Social Psychological Correlates Of Occupational Conditions

该项目的中心是分析一个广泛的SSES设计的纵向调查的全国代表性的美国样本，在1964年，1974年和1994年采访。我们测试的假设，如何随着年龄的增长，社会结构决定的环境条件，如复杂性，继续影响认知功能，自主自我导向的方向，一个人对自己的感觉和一个人的情况下，以及精神和身体健康。利用1994年访谈的数据，我们证实，即使在生命的后期，工作的自我导向对智力功能和自我导向的方向（定义为一个人对自己和他人的看法反映了个人自主权和效能的重要性的程度）有积极的影响。最近的进一步研究结果表明，在做家务或进行认知要求高的休闲活动时处理认知复杂的环境要求对认知功能有类似的影响。我们还研究了社会环境对老年人对家务劳动的非认知心理反应，应对经济问题以及向子女寻求个人或经济帮助的意愿的影响。其他分析阐明了社会结构和行为相互关系的模式，其基础是社会结构等级制度中的地位和身体健康之间的显著正梯度。几乎所有我们完成的分析都提供了证据，证明处于不同社会结构地位的人所处的不同环境的不同心理影响增加了弱势群体和弱势群体之间的差距。我们假设，相同的一般模式将在两组正在进行的分析：一组研究如何在1974年预测焦虑和抑郁的个人的社会结构和心理特征在1994年，其他这些特征如何预测死亡率到2001年。我们的研究结果对心理衰老过程的理论理解和制定有效的干预措施以抵消其负面影响都有直接影响。

This project centers on analyses of an extensive SSES designed longitudinal survey of a nationally representative U.S. sample, interviewed in 1964, 1974 and 1994. We test hypotheses about how, as one grows older, social-structurally determined environmental conditions, such as complexity, continue to affect cognitive functioning, autonomous self-directed orientations, one's feelings about oneself and one's circumstances, as well as mental and physical health. Taking advantage of the data from 1994 interviews, we confirmed that, even late in life, self-directedness of work has a positive effect on intellectual functioning and self-directedness of orientation (defined by the degree to which ones views of oneself and others reflect the importance of the autonomy and efficacy of the individual). Further recent findings indicate that dealing with cognitively complex environmental demands while doing housework or carrying out cognitively demanding leisure time activities has similar effects on cognitive functioning. We also examined socioenvironmental effects on older individuals non-cognitive psychological responses to housework, coping with financial problems and willingness to ask their children for personal or financial help. Other analyses elucidated the pattern of social-structural and behavioral interrelationships underlying the striking positive gradient between position in the social-structural hierarchy and physical health. Almost all of our completed analyses provide evidence that the different psychological effects of the differing environments to which people in different social-structural positions are exposed increase disparities between the advantaged and disadvantaged. We hypothesize that the same general pattern will hold in two ongoing sets of analyses: one examining how the social-structural and psychological characteristics of individuals in 1974 predict anxiety and depression in 1994, the other how these characteristics predict mortality through 2001. Our findings have direct implications both for the theoretical understanding of psychological aging processes and for developing effective interventions to counteract some of its negative effects.