TY - JOUR

T1 - Comparing self-reported and O*NET-based assessments of job control as predictors of self-rated health for non-Hispanic whites and racial/ethnic minorities

AU - Fujishiro, Kaori

AU - Kößler, Franziska

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © This is an open access article, free of all copyright, and may be freely reproduced, distributed, transmitted, modified, built upon, or otherwise used by anyone for any lawful purpose. The work is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication.

PY - 2020/8/6

Y1 - 2020/8/6

N2 - The Occupational Information Network (O*NET) database has been used as a valuable source of occupational exposure information. Although good agreement between O*NET and self-reported measures has been reported, little attention has been paid to O*NET’s utility in racially/ethnically diverse samples. Because O*NET offers job-level information, if different racial groups have different experiences under the same job title, O*NET measure would introduce systematic measurement error. Using the General Social Survey data (n = 7,041; 437 occupations), we compared self-report and O*NET-derived measures of job control in their associations with self-rated health (SRH) for non-Hispanic whites and racial/ethnic minorities. The correlation between self-report and O*NET job control measures were moderate for all gender-race groups (Pearson’s r = .26 - .40). However, the logistic regression analysis showed that the association between O*NET job control and SRH was markedly weaker for racial/ethnic minorities than for non-Hispanic whites. The self-reported job control was associated with SRH in similar magnitudes for both groups, which precluded the possibility that job control was relevant only for non-Hispanic whites. O*NET may not capture job experience for racial/ethnic minorities, and thus its utility depends on the racial/ethnic composition of the sample.

AB - The Occupational Information Network (O*NET) database has been used as a valuable source of occupational exposure information. Although good agreement between O*NET and self-reported measures has been reported, little attention has been paid to O*NET’s utility in racially/ethnically diverse samples. Because O*NET offers job-level information, if different racial groups have different experiences under the same job title, O*NET measure would introduce systematic measurement error. Using the General Social Survey data (n = 7,041; 437 occupations), we compared self-report and O*NET-derived measures of job control in their associations with self-rated health (SRH) for non-Hispanic whites and racial/ethnic minorities. The correlation between self-report and O*NET job control measures were moderate for all gender-race groups (Pearson’s r = .26 - .40). However, the logistic regression analysis showed that the association between O*NET job control and SRH was markedly weaker for racial/ethnic minorities than for non-Hispanic whites. The self-reported job control was associated with SRH in similar magnitudes for both groups, which precluded the possibility that job control was relevant only for non-Hispanic whites. O*NET may not capture job experience for racial/ethnic minorities, and thus its utility depends on the racial/ethnic composition of the sample.

KW - Psychology

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85089170733&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/97e1b96c-4d25-3ca0-aec3-9967b9cc4fde/

U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0237026

DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0237026

M3 - Journal articles

VL - 15

JO - PLoS ONE

JF - PLoS ONE

SN - 1932-6203

IS - 8

M1 - e0237026

ER -