The Impact of Occupation on Self-Rated Health: Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Evidence from the Health and Retirement Survey

• Published in: The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences Vol. 64B; no. 1; pp. 118 - 124
• Main Authors: Gueorguieva, Ralitza, Sindelar, Jody L., Falba, Tracy A., Fletcher, Jason M., Keenan, Patricia, Wu, Ran, Gallo, William T.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cary, NC Oxford University Press 01-01-2009; Oxford University Press for Gerontological Society of America
• Series: Journals of Gerontology: Series B
• Subjects: Accounting; Adult. Elderly; Age; Aged; Attitude to Health; Biological and medical sciences; Cardiovascular disease; Changes; Cohort Studies; Cohort study; Cross-Sectional Studies; Data analysis; Developmental psychology; Early retirement; Educational Status; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Health; Health insurance; Health status; Health Status Indicators; Health Surveys; Humans; Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences; Linear Models; Longitudinal Studies; Longitudinal study; Male; Middle Aged; Mortality; Multilevel model; Occupation; Occupations; Occupations - statistics & numerical data; Odds Ratio; Older people; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Retirement; Self-rated health; Smoking; Social Class; Socioeconomic Factors; Studies; United States; United States; Occupation; Self-rated health; Cohort study; Retirement; Longitudinal study; Multilevel model; Human; Survey; Profession; Self evaluation; Follow up study; Health; Elderly
• ISSN: 1079-5014; 1758-5368
• DOI: 10.1093/geronb/gbn006

Background The objective of this study is to estimate occupational differences in self-rated health, both in cross-section and over time, among older individuals. Methods We use hierarchical linear models to estimate self-reported health as a function of 8 occupational categories and key covariates. We examine self-reported health status over 7 waves (12 years) of the Health and Retirement Study. Our study sample includes 9,586 individuals with 55,389 observations. Longest occupation is used to measure the cumulative impact of occupation, address the potential for reverse causality, and allow the inclusion of all older individuals, including those no longer working. Results Significant baseline differences in self-reported health by occupation are found even after accounting for demographics, health habits, economic attributes, and employment characteristics. But contrary to our hypothesis, there is no support for significant differences in slopes of health trajectories even after accounting for dropout. Conclusions Our findings suggest that occupation-related differences found at baseline are durable and persist as individuals age.