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The negative effects of unemployment can go beyond the person who is directly affected. In this issue of Perspectives Demogràfiques we examine the relationship between unemployment of adult children and their parents’ mental health. The results show that parents with an unemployed child or children present a higher average of depressives ymptoms than their counterparts whose children are all employed. The magnitude of the effect varies amongcountries. Those that are more family centred with a less protective welfare state (in southern and eastern Europe) show the worst values. In Spain, the impact is similar for mothers and fathers, although this additional effect is notable for mothers since it implies their showing values that are higher than that at which the clinical manifestation of depression appears. The impact of unemployment of offspring is non-existent among parents with a higher level of education. Taken together, the results are an invitation toc ontemplate a multigenerational approach in the study of mental health in the elderly population.

Els efectes negatius de la desocupació poden transcendir a la persona que l’experimenta. En aquest númerode Perspectives Demogràfiques examinem la relació entre la desocupació dels fills adults i la salut mental dels seus pares. Els resultats confirmen que els paresamb algun fill desocupat presenten una mitjana desímptomes de depressió superior que els seus homòlegs amb tots els seus fills ocupats. La magnitud de l’efecteés diferent entre països, sent aquells amb un estat del benestar menys protector i centrat en la família (sud iest d’Europa) els que mostren pitjors valors. En el cas d’Espanya, l’impacte és similar per a mares i pares, encara que aquest augment addicional resulta dramàtic per a elles en implicar que superin el valor a partir delqual es produeix la manifestació clínica de la depressió. L’impacte de la desocupació dels fills és nul entre els progenitors amb major nivell educatiu. En el seu conjunt, els resultats conviden a considerar una aproximació multigeneracional en l’estudi de la salut mental de la població gran. 

Los efectos negativos del desempleo pueden transcender a la persona que lo experimenta. En estenúmero de Perspectives Demogràfiques examinamos la relación entre el desempleo de los hijos adultos y lasalud mental de sus padres. Los resultados confirmanque los padres con algún hijo desempleado presentanun mayor promedio de síntomas de depresión que sus homólogos con todos sus hijos ocupados. La magnituddel efecto es diferente entre países, siendo aquellos conun estado del bienestar menos protector y centradoen la familia (sur y este de Europa) los que muestran peores valores. En el caso de España, el impacto essimilar para madres y padres, aunque este aumentoadicional resulta dramático para ellas al implicarque superen el valor a partir de la cual se produce lamanifestación clínica de la depresión. El impacto del desempleo de los hijos es nulo entre los progenitores con mayor nivel educativo. En su conjunto, los resultados invitan a considerar una aproximación multigeneracional en el estudio de la salud mental de la población mayor.

Objective: This paper studies the consequences of maternal unemployment in single-mother families on the mental health of adolescent children.

Background: The impact of parental unemployment on the health and well-being of children has received increasing attention in recent years, but little is known about these cross-over effects in single-mother households - a particularly vulnerable family setting for maternal unemployment and child health.

Method: We use data from a large, register-based panel of Finnish adolescents aged 15-21 years in 1996-2019 (n = 130,520), with repeated measures of prescribed psychotropic medication purchases in six-month periods. Event study difference-in-difference models - adjusting for time-invariant characteristics - are employed to investigate the association between maternal unemployment and adolescents’ psychotropic medication purchases.

Results: Maternal unemployment is associated with a small increase in psychotropic medication purchases, especially about two years after the transition to unemployment. While the point estimates are similar for both boys and girls, the estimates for girls remain non-significant. The observed patterns cannot be explained by changes in maternal income after job loss, and non-resident fathers’ income did not clearly mitigate the negative effects of single mother unemployment on adolescent psychotropic medication purchases.

Conclusion: Maternal unemployment in single-mother households is modestly associated with adolescent mental health, highlighting the need for targeted support for this vulnerable group.

This study examines the consequences of parental job displacement for birth outcomes and investigates how the effects vary with regional unemployment rates. We use Swedish register data and exploit plausibly exogenous variation caused by workplace closure to reduce the bias related to reverse causality and confounding. The differences in birth outcomes between children of parents who experienced job displacement and children of parents who were not displaced turn out to be quite modest. Even in the most disadvantaged regions, with the highest unemployment rates, parental job displacement is not harmful for health at birth. We relate these findings to the institutional setting in Sweden and discuss policy implications for the United States.

Intra-family crossover effects triggered by job losses have received growing attention across scientific disciplines, but existing research has reached discrepant conclusions concerning if, and if so how, parental job losses affect child mental health. Drawing on sociological models of stress and life course epidemiology, we ask if parental job losses have long-term effects on child mental health, and if these effects are conditional on the timing of, or the cumulative exposure to, job losses. We use intergenerationally linked Swedish register data combined with entropy balance and structural nested mean models for the analyses. The data allow us to track 400,000 children over 14 years and thereby test different life-course models of cross-over effects. We identify involuntary job losses using information on workplace closures, thus reducing the risk of confounding. Results show that paternal but not maternal job loss significantly increases the risk of psychotropic drug use among children, that the average effects are modest in size (less than 4% in relative terms), that they may persist for up to five years, and that they are driven by children aged 6–10 years. Moreover, cumulative exposure to multiple job losses are more harmful than zero or one job loss.

Grandparental support may protect mothers from depression, particularly mothers who separate and enter single parenthood. Using longitudinal Finnish register data on 116,917 separating and 371,703 non-separating mothers with young children, we examined differences in mothers’ antidepressant purchases by grandparental characteristics related to provision of support. Grandparents’ younger age (<70 years), employment, and lack of severe health problems predicted a lower probability of maternal depression. Depression was also less common if grandparents lived close to the mother and if the maternal grandparents’ union was intact. Differences in maternal depression by grandparental characteristics were larger among separating than among non-separating mothers, particularly during the years before separation. Overall, maternal grandmothers’ characteristics appeared to matter most, while the role of paternal grandparents was smaller. The findings suggest that grandparental characteristics associated with increased potential for providing support and decreased need of receiving support predict a lower likelihood of maternal depression, particularly among separating mothers.

Parental unemployment can have detrimental effects on life chances of the children, and thereby reinforce inequalities across generations. Despite a substantial literature documenting that the health of infants at birth can have large and long-lasting consequences, research on intergenerational unemployment effects on infant health is scant. This study fills the gap using high-quality register data from Sweden, including 1.5 million siblings born between 1996 and 2017. To account for selection into unemployment, we employ sibling comparison designs that exploit variation in siblings’ exposure to parental unemployment, thereby accounting for stable but unmeasured confounding at the level of families. We find small and not consistently significant effects of maternal unemployment, and no effects of paternal unemployment. Our results also suggest that pre-existing social disadvantages - low education, migration background, and dual parental unemployment -are not associated with more adverse intergenerational unemployment effects. The discussion of our findings situates these results in the context of a relatively generous and egalitarian welfare state.

Crossover effects of parental unemployment on subjective wellbeing of children attract growing attention in research on social inequalities. Recent economic crises call for identifying policies that mitigate the adverse effects of unemployment. Building on the theoretical insights from Capability Approach, we examine the relationship between parental unemployment and subjective wellbeing of adolescents across countries with different educational policies. We use multilevel modelling and data from the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC). We combine microdata on 45,992 adolescents in 32 countries with macro-level indicators of educational policies. We find that parental unemployment is associated with lower subjective wellbeing among adolescents, but the magnitude of this association varies depending on access to financial support for participation in education. Adolescents who receive educational allowances and who live in countries with broader access to such support are less harmed by parental unemployment.

Unemployment affects not only the subjective well-being of the individual, but also that of the partner. Based on the life course perspective and the spillover-crossover-model, we examine the mediating role of relationship functioning for such crossover effects of partner’s unemployment on subjective well-being. We also test whether gender differences in the mechanism of relationship functioning can explain the larger overall crossover effects on women compared to men. We use data from the German Family Panel pairfam (2008/09-2018/19), which provide more direct and comprehensive measures of relationship functioning than previous research, and allow us to examine couples’ communication and interactions, their conflict styles and behaviors, relationship satisfaction, and perceived relationship instability as mediators. To analyze the impact of the partner’s transition to unemployment on subjective well-being, we use fixed effects panel regression models and the product method of mediation analysis to estimate the indirect effects of relationship functioning. The results show that a partner’s transition to unemployment has a negative impact on one’s own well-being. The effects are more pronounced for women than men which can be partly explained by gender-specific effects of the partner’s unemployment on various aspects of relationship functioning, rather than by differential effects of the latter on one’s own well-being.

Objective: This paper provides the first comprehensive evidence on the effects of adult children’s unemploymenton parental mental health in Europe, exploring the potential moderators related to parents’ and children’s genderas well as the number and birth order of children’s siblings.

Background: The spillover–crossover model contextualizes the impact of experiences related to working life onthe health and wellbeing of family members. Parents’ and children’s gender is considered as potential moderatorbased on theories on gendered differences in how adverse life course events of significant others affect mentalhealth. Additionally, demographic theories point to the number and order of children determining parentalinvestments in offspring as well as parental expectations toward children’s achievements.

Method: We apply general structural equation modeling to data from the sixth wave of the Survey of Health,Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE).

Results: Our results confirm the negative association between adult children’s unemployment and their parents’mental health. These crossover effects are found to be similar according to gender and also child birth order.

Conclusion: The intergenerational influence of adult children’s employment on their older parents is confirmed.However, our findings also challenge theoretical ideas suggesting that negative labor market experiences ofdaughters or firstborn children might be more detrimental for parents than those of other children. 

Crossover effects of critical life events within families have received growing attention in life-courseresearch. A parent losing a job is among the most distressing events that can befall a family, butexisting research has reached discrepant conclusions concerning if, and if so how, this affects childmental health. Drawing on insights from models of intra-family influence and life courseepidemiological models, we ask if parental job loss have latent or long-term effects on child mentalhealth, if the effects are conditional on the timing of the job loss, and if repeated job losses havecumulative effects.We use intergenerationally linked Swedish register data combined with entropy balance andstructural nested mean models for the analyses. The data allow us to track 400,000 children over 14years and thereby test different life-course models of crossover effects. We identify involuntary joblosses using information on workplace closures, thus reducing the risk of confounding.Results show that paternal but not maternal job loss significantly increases the risk of mental healthproblems among children, that the average effects are modest in size (less than 4% in relativeterms), that they materialize only after some years, and that they are driven by children aged 6-10years. Moreover, we find evidence of cumulative effects, but also of declining marginal harm ofadditional job losses over the life course.