Skip to main content
GSA 2023 Main banner
Icon Legend
This session is not in your schedule.
This session is in your schedule. Click again to remove it.
Back
Symposium

Behavioral and Social Sciences

Racial Disparities in Occupational Exposures and Later-Life Health

Friday, November 10, 2023
8:00 AM – 9:30 AM ET
Location: Room 105

Racial and ethnic health disparities remain a persistent and urgent social problem. Researchers are beginning to explore the role of work experiences, both good and bad, in attenuating or exacerbating health disparities. The recent availability of the entire life course experience of work in the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) Life History Mail Survey (LHMS) has spurred innovative research on the role of occupational exposures on health disparities in later life. Linking these data to the information available in the Occupation Information Network (O*NET) provides a rich characterization of lifetime occupational exposures. Sheftel et al. use work histories from the LHMS to study the role of racial segregation in occupations on later life dementia. They show that complex work with data during working ages may be protective against dementia at older ages, potentially contributing to the differentials in dementia prevalence by race/ethnicity. Park et al. similarly use data on lifetime work histories, to investigate the role of accumulated years of physically demanding work (PDW) in young and middle adulthood on the number of functional limitations at age 60. They show that cumulative PDW is strongly associated with functional limitations at age 60 and accounts for a part of the racial/ethnic gap in functional limitations at age 60. Both papers will discuss policy implications of findings. Andrasfay will provide critical commentary and discussion.

Learning Objectives:

  • After attending this session participants will be able to describe the importance of racial segregation and institutional racism in differential exposures to both salutary and harmful work environments over the life course.
  • After attending this session participants will be able to describe the important role that occupational exposures play in later life health outcomes including dementia and disability.
  • After attending this session participants will be able to discuss the ways that information on racial differences in work exposures can contribute to policy aimed at eliminating the racial gap in health status later in life.

Presentations:

  • 8:00 AM – 9:30 AM ET
    Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Health: The Role of Physically Demanding Work

    Individual Symposium Abstract First Author: Sung S. Park, PhD (she/her/hers) – University of Massachusetts Boston

  • 8:00 AM – 9:30 AM ET
    Racial/Ethnic Cognitive Health Disparities: The Role of Occupational Complexity and Occupational Status

    Individual Symposium Abstract First Author: Mara Sheftel, PhD (she/her/hers) – Penn State University