Welcome to a CEDAR seminar with Sara Kalucza and Anna Baranowska-Rataj.
Do children’s labour market experiences affect mental health of parents?
Sara Kalucza, Department of Sociology & Centre for Demographic and Ageing Research, Umeå University
Anna Baranowska-Rataj, Centre for Demographic and Ageing Research, Umeå University
Abstract
In this study we investigate the influence of adult children's adverse labour market experiences on the mental health of their aging parents. Taking the life course perspective, we examine adult children's trajectory over nearly a decade following graduation from a school or a university.
We use data from Swedish registers linked with the Västerbotten Intervention Programme (VIP), a survey providing detailed information about health outcomes in northern Sweden. We utilize sequence analysis and cluster analysis to categorize labour market trajectories of adult children. Next, we use linear regression models to examine how labour market trajectories of adult children are associated with parental mental health measured in VIP.
We find that labour market trajectories indicating more persistent forms of labour market disadvantage are associated with poorer mental health among parents compared to trajectories characterized by stable employment or involving only short unemployment occurring on the way to finding a job. We also find poorer mental health among parents with children who were born late in parents’ life, and who only started to settle down on the labour market during the period observed in our analysis. This suggests that parental uncertainty about children’s economic security matters for mental health in the older generation.
All interested are welcome to participate. If you want to participate digitally, please contact Mojgan to receive a meeting link.
