Relational Demography in the Workplace and Health

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Relational Demography in the Workplace and Health

• Scott Schieman
• Taralyn McMullen
• University of Toronto

A grant award from the National Institute of
Occupational Safety and Health at the Centers for
Disease Control supports this study (R01
OH008141 Scott Schieman, P.I.). E-mail
scott.schieman_at_utoronto.ca.
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Research Question

• Is relational demography in the workplace
  associated with health?
• Focal component of the role-set superordinates
  and subordinates.
• Multiple health outcomes

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Rationale

• In his classic piece on organizational
  demography, Pfeffer asserted that the relative
  proportions of groups condition the form and
  nature of social interaction and group processes
  that in turn affect workers psychological
  well-being, attitudes, and even job performance.

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General Sociological Relevance

• The role-set
• Structural arrangements and the ultimate
  dependent variable
• Expectation states theory and core social
  statuses.

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Whos the Boss?
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Theoretical Framework

• Expectation states theory
• Role congruity theory
• Role Incongruity-Conflict versus Role
  Incongruity-Cohesion Hypotheses
• Subordinate Gender and Age Contingencies
• Explanations
• Occupation and work conditions
• Psychosocial process
• Job dissatisfaction

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Sample

• Interviews with 1,800 adults in the U.S. in 2005
  
• Ages 18 to 94 mean of 43.511 (SD 13.205)
• Weighted using 2005 American Community Survey to
  achieve conformance with the US in terms of sex,
  age, race, marital status, and occupation.
• 1,537 workers reported yes to the question In
  your current job, do you have a supervisor or
  manager? That is, someone who manages,
  supervises, directs, or controls your work? We
  exclude cases missing on the gender and age of
  superordinates (N 1,514).

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Focal Measures

• Depression and Physical Symptoms
• Relative Gender and Age of Superordinates
• Gender and Age of Subordinates
• Occupation and Work Conditions
• Relationship Quality with Superordinates
• Job Dissatisfaction

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Main Findings Gender and Depression

• Compared to those who work with men
  superordinates
• men and women who work with women superordinates
  report more depression
• women who work in gender mixed superordinate
  contexts report more depression.

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Superordinate-Subordinate Gender and Levels of
Depression
414
259
91
436
216
98
Note Predicted levels of depression are derived
from model 1 of Table 1. Numbers inside the bars
represent the numbers of cases for each of the
categories (i.e., there are 259 women
subordinates who work with men superordinates).
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Main Findings Age and Depression

• Compared to those who work with older
  superordinates
• men and women who work with younger
  superordinates report more depression, especially
  if they themselves are younger.

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Superordinate-Subordinate Age and Levels of
Depression
Note Predicted levels of depression are derived
from model 1 of Table 1. Predictions for those
who work with mixed or similarly aged
superordinates are excluded because they are not
different from those who work with older
superordinates.
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Main Findings Gender and Physical Symptoms

• Compared to those who work with men
  superordinates
• men and women who work with women superordinates
  report more physical symptoms
• women who work in gender mixed superordinate
  contexts report more physical symptoms.

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Superordinate-Subordinate Gender and Levels of
Physical Symptoms
259
414
436
91
216
98
Note Predicted levels of physical symptoms are
derived from model 1 of Table 2. Numbers inside
the bars represent the numbers of cases for each
of the categories (i.e., there are 259 women
subordinates who work with men superordinates).
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Main Findings Age and Physical Symptoms

• Compared to those who work with older
  superordinates
• men and women who work with younger
  superordinates report higher levels of physical
  symptoms, especially if they themselves are
  younger.

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Superordinate-Subordinate Age and Levels of
Physical Symptoms
Note Predicted levels of symptoms are derived
from model 1 of Table 2. Predictions for those
who work with mixed or similarly aged
superordinates are excluded because they are not
different from those who work with older
superordinates.
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Summary

• Support for role incongruity-conflict hypothesis?
  
• Depression and physical symptoms are higher when
  both women and men have women superordinates
• Depression and physical symptoms are higher in
  gender-mixed superordinate conditions among
  women
• Depression and physical symptoms are higher for
  those with younger superordinates (especially
  among younger subordinates)
• Mixed support for hypothesized explanations.

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Working with you gives me heartburn

• Higher risk of acid reflux among both women and
  men who work with women superordinates (OR
  1.42, p .027) and those who work in gender
  mixed superordinate contexts (OR 1.66, p
  .018).

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Contributions

• Looking beyond overall diversity or demographic
  composition in the workplace by focusing on the
  role-set
• Extending/refining expectation states and role
  congruity theories
• The first nationally representative survey to
  assess relational demography in the entire
  workplace role-set and trace its effects on
  multiple health outcomes.

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Next Steps

• Changes over time
• More explicit tests of expectation states and
  role congruity theories
• Cross-national comparisons.

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