Summary
Early childhood is a critical period for the reproduction of social inequality. While a growing literature is exploring the influence of parental socioeconomic background, less is known about the effect of precarious jobs. This thesis employs counterfactual mediation to analyse how household employment uncertainty (HEU), i.e., temporary jobs and unemployment, affects child development before entry into formal education. This allows us to focus on the first stages of the development of primary effects, i.e., how family socioeconomic background affects school performance, and offer novel insights into the intergenerational transmission of disadvantage. Leveraging data from the French Longitudinal Study of Children (ELFE), this study shows that HEU is associated with a higher probability of unplanned pregnancy and poorer infant health. The effect is mediated through income and smoking during pregnancy. Moreover, the accumulation and persistence over time of HEU are associated with lower child cognitive skills at age two and three and a half. While results for socio-emotional adjustment are less robust, child physical health appears to not be correlated with HEU, hinting at the potential mitigating role of a comprehensive healthcare system. In alignment with the Family Investment and the Family Stress Models, income and parental investment in stimulating activities mediate the effect on cognitive skills, whereas parental stress mediates the effect on socio-emotional adjustment. The mediation appears to be driven by mothers. In summary, employment uncertainty appears to be a relevant component of family background and can amplify the intergenerational transmission of disadvantage, through its effect on income, parental investment and stress, particularly with regard to mothers.
Le jury de thèse sera composé de :
M. Carlo Barone, Professeur des Universités, Institut d’études politiques de Paris (directeur de thèse)
M. Pablo GRACIA, Full Professor, Trinity College Dublin (rapporteur)
Mme Carina MOOD, Full Professor, Stockholms universitet (rapporteure)
Mme Ariane PAILHÉ, Directrice de Recherche, INED
Mme Lidia PANICO, Professeure des universités, Institut d’études politiques de Paris (directrice de thèse)
Mme Pia SCHOBER, Full Professor, Universität Tübingen
