Do age and birth cohorts influence trends in the job demand-control model, self-rated health, and perceived stress in Sweden?

OBJECTIVES

People in Sweden have internationally good health, work environment and quality of life, a picture that has lately been questioned because of the sharp increase in stress-related diagnoses, especially among young women. This study aims to better understand how stress and psychosocial work stressors vary across age and birth cohorts using data collected between 2008 and 2018.

METHODS

Using hierarchical age-period-cohort-growth curve models and data from the Swedish Longitudinal Occupational Survey of Health, we estimated the age trajectories of job demands, job control, perceived long-lasting stress, sustained emotional stress and self-rated health by birth cohort. Separate analyses by sex and occupational status were also conducted.

RESULTS

Job demands, perceived long-lasting stress and sustained emotional stress decreased with age, while self-rated health deteriorated. Statistically significant cohort and age × cohort interactions suggest that more recent birth cohorts have both a) higher job demands, lower job control, more sustained emotional stress and worse self-rated health, and b) a less favourable development with age for all outcomes. However, these cohort differences are primarily driven by younger cohorts, and they are less pronounced or inconsistent among older cohorts. Occupational status and gender seem to modify some of these developments.

CONCLUSIONS

This study provides some support for inter-cohort changes in the work environment and health, predominantly among younger cohorts. More recent cohorts generally report poorer health and work environment along with less favourable development with age. Nevertheless, these patterns are not consistent across all age group comparisons and robust cohort comparisons are primarily possible among adjacent cohorts. It is, however, unlikely that these changes can be attributed solely to a general deterioration in working life affecting all workers equally, as the phenomenon appears largely confined to younger workers. Future studies should explore how the combined demands from several spheres of life may better explain these age and cohort differences.