Educational mismatch and mortality among native-born workers in Sweden. A 19-year longitudinal study of 2.5 million over-educated, matched and under-educated individuals, 1990-2008

The Relationship Between Overqualification and Incident Diabetes: A 14-Year Follow-Up Study

OBJECTIVE

Recent research identified that workplace factors play a role in the development of diabetes mellitus (DM). This study examines the longitudinal association of work-related overqualification with the incidence of DM over a 14-year follow-up period.

METHODS

We used data from the 2003 Canadian Community Health Survey linked to the Ontario Health Insurance Plan and the Canadian Institute for Health Information Discharge Abstract databases. Cox proportional hazards regression models were performed to evaluate the relationship between overqualification and the incidence of DM.

RESULTS

Over the study period, there were 91,835 person-years of follow-up (median follow-up = 13.7 years). The final sample included 7026 respondents (mean [standard deviation] age at baseline = 47.1 [8.2]; 47% female). An elevated risk of DM was associated with substantial overqualification (hazard ratio = 1.58, 95% confidence interval = 1.01-2.49) after adjustment for sociodemographic, health, and work variables. Additional adjustment for body mass index and health behaviors attenuated this risk (hazard ratio = 1.30, 95% confidence interval = 0.81-2.08). Underqualification was not associated with the incidence of DM in adjusted regression models. We did not observe any statistical difference in the effects of overqualification on DM risk across sex or education groups.

CONCLUSIONS

This study adds to the growing body of research literature uncovering the relationships between work exposures and DM risk. The results from the study suggest that higher body mass index and, to a lesser extent, health behaviors may be mediating factors in the association between overqualification and incident DM. Further research on the association of overqualification with DM is warranted.

Employment mismatch from a distributive justice perspective

Purpose

Employment mismatch is a significant problem in many countries. However, little conceptualization research has been conducted on employment mismatch from a social justice perspective. The purpose of this study is to shed light on social justice issues that have been obscured in the human resource development (HRD) literature through the lens of the distributive justice theory.

Design/methodology/approach

This study first reviews the literature to identify the gaps in employment mismatch research by reviewing three relevant bodies of literature: education mismatch, immigrant mismatch and disability mismatch. It then provides a new conceptualization of employment mismatch by examining employment mismatch through the lens of Rawls’ (1971) distributive justice theory.

Findings

The author proposed a framework of healthy employment relations using the constructs of social system design, moral guidance, education reform and individual development. Implications were proposed for research and practice.

Originality/value

The new framework of healthy employment approaches employment mismatch from four aspects embraced by the distributive justice theory. This model can assist HRD professionals and policymakers in responding to the employment mismatch of different populations.

Modern Social Hierarchies and the Spaces between: How Are Subjective Status Inconsistencies Linked to Mental Well-Being?

Higher socioeconomic status is linked to higher mental well-being, but modern individuals inhabit multiple hierarchies and reference groups—and thus well-being may be determined between as much as within socioeconomic statuses. Drawing on proprietary national data collected by Gallup in 2017, I find that inconsistency between one’s perceived standing in society and one’s standing in more local hierarchies based in neighbors or friends is quite common. Individuals with negative status inconsistency (lower perceived status among one’s neighbors or friends relative to society) exhibit diminished mental well-being relative to those without. Relational or interpersonal mechanisms, including lower closeness to others, anomie or social disengagement, and diminished meaning in life, appear to partially or mostly explain how status inconsistencies undermine well-being. However, these relational mechanisms vary in their explanatory importance across types of inconsistencies and types of well-being. Positive and negative status inconsistencies both show links to lower-quality social relations.

Associations between hair cortisol concentration, income, income dynamics and status incongruity in healthy middle-aged women

A body of research demonstrates that financial disadvantage is associated with general health inequalities and higher mortality rates. Most studies make use of cross-sectional analyses, although income can also be viewed as a dynamic concept. The use of endocrine-markers as proxies for health can provide information about the pathways involved in these associations. Hair cortisol analysis has been developed as a method for assessing sustained cortisol output as it provides an estimate of cumulative cortisol secretion over a prolonged time. The present study assessed income and income trajectory over a 4-year period in 164 working women (aged 26-65) in relation to hair cortisol in a longitudinal design. A negative association between hair cortisol and concurrent income was found (p=0.025) and hair cortisol and changes in income over 4 years (p<0.001), after adjustment for age, BMI, smoking status, hair treatment and country. Status incongruity, a mismatch between educational status and income group, was related to higher cortisol levels compared with status congruity (p=0.009). These findings suggest that psychoneuroendocrinological pathways might partially explain the relationship between lower socio-economic status and adverse health outcomes. Future longitudinal research using hair cortisol analysis is warranted to clarify the time course of social mobility in relation to long-term cortisol, to investigate other underlying psychosocial factors implicated in these associations, and to determine the exact health implications of the neuroendocrine perturbations in individuals with limited economic resources.

Educational mismatch and health status among foreign-born workers in Sweden

Foreign-born workers have been shown to experience poorer working conditions than native-born workers. Yet relationships between health and educational mismatch have been largely overlooked among foreign-born workers. This study uses objective and self-reported measures of educational mismatch to compare the prevalence of educational mismatch among native (n = 2359) and foreign-born (n = 1789) workers in Sweden and to examine associations between educational mismatch and poor self-rated health. Findings from weighted multivariate logistic regression which controlled for social position and individual-level demographic characteristics suggested that over-educated foreign-born workers had greater odds ratios for poor-self rated health compared to native-born matched workers. This association was particularly evident among men (OR = 2.14, 95% CI: 1.04-4.39) and women (OR = 2.13, 95% CI: 1.12-4.03) from countries outside of Western Europe, North America, and Australia/New Zealand. Associations between under-education and poor-self rated health were also found among women from countries outside of Western Europe, North America, and Australia/New Zealand (OR = 2.02, 95% CI: 1.27-3.18). These findings suggest that educational mismatch may be an important work-related social determinant of health among foreign-born workers. Future studies are needed to examine the effects of long-term versus short-term states of educational mismatch on health and to study relationships over time.