Marta Facchini

Research field(s)

Observatoire Sociologique du Changement
(Sciences PO) - ED 234

Advisors: Carlo Barone and Lidia Panico


Parental employment uncertainty and child well-being. Assessing the patterns and the underlying mechanisms.

This thesis investigates the link between parental employment uncertainty and children’s early skill development. Using ELFE data, I focus on the developmental gaps of infants and toddlers in France. Developmental outcomes include language skills, psychological adjustment, and indicators of well-being. I use two specification of employment uncertainty. First, in order to capture a more specific form of employment uncertainty, I compare parents holding a permanent contract to parents holding a temporary contract in a sample that includes only households where both parents are employees. In the second sample that includes
all parents, employment uncertainty is operationalized as either holding a temporary contract, being unemployed or inactive. Moreover, I take into account the employment uncertainty of both family members, in order to assess the role of gender and couple dynamics. Furthermore, I aim to analyze the mechanisms that might mediate the association between employment uncertainty and children development. First, based on the family
investment model, I hypothesize that employment
uncertainty could exacerbate the effects of static material deprivation on children development. Forecasting low purchasing power can reduce the investment in books, educational toys, cultural and pedagogical activities, thus hindering the transfer of language skills, vocabulary and soft skills. Moreover, it can increase the exposition to toxic environment and consequently increase the risk of poor health outcomes, such as developing respiratory issues. Second, based on the family stress model, I hypothesize that employment uncertainty could bring about worse children
outcomes via parental stress. There is evidence
that employment uncertainty produces distress,
depression, anxiety, and conflict between the
partners, which can negatively affect the quality of parental care. Moreover, parental stress can increase harshness and inconsistency in family interactions, thus mining the well-being of the child, their psychological adjustment and cognitive ability.