Straining Under Contradiction? Contradictory Class Locations and Job Strain in the United States

Abstract

Research suggests lower-level supervisors may suffer greater burdens of mental illness and substance use than workers and upper management, a pattern that may arise from their contradictory class location. For example, lower-level supervisors may be compelled to discipline subordinates and enforce policies over which they have little say, and contend with antagonism from workers, exposing them to stressors like job strain. However, to our knowledge, no U.S. studies have investigated whether job strain is elevated among lower-level supervisors. We addressed this gap using 2002-2022 General Social Survey data (n = 9261). We classified respondents as workers, lower-level supervisors, higher-level supervisors, top executives, petit bourgeoisie, or capitalists using self-employment and supervisory-authority items, and created a continuous job-strain score using five job-control and six job-demands items. Age- and gender-adjusted Poisson models suggested job strain decreased approximately linearly across classes, as mean scores were 6% (95% CI: 3%-8%) lower among lower-level supervisors and 23% (95% CI: 19%-27%) lower among capitalists than among workers. Patterns were similar for job control alone. However, lower-level supervisors did report elevated job demands, including 14% (95% CI: 10%-17%) greater mean scores than workers. Patterns persisted after thorough confounder adjustment. Our findings suggest job strain may not explain lower-level supervisors’ burdens of mental illness and substance use.