Accumulated occupational class and self-rated health : Can information on previous experience of class further our understanding of the social gradient in health?

Abstract: Previous research has shown a social gradient in health that suggests that better health is found for people in more advantaged positions in society. This research has mainly been focused on the relationship between social position in childhood and health or current position and health. However, little is known about the impact of positions held in between these two time-points. In this paper a potentially lasting health effect of occupational class positions is explored. The study starts with a description of the work-life biographies for people in different current class positions. Then goes on to investigate if the effect of current class is modified when including previous positions during adulthood, as well as how much extra information is gained by utilizing information on individual work histories. An association between accumulated experience of manual working class and self-rated health is found. Also, when controlling for accumulated class experience, the social gradient for current class is no longer significant. Furthermore, even for non-manual employees the odds of reporting less than good self-rated health is increasing with each added year of previous manual experience. This suggests that the social gradient in health is more complex than just a matter of current social position influencing current health, and that the effects would potentially be modified if the full complexity of life-time social positions were taken into account.