Does Knowing People in Authority Protect or Hurt? Authoritative Contacts and Depression in Urban China

Does knowing people in authoritative positions protect or hurt health? This study examines two competing theories on the health effects of authoritative contacts using nationally representative data of working-age urban adults in China. Social capital theory expects authoritative contacts to protect health directly and indirectly through increasing financial satisfaction and the receipt of unsolicited job leads, but comparative reference group theory predicts the opposite. This study focuses on one mental health outcome, depression, and measures access to two types of authoritative contacts in the workplace: the leader of the work unit and the leader of the supervising work unit. Results from path analysis show no evidence for the direct effects but show evidence for the indirect effects of knowing such leaders. Consistent with comparative reference group theory, knowing people in authority in the work context is positively associated with depression indirectly through increasing financial dissatisfaction and receipt of unsolicited job leads in urban China.

[1]  N. Lin,et al.  Measuring Depressive Symptomatology in China , 1989, The Journal of nervous and mental disease.

[2]  Y. Bian,et al.  Work and Inequality in Urban China. , 1994 .

[3]  F. T. Reid.  Mental Illness in the Urban Negro Community. , 1966 .

[4]  Chang-Hyun Jin.  Social Capital Index , 2015 .

[5]  S. Moore,et al.  Social capital and core network ties: a validation study of individual-level social capital measures and their association with extra- and intra-neighborhood ties, and self-rated health. , 2011, Health & place.

[6]  S. Abbott,et al.  Social Capital and Health , 2008, Journal of health psychology.

[7]  Martin King Whyte,et al.  Urban life in contemporary China , 1984 .

[8]  Mark S. Granovetter.  The Strength of Weak Ties , 1973, American Journal of Sociology.

[9]  Lijun Song,et al.  Do resources of network members help in help seeking? Social capital and health information search , 2012, Soc. Networks.

[10]  R. Kleiner,et al.  Mental illness in the urban Negro community , 1967 .

[11]  Nan Lin,et al.  Social Capital and Health Inequality: Evidence from Taiwan∗ , 2009, Journal of health and social behavior.

[12]  C. Welzel,et al.  The China Puzzle: Falling Happiness in a Rising Economy , 2008 .

[13]  Flávio Penteado Sampaio.  Class and class conflict in an industrial society , 1961 .

[14]  J. Fitzmaurice.  Economy and Society , 1998 .

[15]  Albert Park,et al.  Relative Deprivation and Health: Which Reference Groups Matter? , 2011 .

[16]  Albert Park,et al.  Relative Deprivation and Health , 2011, The Journal of Human Resources.

[17]  Marianna Diomidous,et al.  Social Networks and Health , 2015, ICIMTH.

[18]  Lijun Song.  Institutional Embeddedness of Network Embeddedness in the Workplace: Social Integration at Work and Employee’s Health Across Three Societies , 2013 .

[19]  E. Durkheim.  Suicide: A Study in Sociology , 1897 .

[20]  H. Hyman,et al.  The psychology of status , 1980 .

[21]  Lijun Song.  Social Capital and Psychological Distress , 2011, Journal of health and social behavior.

[22]  N. Christakis,et al.  SUPPLEMENTARY ONLINE MATERIAL FOR: The Collective Dynamics of Smoking in a Large Social Network , 2022 .

[23]  D. Treiman,et al.  A standard international socio-economic index of occupational status , 1992 .

[24]  B. Ootim,et al.  Social Support , 1986, Ageing and Society.

[25]  Andrew G. Walder,et al.  Communist Neo-Traditionalism: Work and Authority in Chinese Industry , 1988 .

[26]  Nan Lin,et al.  The Position Generator: Measurement Techniques for Investigations of Social Capital , 2017 .

[27]  Lijun Song,et al.  Is Unsolicited Support Protective or Destructive in Collectivistic Culture? Receipt of Unsolicited Job Leads and Depression in Urban China , 2014 .

[28]  L. Festinger.  A Theory of Social Comparison Processes , 1954 .

[29]  Alain Degenne.  Social capital: a theory of social structure and action , 2004 .

[30]  R. Gunatilaka,et al.  Does Economic Growth Raise Happiness in China? , 2011 .

[31]  Dan Ao,et al.  The Invisible Hand of Social Capital: An Exploratory Study1 , 2008 .

[32]  R. Wilkinson,et al.  The spirit level : why greater equality makes societies stronger , 2011 .

[33]  Xiaogang Wu.  The State and Life Chances in Urban China: Redistribution and Stratification, 1949-1994 [Book review] , 2007 .

[34]  Wenhong Chen,et al.  Does Receiving Unsolicited Support Help or Hurt? Receipt of Unsolicited Job Leads and Depression , 2014, Journal of health and social behavior.

[35]  S. Moore,et al.  Not all social capital is good capital. , 2009, Health & place.

[36]  Xiaogang Wu.  Work Units and Income Inequality: The Effect of Market Transition in Urban China , 2000 .

[37]  Laurette Dubé,et al.  Association of individual network social capital with abdominal adiposity, overweight and obesity. , 2008, Journal of public health.

[38]  Y. Bian.  Guanxi Capital and Social Eating in Chinese Cities: Theoretical Models and Empirical Analyses , 2017 .

[39]  D. Umberson,et al.  Social Relationships and Health: A Flashpoint for Health Policy , 2010, Journal of health and social behavior.

[40]  Ralf Dahrendorf,et al.  Class and Class Conflict in Industrial Society , 1960 .

[41]  G. Pham-Kanter.  Social comparisons and health: can having richer friends and neighbors make you sick? , 2009, Social science & medicine.

[42]  M. Sobel.  Asymptotic Confidence Intervals for Indirect Effects in Structural Equation Models , 1982 .

[43]  N. Lin.  Social Capital: Frontmatter , 2001 .

[44]  Yanjie Bian,et al.  The Chinese General Social Survey (2003-8) , 2012 .

[45]  Paul F. Lazarsfeld,et al.  Continuities in Social Research: Studies in the Scope and Method of "The American Solider" , 1951 .

[46]  A. So.  Boundaries and Categories: Rising Inequality in Post-Socialist Urban China , 2009 .