Waking up to the Role of Occupational Prestige: Does Your Job Title Affect Your Sleep?

Document Type

Conference Proceeding

Publication Date

5-19-2025

Publication Title

Sleep

Abstract

Introduction: Socioeconomic status (SES) is a robust risk fac tor for insomnia and is commonly measured with income and/ or education; however, these factors may better capture access to resources instead of social status (i.e., the “status” part of SES). One way to better capture social status may be through occu pational prestige, which reflects societal respect and status that comes with occupational title. We hypothesized occupational prestige would be significantly associated with sleep outcomes, specifically for insomnia severity and sleep reactivity (i.e., vulner ability to sleep disturbances). Methods: Participants (n = 524) completed a survey assessing occupational prestige (categorized by job title), income, and education. Jobs were classified into high, medium, or low pres tige using a validated ranking system. Only participants who were active in the workforce and had insomnia were included. The survey also included measures for insomnia severity (ISI), and sleep reactivity (FIRST). Data were analyzed using two ANOVAs with job prestige as the independent variable, and ISI and FIRST as the dependent variables. Results: Results revealed that sleep reactivity differed by occu pational prestige, F (2,521) = 4.7, p <.01. Higher-prestige occu pations showed lower sleep reactivity (M = 22.6 ± 6.3) compared to low (M = 24.9 ± 6.0) and middle-prestige (M = 25.1 ± 5.9) occupations. Insomnia severity, however, did not differ by occu pational prestige. Conclusion: These findings suggest that while job prestige may not be associated with the severity of insomnia, it is associated with sleep reactivity. One potential explanation may be that higher-prestige occupations serve as a protective factor against stress, reducing sleep reactivity and leading to better sleep outcomes. This may be because individuals in higher prestige occupations are more likely to have greater self-esteem due to higher social status, or because higher prestige jobs often confer greater agency (e.g., these are often decision makers), there may also be greater internal locus of control. Additionally, lower prestige roles may involve unique stressors that exacerbate sleep disturbances. Future research should examine workplace stress and its impact on sleep across occupations to better understand SES influences and inform interventions and policies

Volume

48

Issue

Supplement_1

First Page

A208

Last Page

A209

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