It’s complex: exploring the associations between socioeconomic position, work complexity and psychological distress in old age. : A population based study with more than 20-years follow-up.

Self-reported psychological distress is quite common in the Swedish elderly population. Feelings of psychological distress may have devastating consequences. The overall aim of this study was to explore associations between socioeconomic position and work complexity during midlife with psychological distress in old age. Ordered logistic regression was used to investigate the associations between, (I) socioeconomic position during midlife and psychological distress in old age, (II) work complexity during midlife and psychological distress in old age, (III) the association between socioeconomic position and psychological distress independent of work complexity, and (IV) the association between work complexity and psychological distress independent of socioeconomic position. The results show that (I) higher socioeconomic position during midlife is associated with less psychological distress in old age (II) higher work complexity during midlife is associated with less psychological distress in old age, and that (III) higher work complexity is associated to less psychological distress independent of socioeconomic position, (IV) but the association between socioeconomic position and psychological distress diminishes adjusting for work complexity. The main conclusion from this study is that individuals with high socioeconomic position benefits from both their position in society and from their working conditions while individuals of lower socioeconomic position are more likely to also suffer the drawbacks of disadvantageous working conditions in relation to late life psychological distress