Cumulative Inequality and Working Women's Mortality:Do Perceived Work Trajectories Get under the Skin?

Drawing on cumulative inequality theory, we examine the relationship between perceptions of work trajectories and women's all-cause mortality. Using the National Longitudinal Survey of Mature Women (1967-2003), we employ nested hazard models to evaluate whether work perceptions influence women's mortality. Findings indicate that perceptions of work trajectories are a significant predictor of women's mortality, although the effects differ for Black and White women. Black women who have negative perceptions of their work trajectories are more likely to die than those who hold more positive perceptions, although this difference is not significant among White women. However, the effect of work perceptions becomes non-significant for Black women when we control for type of occupation. Findings indicate the importance of accounting for perceptions of trajectories when predicting health and well-being and provide support for axiom four of cumulative inequality theory. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]