Abstract for: Delineating Hispanic Immigrant Lodging Workers’ Allostatic Load Dynamics Through Systems Modeling

The aggregate influence of multilayered, sociostructural domains—from immigration and labor policies to work and nonwork environments—produces elevated levels of chronic stress over time. Studies on work-related stress are increasingly considering allostatic load (AL)—the temporal cascade of multisystemic physiological dysregulation—as a summary measure of physiological “wear and tear” the body experiences during repeated response to stress. AL has been linked with adverse work conditions, stressful work environments, and job insecurity as well as lower decision latitudes, higher job demands, greater effort-reward imbalance, vital exhaustion, and burnout. Sustained exposure to such adverse work conditions can trigger physiological, behavioral, emotional, or cognitive reactions leading to anxiety, depression, and burnout, harmful coping mechanisms (e.g., substance misuse), and other mental health problems. The goal of this study is to use system dynamics (SD) modeling techniques to understand how multifaceted and interacting government/corporate structural policies influence excess AL accumulation for HIL workers and their associated syndemic risks, and to identify preventive policy interventions that can reduce syndemic risks over time. Our specific aims are to: (1) Uncover the complex drivers of AL accumulation and associated syndemic risks for HIL workers over time and (2) Ascertain high-leverage intervention points and structural policies that can effectively reduce the AL-associated syndemic risk trajectories of HIL workers.