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Primary Submission Category: Structural factors
Parental employment precarity and its associations to adolescent mental health and behaviors
Authors: Emma Leary, Anita Minh, Shabir Sarwary, Vanessa Oddo, Anjum Hajat, Sarah B. Andrea,
Presenting Author: Emma Leary*
Precarious employment (PE)—characterized by uncertainty, instability, low wages, limited benefits and statutory protections, and limited bargaining power—has become increasingly common amidst growing labor market flexibility. Increases in PE are occurring alongside a rising global burden of depression and anxiety among adolescents. PE is known to produce economic insecurity, poor mental health, and disease morbidity in workers, yet less is known about its intergenerational impacts. Adolescent health is shaped by household experiences and access to necessities. Parental PE directly influences a child’s access to health insurance, material goods, necessities, and quality time with family, and indirectly influences adolescent health through parents’ emotional and physical wellbeing. Exposure to such stressors both at critical periods in childhood and cumulatively over time may have consequences for adolescent health. Using data from 4,898 children and their parents participating in the nationally representative longitudinal Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study, we will explore the role of parental PE as a modifiable driver of adolescent mental health and health behaviors. We will construct multidimensional summative parental PE scores using time-varying parent-reported measures of employment stability, interpersonal relations, material rewards, workers’ rights, working time arrangements, and employee representation collected at child age 0-9. We will characterize exposure to parental PE during critical periods and cumulatively according to key sociodemographic factors. Associations between parental PE and adolescent mental health (depression, anxiety) & behavior outcomes (self-reported cigarette, alcohol, marijuana use) at age 15 will be assessed with multivariable regression. By shifting attention to the intergenerational consequences of PE, this study identifies actionable insights into mechanisms for early health interventions.