School of Social and Political Sciences - Research Publications

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Type: Journal Article × Author: Hewitt, Belinda × Author: King, Tania × Author: Taouk, Yamna × Start date: 2020 ×

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    The gendered associations between precarious employment and mental health in working-age Australians: A longitudinal analysis using 16 waves of the HILDA survey
    Ervin, J ; Taouk, Y ; Hewitt, B ; King, T (PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD, 2023-12)
    Unemployment and precarious employment (PE) are routinely found to be associated with poorer mental health. Importantly, women are over-represented in PE (due to disproportionate unpaid care demands), yet a gender lens has been lacking in much of the extant literature. This study addresses several gaps by reconsidering how PE can be conceptualised from a gender perspective and examining the impact of differing levels of multidimensional PE on the mental health of working-age Australians. Utilising sixteen annual waves (2005-2020) of the HILDA survey, this longitudinal study employed mixed-effects analysis and Mundlak modelling to examine the association between PE and mental health in working-age (25-64yrs) adults. Mental health was assessed using the MHI-5 scale. A multidimensional PE scale (based on objective and subjective indicators) was developed and three levels of precarity were modelled. 19,442 participants were included in the analyses and all models were stratified by gender. We found women experience greater exposure to PE in Australia, and our results showed a ubiquitously strong and negative association between PE and mental health in both women and men, across all levels of PE, with a dose dependent association observed with increasing PE. Additional adjustment for prior mental health slightly attenuated effect sizes, but the strength and direction of all associations were unchanged. This study provides longitudinal evidence of the detrimental impact of PE on the mental health of working age Australians, highlighting the importance of labour regulations and employment policies to minimize PE for all adults. However, given women's differential exposure to PE, this study also reinforces the urgent need for gender-sensitive social policies to address continued inequity in the division of unpaid household labour to promote a more equitable paid labour market into the future.
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    Trajectories of Unpaid Labour and the Probability of Employment Precarity and Labour Force Detachment Among Prime Working-Age Australian Women
    Ervin, J ; Taouk, Y ; Hewitt, B ; King, T (SPRINGER, 2023-10)
    Abstract Worldwide, women are over-represented in precarious and insecure employment arrangements. Importantly, the high unpaid labour demands women experience over the life course compromise paid labour force participation for women. This study explores the way different trajectories of time spent in unpaid labour throughout women’s prime working and child-rearing years (from baseline age of 25–35 yrs to 42–52 yrs) are associated with indicators of precarious employment and labour force detachment later in life. We applied group-based trajectory modelling to 17 waves (2002–2018) of data from the Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia survey to identify trajectories in unpaid labour. We then examined associations between these estimated trajectories and employment outcomes in wave 19 (2019). Our study shows that chronic exposure to high amounts of unpaid labour over prime working-age years (compared to lower exposure levels) increases women’s probability of precarious employment and labour force detachment later in prime working life. This provides evidence that ongoing inequity in the division of unpaid labour has considerable long-term implications for gender inequality in the paid labour force, and underscores the importance of urgently addressing how men and women share and prioritise time across both paid and unpaid labour domains.
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    The association between unpaid labour and mental health in working-age adults in Australia from 2002 to 2020 a longitudinal population-based cohort study
    Ervin, J ; Taouk, Y ; Hewitt, B ; King, T (ELSEVIER SCI LTD, 2023-04)
    BACKGROUND: Unpaid labour is a daily part of most people's lives, none more so than for women. Yet, in comparison to paid work, the effect of unpaid labour on mental health is an under-researched area. This study aims to address key gaps in the extant literature, examining how unpaid labour is associated with mental health in working-age men and women, and whether gender differences exist. METHODS: In this longitudinal population-based cohort study, 19 waves of the Household, Income, and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey were used to employ a fixed effects regression analysis to examine the associations between unpaid labour and mental health in working-age (aged 25-64 years) Australian adults. Mental health was assessed using the MHI-5 scale. Both the individual and the combined effects of four different domains of unpaid labour (household work, childcare, care for adults, and outdoor tasks) were interrogated, as were the gender differences. FINDINGS: Of the 37 352 participants (297 036 observations) in waves 2002-20 of the HILDA Survey, 22 832 people (190 207 observations) were aged 25-64 years, and after excluding participants with missing data, 21 014 participants (150 163 observations) were included in the analysis. Increasing time in household work was negatively associated with mental health in both men (β coefficient=-0·026 [95% CI -0·04 to -0·01]) and women (β coefficient=-0·009 [-0·02 to 0·001]), as was care for adults (disabled or older people) in women (β coefficient=-0·027 [-0·04 to -0·01]). Conversely, increasing time in childcare for women (β coefficient=0·016 [0·01 to 0·02]) and outdoor tasks for men, was positively associated with mental health (β coefficient=0·067 [0·04 to 0·09]). A null finding for the overall cumulative total unpaid labour exposure for both men and women was probably attributable to the opposing direction of effects between the individual domains that constituted the total load. INTERPRETATION: This study reveals considerable variance and nuance in how different domains of unpaid labour affect mental health, as well as continued inequity in the division of unpaid labour in households, with women doing considerably more unpaid labour than men. This study also exposes important challenges associated with measuring and understanding total (combined) unpaid labour as a determinant of health. FUNDING: University of Melbourne Research Training Scholarship, Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Award, Australian Research Council Linkage Project.