Research Supplement to Promote Diversity in Health-Related Research Long-term Investigator Research Supplement (2 years) Parent Grant: U19 Midlife in the United States: A National Longitudinal Study of Health & Well-Being DESCRIPTION: Black women experience the worst outcomes on nearly every health index relative to other groups in the United States. There is overwhelming evidence of the impact of socioeconomic factors like educational attainment and income, on health disparities between Blacks and Whites. However, little research has explored how work and occupational experiences (e.g., supervisor/coworker support, multiple role occupancy, or experiencing racial/ethnic slurs from boss/coworker) are different for Black women. The objective of the proposed research supplement is to identify occupational and work-related experiences that contribute to health outcomes borne by Black women.
Specific aims i nclude: 1) Delineating variation in selected self-reported (e.g., supervisor/co-worker support, having a serious problem with someone at work, experiencing racial/ethnic slurs from boss/co-worker) and objective indicators (e.g., working conditions, relationships, and support) of work exposures by gender, education, and race; 2) Determining if variation in selected work-related experiences (subjective and objective) mediate differences in health among Black women and men, and differences in health among Whites and Blacks; and 3) Determining if work-related experiences are associated with standard biological indicators of stress (e.g., elevated cortisol, allostatic load) among Blacks. This study will employ quantitative methods using data from the parent project, entitled Midlife in the United States: A National Longitudinal Study of Health & Well-Being (MIDUS) and the O*NET data that are appended to the MIDUS. Self-administered questionnaire and biomarker data from the first follow-up (MIDUS II [M2]), MIDUS Refresher (MR) and Milwaukee samples from both waves of data collection will be obtained and used for analysis in this investigation. A discrete disease state (high blood pressure/hypertension), a subclinical disease indicator (allostatic load), and a health-related behavior (smoking) will be the outcome variables of consideration. Elements of Warr's Vitamin Model will be operationalized with items from the telephone questionnaire (e.g., employment status, hours worked/week) and the self-administered questionnaire (e.g., boss/coworker support, perceived discrimination on the job, boss/coworker(s) use racial/ethnic slurs, psychological demand, perceived workplace inequalities). Finally, data on participants' age, sex, race and country of family origin, educational attainment, and household income were collected in the MIDUS surveys and will be used for descriptives and comparison. Results of this supplement will emphasize psychosocial issues in the workplace that may have a negative impact on health among a particularly vulnerable population. Outcomes of this project should provide new insights into race and gender-specific policy changes to improve work experiences for Black women.
Black women in the United States are plagued with disproportionately higher rates of various chronic health conditions. Many of these outcomes have been linked to various socioeconomic factors, especially education, income, and employment status. Although Black women are becoming increasingly educated and have a more significant presence in the workforce, there is a paucity of research that examines psychosocial issues in the workplace that may negatively impact health among this particularly vulnerable population. This research should provide new insights into race and gender- specific policy changes to improve work experiences and health for Black women.
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