Precarious work and mental health in young people

Precarious work and mental health in young people: revealing causality and discovering mechanisms

2018-2021| Funding: FWO funded project

Abstract:

The general objective of the proposed project is to advance our current understanding of the relationship between precarious employment and mental health among young adults. In an epoch of rising labour market inequalities and structural transformations, precarious employment is an emerging social determinant of health. This is certainly the case for workers in a vulnerable labour market position, including low-skilled urban youth. In particular regarding mental health, evidence of its association with precarious employment is rapidly emerging. Nevertheless many research questions remain to be answered regarding this relationship. In the proposed study, a longitudinal survey focusing on precarious employment, mental health and assumed mediating mechanisms is planned among young lower-skilled workers in Brussels, Belgium. Precarious employment is conceptualised in a multidimensional way, including seven dimensions inspired by the EPRES-instrument applied in earlier research. Hereby, we aim to (1) study the direction of the relationship between precarious employment and mental health; (2) reveal (psychosocial) mechanisms explaining the relationship between precarious employment and mental health; and (3) investigate whether a relationship exists between patterns of exposure to precarious employment and mental health. The proposed study fits within a broader research programme on precarious employment and (mental) health.