What does family friendly really mean? Parents, children, job quality & wellbeing Lyndall Strazdins, Dorothy Broom, Megan Shipley, Emma George Work, Family and Wellbeing forum, Canberra May 2006

Acknowledgements NH&MRC Australian Rotary Health Research Fund Growing Up in Australia team

Work & Wellbeing ♦ Work delivers benefits to families, especially income & social integration But some conditions may: ♦ hamper ability to both care and work ♦ affect parents’ health and wellbeing

What is job quality? Jobs with conditions that promote: ♦ health and wellbeing ♦ combining work with caring For example ♦ Control (over tasks, and work times), workload, security, work social relationships

Job Quality: Previous research Adult health: optimal jobs, poor quality jobs and unemployed. (Broom et al, in press).

Work & Family Wellbeing JOB QUALITY PARENT WELL- BEING CHILD WELL- BEING AB?

Is job quality associated with working parents’ & their children’s wellbeing ? Our Question

Two studies ♦ Growing Up in Australia-the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC), cohort study of 0 and 4 year old children and their families (N = 10, 000 families). ♦ Currently employed parents with 4-5 year old children (n mothers = 1910, n fathers = 2343) ♦ Health For Life! NH&MRC funded study ♦ Employed parents and their children, retail and public service (n 231 families with children 1-16 years)

Strengths & weaknesses ♦ Growing Up in Australia (LSAC) Large, representative sample but weak (single item) measures of work ♦ Health For Life! Detailed data on work conditions, well-developed measures, small sample (retail and public service)

Defining job quality: Growing Up in Australia Access paid personal leave & / or paid maternity, paternity leave (2 items) Flexibility start & stop times (1 item) Control over how job is done (1 item) Perceived job security (1 item) Score between = Optimal job (all 4)

Access eg paid personal, maternity or paternity leave, phone, reduced hours, permanent part-time (10 items) Flexibility start & stop times, holidays (4 items) Control how job is done, decision making (15 items) Perceived job insecurity (5 items) Work support Supportive relationships (4 items ) Work conflicts Critical, hostile (Reversed 4 items) Workload Amount, pace, time (Reversed 4 items) Score between = Optimal job (all 7) Defining job quality+: Health for Life!

Mothers & fathers depression & job quality LSAC

Mothers & fathers coping & job quality LSAC

Parent wellbeing & Job Quality LSAC adjusted for household income Note: Few part-time fathers (n=144)

Job quality+ and parents’ depression H4L

Job quality+ and parents’ health H4L

Job quality+ and parents’ wellbeing H4L DepressionSelf-Rated Health n229 JOB QUALITY **.16* * p <.05 ** p <.001 Adjusted for Household Socio-Economic Status (SES) LSAC adjusted r depression mothers -.11**, fathers -.15**

Work & Family Wellbeing JOB QUALITY PARENT WELL- BEING CHILD WELL- BEING AB?

Children’s Wellbeing Wellbeing Strength & Difficulties Questionnaire (20 items) High scores, more difficulties (Growing up in Australia, 4-5 year old children, H4L 5-16 year old children) Health Child health rated by parent H4L (1item) High scores, better general health.

Child SDQ & Job Quality LSAC

Child Difficulties & Parent Job Quality LSAC

Job quality+ and child difficulties H4L

Job quality+ and child health H4L

Job quality+ and child outcomes H4L DifficultiesHealth n JQI plus †.02 †p <.10 Adjusted for household SES & clustering LSAC adjusted r SDQ mothers -.08**, fathers -.02

Limitations ♦ Cross-sectional data ♦ Pay, training & development

Job Quality is Family Friendliness High quality jobs: ♦ Are more than family friendly conditions. ♦ May reduce ill health and mental disorder in parents, & so ♦ May also support participation & productivity.

Job Quality is Family Friendliness Two unique data sets - child as well as parent wellbeing… Jobs which optimise parents’ wellbeing may also help optimise children’s

Work & Family Health JOB QUALITY PARENT WELL- BEING CHILD WELL- BEING AB

Appendices

Who has Quality Jobs ? LSAC

Who has quality jobs+ ? H4L Job Quality Plus +Retail % Public Service % All % n Poor Optimal

Parent well-being & household income LSAC