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Job quality and inequality: Parents' jobs and children's emotional and behavioural difficulties

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  • Strazdins, Lyndall
  • Shipley, Megan
  • Clements, Mark
  • Obrien, Léan V.
  • Broom, Dorothy H.

Abstract

In the context of high and rising rates of parental employment in Australia, we investigated whether poor quality jobs (without security, control, flexibility or paid family leave) could pose a health risk to employed parents' children. We examined the extent to which both mothers' and fathers' jobs matter, and whether disadvantaged children are more vulnerable than others. Multiple regression modelling was used to analyse cross-sectional data for 2004 from the Growing Up in Australia study, a nationally representative sample of 4-5 year old children and their families (NÂ =Â 2373 employed mothers; 3026 employed fathers). Results revealed that when parents held poor quality jobs their children showed more emotional and behavioural difficulties. The associations with child difficulties were independent of income, parent education, family structure and work hours, and were evident for both mothers' and fathers' jobs. Further, the associations tended to be stronger for children in low-income households and lone-mother families. Thus job quality may be another mechanism underlying the intergenerational transmission of health inequality. Our findings also support the argument that a truly family-friendly job must not erode children's health.

Suggested Citation

  • Strazdins, Lyndall & Shipley, Megan & Clements, Mark & Obrien, Léan V. & Broom, Dorothy H., 2010. "Job quality and inequality: Parents' jobs and children's emotional and behavioural difficulties," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 70(12), pages 2052-2060, June.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:70:y:2010:i:12:p:2052-2060
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Grzywacz, Joseph G. & Dooley, David, 2003. ""Good jobs" to "bad jobs": replicated evidence of an employment continuum from two large surveys," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 56(8), pages 1749-1760, April.
    2. Maarten Goos & Alan Manning, 2007. "Lousy and Lovely Jobs: The Rising Polarization of Work in Britain," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 89(1), pages 118-133, February.
    3. Schoon, Ingrid & Sacker, Amanda & Bartley, Mel, 2003. "Socio-economic adversity and psychosocial adjustment: a developmental-contextual perspective," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 57(6), pages 1001-1015, September.
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    Cited by:

    1. Treanor, Morag & Troncoso, Patricio, 2022. "Poverty, parental work intensity and child emotional and conduct problems," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 312(C).
    2. Rama Lionel Ngenzebuke & Yoko Akachi, 2017. "Female work status and child nutritional outcome in Nigeria," WIDER Working Paper Series 196, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    3. Bina Gubhaju & Bryan Rodgers & Peter Butterworth & Lyndall Strazdins & Tanya Davidson, 2016. "Consistency and Continuity in Material and Psychosocial Adversity Among Australian Families with Young Children," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 128(1), pages 35-57, August.
    4. Engelhardt, Linda & Mack, Judith & Weise, Victoria & Kopp, Marie & Starke, Karla Romero & Garthus-Niegel, Susan, 2023. "The COVID-19 pandemic: Implications for work-privacy-conflict and parent–child-bonding in mothers and fathers," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    5. Li, Jianghong & Johnson, Sarah E. & Han, Wen-Jui & Andrews, Sonia & Kendall, Garth & Strazdins, Lyndall & Dockery, Alfred, 2014. "Parents' Nonstandard Work Schedules and Child Well-Being: A Critical Review of the Literature," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 35(1), pages 53-73.
    6. Jack Lam & Martin O’Flaherty & Janeen Baxter, 2018. "Dynamics of Parental Work Hours, Job Security, and Child Behavioural Problems in Australian Dual-Earner Families," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 11(5), pages 1477-1493, October.
    7. Nimitha Aboobaker & Manoj Edward, 2020. "Collective Influence of Work–Family Conflict and Work–Family Enrichment on Turnover Intention: Exploring the Moderating Effects of Individual Differences," Global Business Review, International Management Institute, vol. 21(5), pages 1218-1231, October.
    8. Strazdins, Lyndall & OBrien, Léan V. & Lucas, Nina & Rodgers, Bryan, 2013. "Combining work and family: Rewards or risks for children's mental health?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 99-107.

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