Whereas previous research shows that union membership is associated with improved health, static measurements have been used to test dynamic theories linking the two. We construct a novel measure of cumulative unionization, tracking individuals across their entire careers, to examine health consequences in older adulthood. We use data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (1970-2019) and predict self-rated health, functional limitations, and chronic health conditions in ages 60 to 79 using cumulative unionization measured during respondents' careers. Results from growth models show that unionized careers are associated with .25 SD to .30 SD improvements in health among older adults across all measures. Analyses of life course mechanisms reveal heterogeneous effects across unionization timing, age in older adulthood, and birth cohort. Moreover, subgroup analyses reveal unionization to partially, but not fully, ameliorate disparities based on privileged social positions. Our findings reveal a substantial and novel mechanism driving older adulthood health disparities.

中文翻译：

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老年人的累积工会化和身体健康差异。

尽管之前的研究表明，工会成员身份与改善健康状况有关，但静态测量已被用来测试将两者联系起来的动态理论。我们构建了一种新的累积工会衡量标准，跟踪个人的整个职业生涯，以检查老年期的​​健康后果。我们使用收入动态小组研究（1970-2019）的数据，并使用受访者职业生涯中测量的累积工会情况来预测 60 至 79 岁年龄段的自我评估健康状况、功能限制和慢性健康状况。增长模型的结果显示，在所有衡量指标中，加入工会的职业与老年人健康状况改善 0.25 SD 至 0.30 SD 相关。对生命历程机制的分析揭示了加入工会时间、老年年龄和出生队列之间的异质性影响。此外，亚组分析表明，工会可以部分但不能完全改善基于特权社会地位的不平等。我们的研究结果揭示了导致老年人健康差异的实质性且新颖的机制。