health Survey between 1994 and 2008 which allows us to estimate the effect of relationship status on health in a setting in which health insurance is not dependent on marriage. Third, we incorporate cohabitation as a separate relationship status. After controlling for time-invariant factors related to selection into and out of marriage, we find that marriage confers health benefits in the form of improved mental health, and lower levels of alcohol use. Marriage, however, is not without its cost. Similar to studies using U.S. data, marriage results in higher BMI, greater incidence of overweight and obesity and lower probabilities of regular exercise. These benefits and costs accrue to those who marry, and often to cohabiters.     

Does work during childhood affect the health of Guatemalan adults?

The diversity of potential relationships between child labor and health makes the empirical disentanglement of the causal relationship a difficult exercise. This paper examines the long run impact of child labour on health by controlling for unobserved household specific characteristics. In order to control for the unobserved households specific effect, we estimate a conditional fixed effect model using data on siblings constructed from the Guatemalan National Survey of Living Condition. The estimation results reinforce the conventional wisdom that child labor is harmful for health in the long run. The results can be interpreted as a lower bound of the true impact since healthier children are most likely to offer themselves for employment and to be appointed. The views expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of IMF and IMF policy.     

Younger Age at First Childbirth Predicts Mothers’ Lower Economic and Psychological Well-Being Later in Life

Age at first childbirth affects mothers’ economic and psychological well-being later in life. Using a gender and power framework, two studies examined the associations among age at first childbirth, employment status, perceived choice, and race/ethnicity as predictors of economic and psychological well-being in a sample of middle class, married mothers (Study 1) and a nationally representative sample of married mothers (Study 2). Results indicated younger age at first childbirth is associated with less choice; lower educational attainment; lower SES; greater household labor; greater perceived chore discrepancy; lower self-esteem; less life, work, and relationship satisfaction; but is unrelated to depression or work stress. There were differences by employment status and minimal differences by race/ethnicity. The findings suggest that negative economic and psychological outcomes later in life are related to having one’s first child at a younger age.     

Disengaged or Bookworm: Academics,Mental Health,and Success for Sexual Minority Youth

Same‐sex attracted youth (SSAY) experience higher rates of negative mental health outcomes compared with their heterosexual peers; however, the association between sexual minority status and academic achievement is less clear. We used four waves of data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health to compare 1,279 ethnically diverse SSAY (57% male) based on the degree to which they were “engaged” (65%) or “disengaged” (35%) in school, classified through cluster analysis techniques. The pattern of results indicated significantly better mental health among the engaged group one and 6 years later (e.g., fewer depressive symptoms, less alcohol use), and more occupational and educational achievement eleven years later. The implications of school connection and achievement across a decade of life are discussed.     

Does alcohol consumption reinforce mental problems in adolescence?

The main goal of this article is to provide empirical evidence that alcohol consumption reinforces the occurrence of mental illnesses even at early stages of life. We control probit estimations for unobserved heterogeneity and endogeneity. We have drawn a sample of 73,024 individuals from the Spanish National Survey on Drug Use in the School Population (2000, 2002, 2004). Our results confirm our theoretical hypothesis that alcohol consumption has a negative influence on youth state of health, but the magnitude of this influence is lower once we controlled for unobserved heterogeneity and endogeneity. Gender differences reveal that females are more likely to have been prescribed tranquilizers, and they are also more vulnerable to alcohol consumption than males are. As effective instruments to improve young people well-being, we suggest increasing the price of liquors and a greater parental control in how their children spend their available budget, and more important, in how they feel.     

Effect of Health on Retirement of Older Americans: a Competing Risks Study

Retirement is an important event in the life of an individual. The decision to retire or exit from full-time employment may be motivated by several factors, including health. This paper explores the effect of both subjective and relatively more objective physical and mental health conditions on the probability of exit from full-time employment. Using longitudinal data on older Americans from ten waves of the Health and Retirement Study (1992–2010), eight health indices are created from a wide range of health measures by principal component analysis. The effect of these health indices on the time until exit from full-time employment is empirically examined in a proportional hazard model. Single and competing risk specifications are estimated that allow for multiple spells of full-time employment and control for unobserved heterogeneity. The main results suggest that better self-reported health decreases the likelihood of exit from full- time employment, while poor physical health (functional limitations factor) increases the likelihood of exit from full-time employment via complete retirement and disability. For mental health, I find that depression increases the likelihood of exit via complete retirement, part-time work and unemployment while cognitive disorders lead to an increase in likelihood of exit via the disability exit route. Hence, physical and mental health problems are both impediments to continued work. These results have implications for public policies targeted towards retaining older workers within the labor market.     

DOING WELL BY DOING GOOD:

The popular assumption that volunteer work helps people get good jobs is tested using panel data from the Young Women's Module of the National Longitudinal Survey of Labor Market Experience. Volunteering while a young adult has no effect on whether women will be working for pay eighteen years later, but it has a positive effect on the occupational status of those who are. Length of time spent in the labor force between early adulthood and middle age suppresses the positive effect of volunteering on occupational status. A separate analysis of women who display more commitment to working for pay by being in the labor force in both 1973 and 1991 shows the same positive effect of volunteer work on occupational status.     

Physical activity, genes, and lifetime predisposition to chronic disease

This mini-review summarizes the main associations between physical activity and chronic diseases and discusses the basic concepts related to the role of genetic factors in studies evaluating the effects of physical activity/exercise therapy on chronic disease prevention/treatment during the life course. Many observational cohort studies have shown that high physical activity during young adulthood or middle age is associated with reduced later life morbidity, mobility limitations and mortality. Physical activity or exercise therapy has a positive effect on health via many disease-specific mechanisms. The most consistent finding of the various randomized controlled studies conducted to date is that aerobic/functional capacity and/or muscle strength can be improved by exercise training among patients with different chronic diseases. Genes are known to play a role in chronic disease predisposition and to contribute to physical fitness levels, physical activity participation and ageing. Physical fitness, physical activity and health outcomes may be partly due to underlying genetic factors that have a favourable effect on all these traits (genetic pleiotropy). This means that in observational studies, the relationship between baseline activity and the later occurrence of diseases may not be interpreted entirely as causal. Increased knowledge on the role of nuclear genome, mitochondrial genome, epigenetics, telomeres and regulation of gene expression will increase our understanding of their relationships with physical activity and morbidity.     

Gender,Work, and Intimate Violence: Men's Occupational Violence Spillover and Compensatory Violence

Researchers have rarely studied the effects of occupations on intimate violence, only occasionally distinguishing between blue‐collar and white‐collar work, and generally finding higher rates of reported abuse in the former group. This research incorporates ideas from feminist, work‐family, and power or resource theories to examine the potential effects of occupations on men's violence toward wives and cohabiting female partners. Data from the 1988 National Survey of Families and Households (NSFH) were analyzed using logistic regression techniques. Hypotheses related to occupational spillover and compensation were tested with results suggesting that men in physically violent, female‐dominated, professional specialty, and dangerous occupations are more likely to use violence against female partners, net of other commonly hypothesized predictors. The findings suggest that more detailed occupational data should be collected in future intimate violence research.     

DEPRESSED WAGES ALONG THE U.S.-MEXICO BORDER: AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS

Portions of the United States near the Mexican border are experiencing massive inflows of both legal and illegal migrants of Mexican origin. The resultant concentration of low skill labor in these areas of the southwestern states supposedly has led to an excess supply of labor and subsequent depressed labor market conditions, particularly for blue collar workers and Mexican-American nationals. This paper analyzes the degree to which the labor market in this area is depressed. The results presented here tend to verify hypotheses suggested by several other authors but indicate that the magnitude of the problem as reflected by low wages along the border is much less severe than generally believed. The importance of this study is that it measures a phenomenon that heretofore has been accepted with very little empirical verification.     

The impact of childhood abuse and neglect on adult mental health: a prospective study

This paper examines the impact of three types of victimization in childhood--sexual abuse, physical abuse, and neglect--on lifetime measures of mental health among adults. In contrast to research that relies on retrospective recall of childhood victimization, this work uses a prospective sample gathered from records of documented court cases of childhood abuse and neglect in a midwestern city around 1970. These subjects were interviewed about twenty years later. In addition, this research compares outcomes of the 641 members of the abuse and neglect group with a matched control group of 510 persons who did not have documented cases of abuse or neglect. The results indicate that men who were abused and neglected as children have more dysthymia and antisocial personality disorder as adults than matched controls, but they did not have more alcohol problems. Abused and neglected women report more symptoms of dysthymia, antisocial personality disorder, and alcohol problems than controls. After controlling for stressful life events, however, childhood victimization had little direct impact on any lifetime mental health outcome. This research indicates the importance of adopting an approach that places childhood victimization in the context of other life stressors and of prospective changes over the life course.     

Parental supervision and adolescent risky behaviors

This paper re-examines the relationship between parental supervision and adolescents’ engagement in risky behaviors. Using the Child Development Supplement and Transition to Adulthood of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, I consider different measures of supervision among a sample of adolescents 10–21 years old. Issues relating to endogeneity bias and unobserved heterogeneity are accounted for using lagged amounts of supervision and fixed effects as an estimation strategy. The results highlight the role of fathers in mitigating cigarette smoking in the past month, regular alcohol consumption in the past year, and marijuana smoking in the past month. The research emphasizes the need to account for unobserved heterogeneity and supports the idea of looking at the different roles of each parent in affecting child outcomes.     

Alcohol and Sexual Health Behavior: “What We Know and How We Know It”

Alcohol, despite salutary associations with sexuality, has been implicated in sexual health problems. This review examines the relationship between alcohol and outcomes related to sexual health. Methodological considerations limiting causal assertions permissible with nonexperimental data are discussed, as are advantages of experimental methods. Findings from laboratory experiments are reviewed evaluating causal effects of acute alcohol intoxication on a variety of outcomes, including sexual arousal, sexual desire, orgasm, and sexual risk behaviors related to sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Several variables exerting mediating and moderating influences are identified. It is concluded that acute alcohol intoxication is capable of exerting a causal impact on multiple constituent components of sexual responding related to sexual health. Both alcohol expectancy and alcohol myopia theories have been supported as explanations for these causal effects. Furthermore, for sexual risk behavior, noteworthy recent developments include research highlighting the importance of women’s sexual victimization history and men’s condom use resistance. Limitations and implications associated with this body of research are also discussed.     

The Correlations of Work Conditions with Unhealthy Lifestyles and Occupational Health Problems of Casino Croupiers in Macau

The Macau economy and employment of residents rely heavily on the gaming industry. It is important that the working conditions in casinos are not harmful to the health of the casino employees. This study examines the correlations between work conditions, unhealthy lifestyles and occupational health problems amongst casino croupiers in Macau. Its findings will provide casino managers and policy makers with evidence and awareness of the workplace health risks for the casino workers. The data were gathered by a questionnaire survey of 1,042 croupiers, which represents roughly 5 % of the croupier population in Macau. Work conditions were measured by worker satisfaction towards the biological, chemical and physical elements in their work environments. Unhealthy lifestyles were measured by practices of excessive drinking, smoking, electronic game playing and addictive substance use as well as gambling. Occupational health problems were measured by experiences of work related illnesses or symptoms. Results showed that high percentages of respondents were dissatisfied with the work conditions. On average each croupier experienced 10 work related health problems in the past 7 days. Over 5 % of the respondents drank more than three glasses of alcohol a day, 24 % smoked cigarettes, 12 % took addictive substances, 14 % gambled in the past 7 days. The analysis showed that dissatisfaction with work conditions did not correlate with unhealthy lifestyles but were strongly and significantly correlated with stress-related occupational health problems (R = 0.377–0.479, P < 0.001) and other occupational health problems (R = 0.348–0.461, P < 0.001). Casino workers in Macau experience a variety of problems associated with their work conditions that can be hazardous to their health. The working conditions in casinos need to be regularly monitored and improvements such as occupational health training and enhanced health related policies can be introduced.     

Sociodemographic Determinants of Occupational Risks of Exposure to COVID‐19 in Canada

The activities performed by Canadian workers in some occupations may increase the risk of exposure to infectious diseases such as COVID‐19. This research note explores how occupational exposure risks vary by labor force characteristics using publicly available Canadian data in combination with a data set providing information on the level of physical proximity and frequency of exposure to infections or diseases faced by workers in different occupations. The results show important sociodemographic differences. First, women work in occupations associated with significantly higher average risks of exposure to COVID‐19 than men. This is driven by their overrepresentation in high‐risk broad occupational categories such as health occupations. Second, older workers (65 years or more), a group vulnerable to COVID‐19, appear to work in occupations requiring performing activities characterized by a lower level of physical proximity than their younger colleagues, with minimal differences in the frequency of exposure to diseases or infections. Finally, workers in low‐income occupations are employed in occupations that put them at greater risk of exposure to COVID‐19 than other workers. This is especially the case for women, immigrants, and members of visible minority groups in low‐income occupations. More broadly, this research note provides insights into the health‐related dimension of the literature on occupational tasks and labor market stratification.