A very nicely done and interesting study on a very relevant topic, with worrying results. Thank you for sharing this! I found the following quote particularly interesting:
"It is suggestive that the timing of the US surge in CDS prevalence coincides with the late 1970s when wages stopped tracking increasing work productivity."
> It is suggestive that the timing of the US surge in CDS prevalence coincides with the late 1970s when wages stopped tracking increasing work productivity.
I don't agree with the authors' summary of their own graphs. If you look at the graphs, it's more like "cognitive distortions hit an all-time low around 1980, began slowly inching back up from 1980-2000, then accelerated more rapidly upwards after 2000, leading to a clear trend break by 2005 or so."
I've also heard conflicting info about this and would like a more definitive analysis if anyone knows of one. I've seen people claim that total comp, including especially health care benefits, did not stagnate and continued to track productivity.
It feels quite possible to me that, despite total comp tracking productivity, wages ceasing to track work productivity could still cause increased anxiety due to a lack of choice in how to spend that fraction of compensation.
Health Care as a job benefit ensures that that fraction of compensation is always spent on health services, at minimum. In many ways it is more of a subsidy to health insurance companies and health care providers.
Summary of the study based on the comments I've read so far: "People are saying 'I am a...' a lot more than they used to, which proves that the world is going to shit because most people haven't been paid what they're entitled to for their whole lives"... this "study" seems like absolute trash science, someone's opinions and narrow interpretations dressed up as some kind of higher form of knowledge.
"It is suggestive that the timing of the US surge in CDS prevalence coincides with the late 1970s when wages stopped tracking increasing work productivity."