TY - JOUR
T1 - Depressive symptoms and the salience of job satisfaction over the life course of professionals
AU - Plickert, Gabriele
AU - Kay, Fiona
AU - Hagan, John
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was supported by research grants from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) and the Law School Admission Council (LSAC). The opinions contained in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the position or policy of the LSAC or SSHRC granting agencies. We are grateful for the helpful advice and comments of Jane Sell, Francesco Billari, Sara Jaffee, and the reviewers.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 Elsevier Ltd
Copyright:
Copyright 2018 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2017/3
Y1 - 2017/3
N2 - Despite growing interest in the relationship between job satisfaction and well-being, little is known about how job satisfaction and mental health may vary with age or stage of career. The professions, in particular, represent somewhat of a black box. Rewards associated with being a professional include prestige, autonomy, high income, heavy responsibilities, long working hours, and tight deadlines. Are professional jobs healthy jobs? The purpose of this paper is to investigate how mental health trajectories of legal professionals are a function of job satisfaction and how this relationship varies over stages of the life course. We apply a life course perspective and incorporate theories of work-family interface, role identity, and job-demands control. Using growth curve models with longitudinal panel data tracking the careers and lives of lawyers, we find declines in the trajectories of depressive symptoms over the life course. Job satisfaction is salient to trajectories of depressive symptoms, with pronounced effects during the early career years. We also find that mental health is improved by authority and control in the workplace as well as by marriage/cohabitation. These processes are observed to differ for men and women during the early career to periods of midlife.
AB - Despite growing interest in the relationship between job satisfaction and well-being, little is known about how job satisfaction and mental health may vary with age or stage of career. The professions, in particular, represent somewhat of a black box. Rewards associated with being a professional include prestige, autonomy, high income, heavy responsibilities, long working hours, and tight deadlines. Are professional jobs healthy jobs? The purpose of this paper is to investigate how mental health trajectories of legal professionals are a function of job satisfaction and how this relationship varies over stages of the life course. We apply a life course perspective and incorporate theories of work-family interface, role identity, and job-demands control. Using growth curve models with longitudinal panel data tracking the careers and lives of lawyers, we find declines in the trajectories of depressive symptoms over the life course. Job satisfaction is salient to trajectories of depressive symptoms, with pronounced effects during the early career years. We also find that mental health is improved by authority and control in the workplace as well as by marriage/cohabitation. These processes are observed to differ for men and women during the early career to periods of midlife.
KW - Depressive symptoms
KW - Hierarchical growth curve model
KW - Job satisfaction
KW - Life course
KW - Professionals
KW - Work-family interface
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U2 - 10.1016/j.alcr.2016.11.001
DO - 10.1016/j.alcr.2016.11.001
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85046614607
SN - 1040-2608
VL - 31
SP - 22
EP - 33
JO - Advances in Life Course Research
JF - Advances in Life Course Research
ER -
