Lifespan variation by occupational class: compression or stagnation over time?

Area of Science:

• Sociology
• Public Health
• Demography

Background:

• Socioeconomic position is inversely associated with lifespan variation in adults.
• Trends in lifespan variation across different social classes over time are not well understood.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate trends in adult lifespan variation by occupational social class in Finland from 1971 to 2010.
• To analyze age and cause-of-death contributions to changes in lifespan variation across social classes.

Main Methods:

• Utilized Finnish population register data spanning four decades (1971-2010).
• Analyzed lifespan variation trends across four occupational social classes: manual, lower nonmanual, upper nonmanual, and other.
• Conducted age and cause-of-death decompositions of lifespan variation for males and females.

Main Results:

• Life expectancy increased across all social classes, but lifespan variation remained stable for manual workers and decreased for nonmanual classes.
• Decreases in older-age lifespan variation were observed across all classes, while early-adult mortality variation increased for all except the highest occupational class.
• High and stagnant lifespan variation in the manual class was linked to circulatory disease mortality patterns and high early-adult mortality from external causes.

Conclusions:

• Mortality compression, leading to increased life expectancy with reduced lifespan variation, is achievable but currently limited to higher occupational classes.
• Differences in early-adult mortality significantly influence lifespan variation trends across social strata.
• Findings highlight the persistent impact of social class on mortality patterns and lifespan inequality over time.