Longitudinal associations of effort and reward at work with changes in cognitive function: evidence from a national study of U.S. workers

Megan Guardiano¹, Timothy A Matthews², Sunny Liu³, Onyebuchi A Arah^{3

4

5}, Johannes Siegrist⁶, Jian Li^{7

8

9

10}

Affiliations

¹ School of Nursing, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA.
² Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, College of Health & Human Development, California State University Northridge, Northridge, CA, USA.
³ Department of Epidemiology, Fielding School of Public Health, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
⁴ Department of Statistics and Data Science, College of Letters and Science, University of California Los Angeles, 650 Charles E. Young Drive South, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
⁵ Department of Public Health, Research Unit for Epidemiology, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark.
⁶ Centre for Health and Society, Faculty of Medicine, University of Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany.
⁷ School of Nursing, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA. jianli2019@ucla.edu.
⁸ Department of Epidemiology, Fielding School of Public Health, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA. jianli2019@ucla.edu.
⁹ Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Fielding School of Public Health, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA. jianli2019@ucla.edu.
¹⁰ Department of Public Health Nursing, Faculty of Public Health, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand. jianli2019@ucla.edu.

PMID: 39212748
PMCID: PMC11910997
DOI: 10.1007/s00420-024-02081-z

Longitudinal associations of effort and reward at work with changes in cognitive function: evidence from a national study of U.S. workers

Megan Guardiano et al. Int Arch Occup Environ Health. 2024 Sep.

. 2024 Sep;97(7):745-755.

doi: 10.1007/s00420-024-02081-z. Epub 2024 Aug 30.

Authors

Megan Guardiano¹, Timothy A Matthews², Sunny Liu³, Onyebuchi A Arah^{3

4

5}, Johannes Siegrist⁶, Jian Li^{7

8

9

10}

Affiliations

¹ School of Nursing, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA.
² Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, College of Health & Human Development, California State University Northridge, Northridge, CA, USA.
³ Department of Epidemiology, Fielding School of Public Health, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
⁴ Department of Statistics and Data Science, College of Letters and Science, University of California Los Angeles, 650 Charles E. Young Drive South, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
⁵ Department of Public Health, Research Unit for Epidemiology, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark.
⁶ Centre for Health and Society, Faculty of Medicine, University of Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany.
⁷ School of Nursing, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA. jianli2019@ucla.edu.
⁸ Department of Epidemiology, Fielding School of Public Health, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA. jianli2019@ucla.edu.
⁹ Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Fielding School of Public Health, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA. jianli2019@ucla.edu.
¹⁰ Department of Public Health Nursing, Faculty of Public Health, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand. jianli2019@ucla.edu.

PMID: 39212748
PMCID: PMC11910997
DOI: 10.1007/s00420-024-02081-z

Abstract

Purpose: This study aimed to examine longitudinal associations of workplace effort and reward with changes in cognitive function among United States workers.

Methods: Data from the national, population-based Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) study with a 9-year follow-up were used. Validated workplace effort and reward scales were measured at baseline, and cognitive outcomes (including composite cognition, episodic memory, and executive functioning) were measured with the Brief Test of Adult Cognition by Telephone (BTACT) at baseline and follow-up. Multivariable linear regression analyses based on generalized estimating equations (GEE) examined the longitudinal associations under study.

Results: Among this worker sample of 1,399, after accounting for demographics, socioeconomics, lifestyle behaviors, health conditions, and job control, high reward at baseline was associated with increased composite cognition (regression coefficient: 0.118 [95% CI: 0.049, 0.187]), episodic memory (0.106 [0.024, 0.188]), and executive functioning (0.123 [0.055, 0.191]) during follow-up. The joint exposure of 'high effort and high reward' was also associated with increased composite cognition (0.130 [0.030, 0.231]), episodic memory (0.131 [0.012, 0.250]), and executive functioning (0.117 [0.017, 0.216]), while the combination of 'low effort and high reward' was associated with increased composite cognition (0.106 [0.009, 0.204]) and executive functioning (0.139 [0.042, 0.235]).

Conclusion: Findings suggest that workplace high reward is related to improved cognitive scores among United States workers. Future research should investigate larger cohorts over longer timespans and expand into disease outcomes such as dementia. If these findings emerge as causal, relevant workplace rewards to promote worker cognitive health should be considered.

Keywords: Cognition; Effort-reward imbalance; Episodic memory; Executive functioning; Psychosocial work factors; Work stress.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest The authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose.

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Longitudinal associations of effort and reward at work with changes in cognitive function: evidence from a national study of U.S. workers

Affiliations

Longitudinal associations of effort and reward at work with changes in cognitive function: evidence from a national study of U.S. workers

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

Conflict of interest statement

Figures

References

MeSH terms

Grants and funding

LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources