Primary Submission Category: LGBTQ+
Unequal Burdens at Work? Exposure to Negative Temporal and Psychosocial Job Quality Conditions Among Sexual Minority Adults in the U.S.
Authors: Layne Amerikaner
Presenting Author: Layne Amerikaner*
Sexual minority adults face structural barriers to accessing jobs, wage disparities, and mistreatment once employed, among other forms of inequality in the realm of paid work. Limited research has focused on whether LGBQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, and other non-heterosexual) adults experience patterned differences in exposure to negative temporal and psychosocial job quality conditions. These are key indicators of workplace inequality with documented links to health and well-being outcomes among both low- and high-SES workers. Utilizing cross-sectional survey data from the 2015 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) Occupational Health Supplement, this study estimates a series of nested logistic regressions to examine how LGBQ+ status is associated with multiple time- and wellbeing-related job quality indicators within a sample of employed adults (age 18 and older). Preliminary results suggest that employed sexual minority adults (N=621) are significantly more likely to be exposed to negative temporal and psychosocial job conditions including 1) lack of supervisor support, 2) work/non-work interference, 3) fear of job loss, 4) job urgency (insufficient time to get work done), and 5) work schedule instability when compared to employed heterosexual adults (N=17,431). The associations remain after adjusting for a range of demographic and occupation variables. Examining within-group distinctions, exposure to negative job quality appears to be especially pronounced for sexual minority adults racialized as people of color compared to sexual minority adults racialized as white. In addition, exposure to some negative job quality indicators appears to be more prevalent for individuals who identify as bisexual or “something else” compared to gay/lesbian individuals. Findings suggest that LGBQ+ individuals are disproportionately exposed to negative time-based and psychosocial work conditions, with detrimental implications for health and well-being.