Job authority and health: unraveling the competing suppression and explanatory influences

Using data from a 2005 national survey of working American adults (N=1800), we examine the association between job authority and three health outcomes: physical symptoms, psychological distress, and anger. We also seek to explicate the intervening conditions that suppress and/or contribute to those associations. We observe that higher levels of interpersonal conflict in the workplace and work-to-home interference among those with more job authority suppress the negative association between authority and each health outcome. By contrast, the greater earnings and nonroutine work among those with higher job authority explain their lower levels of physical symptoms, distress, and anger. These observations elaborate on and refine the "stress of higher status" theoretical perspective and illuminate the paradox of the overall null association between job authority and health. Moreover, they draw much-needed attention to the ways that suppression effects can broaden our understanding of workplace inequality, stress processes, and multiple health outcomes.