Occupational Sex-composition and Mortality Risk

• In Event: 326 - Regular Session. Trends and Differentials in Population Health

Abstract

Occupational and workplace sex-composition have important consequences for outcomes such as mobility, pay, workplace social climates, and stress exposure. However, it remains unclear whether occupational or workplace sex composition is also associated with health and mortality. Using a nationally representative sample of United States workers, we show that occupational sex-composition is associated with mortality risk and that the nature of this relationship is different for women than for men. As the percentage of women in men’s occupations increases, men have reduced mortality risk. In contrast, sex-composition of occupation is curvilinearly related to mortality risk for women—with women at highest mortality risk in occupations with higher percentages of women and higher percentages of men. Descriptive analyses of data on cause of death reveal possible mechanisms linking mortality risk and occupational sex-composition. Both the structural-level (occupational sex-composition) and the individual-level (worker’s sex) matter for understanding the relationship between occupational sex-composition and health outcome

Authors

• Catherine J. Taylor, Indiana University

• Anna Bellatorre, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

• Peter Muennig, Columbia University

• Elizabeth Kellogg, Columbia University

• Wenyi Zhu, Columbia University