title: Mortality risk among Black and White working women: the role of perceived work trajectories.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Drawing from cumulative inequality theory, the authors examine the relationship between perceived work trajectories and mortality risk among Black and White women over 36 years.
  
  
  METHODS
  Panel data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Mature Women (1967-2003) are used to evaluate how objective and subjective elements of work shape mortality risk for Black and White women born between 1923 and 1937.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Estimates from Cox proportional hazards models reveal that Black working women manifest higher mortality risk than White working women even after accounting for occupation, personal income, and household wealth. Perceived work trajectories were also associated with mortality risk for Black women but not for White women.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The findings reveal the imprint of women's work life on mortality, especially for Black women, and illustrate the importance of considering personal meanings associated with objective work characteristics.
authors.affiliation: Division of Health Policy and Management, University of Minnesota, 420 Delaware Street SE, MMC 729, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA. tshippee@umn.edu
authors.forename: Tetyana P
authors.initials: TP
authors.lastname: Shippee
authors.forename: Lindsay
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Rinaldo
authors.forename: Kenneth F
authors.initials: KF
authors.lastname: Ferraro
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D009026:Mortality / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000639:trends; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D018570:Risk Assessment; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D044465:White People; D014931:Women, Working