Childhood and adolescent precursors of adult labour force attachment:

Influences of neighbourhood characteristics

Piotr WilkPsychiatry and Bechavioural Sciences

McMaster UniversityHamilton, Ontario

pwilk@uwo.ca

Objectives

• Examine childhood and adolescent predictors of adult labour force attachment

• Focus on effects attributable to early exposure to neighbourhood influences

Past Research

• The collective socialization and social isolation theories posit that neighbourhood influences operate through –role modeling and enforcement of social

norms

–economic conditions of neighbourhoods

Past Research

• Timing of neighbourhood effects–focus on adolescents

–growing interest in neighbourhood influences at earlier stages of child development

Research Questions

• Is adult labour force attachment shaped by childhood neighbourhood conditions?

• Is the nature of this relationship dependent on child’s developmental stage?

• Is the nature of this relationship dependent on gender?

Data

• Child and family level data –OCHS 2000 (dependent variables)

–OCHS 1983 (independent variables)

• Neighbourhood level data –1981 Census of Canada

Measurements: Labour Force Attachment

• Work Attitudes– latent variable based on 7 items

–scale from 1 (weak) to 5 (strong attachment)

• Work Stability–single indicator latent variable

–based on work history calendar

–number of months employed (last 3 years)

Measurements: Neighbourhoods

• Neighbourhoods are defined as Census enumeration areas

• Neighbourhood Socio-Economic Status – latent variable based on three items:

educational attainment, occupational status, and income

• Employment Rate–single indicator measure of neighbourhood

employment rate

Measurements: Families

• Family Socio-Economic Status (latent variable) – based on three items: parental educational

attainment, parental occupational status, and family income

• Employment Stability (continuous variable)

– number of months employed (last year)

• Immigration Status (dummy variable) – both parents born abroad

• Residential Stability (dummy variable) – family experienced residential mobility (last year)

Measurements: Children

• Age (Group variable)

– ‘Children’ (4-11 years old in 1983)

– ‘Adolescents’ (12-16 year old in 1983)

• Sex (Group variable)

Analytical Approach

• Longitudinal design

• Structural equation modeling

• Multi-group analysis

Estimation Procedure

• Base model –gross effect of neighbourhood variables

• Full model –neighbourhood effects controlling for family

background variables

• Multi-group analysis –by age

–by gender

Empirical Model

FAMILYSES

INCOME

OCCUPATION

EDUCATION*

WORK ATTITUDE

Q 1

Q 2

Q 3

Q 4*

Q 5EMPLOYED

NEIGHBOURHOODSES

INCOME

OCCUPATION*

EDUCATION

IMMIGRANT

MOVED

EMPLOYMENT RATE

EMPLOYMENT STABILITY

EMP. HISTORY

Results: Employment Stability

Est. S.D. P Est. S.D. P

Neighbourhood PredictorsSocio-Economic Status 0.037 0.029 0.205 0.044 0.035 0.207Employment Rate 0.165 0.069 0.016 0.122 0.068 0.075

Family PredictorsSocio-Economic Status ----- ----- ----- -0.027 0.141 0.846Employment Status ----- ----- ----- -0.320 0.188 0.089Birth Place ----- ----- ----- 0.408 0.613 0.506Family Mobility ----- ----- ----- -0.322 0.490 0.511

Base Model Full Model

Results: Employment Stability by Age

Est. S.E. P Est. S.E. P

Neighbourhood PredictorsSES 0.030 0.044 0.499 0.074 0.057 0.191Employment Rate 0.192 0.088 0.028 0.040 0.110 0.712

Family PredictorsSES -0.012 0.188 0.951 -0.109 0.218 0.617Employment Status -0.134 0.264 0.612 -0.521 0.271 0.055Birth Place 0.031 0.811 0.969 0.980 0.937 0.296Family Mobility -0.635 0.619 0.305 -0.310 0.788 0.695

Age 4-11 Age 12-16

Results: Employment Stability by Sex

Est. S.E. P Est. S.E. P

Neighbourhood PredictorsSES -0.008 0.042 0.857 0.098 0.056 0.078Employment Rate 0.202 0.082 0.014 0.056 0.107 0.598

Family PredictorsSES -0.208 0.177 0.240 0.093 0.214 0.666Employment Status -0.138 0.218 0.527 -0.582 0.305 0.056Birth Place -0.323 0.744 0.665 1.042 0.954 0.283Family Mobility -0.324 0.584 0.579 -0.320 0.775 0.680

Males Females

Results:Work Attitudes

Est. S.D. P Est. S.D. P

Neighbourhood Predictors Socio-Economic Status 0.004 0.002 0.051 0.004 0.003 0.173

Employment Rate -0.010 0.005 0.049 -0.010 0.005 0.037

Family PredictorsSocio-Economic Status ----- ----- ----- 0.008 0.010 0.455Employment Status ----- ----- ----- -0.011 0.014 0.435Birth Place ----- ----- ----- -0.072 0.045 0.108Family Mobility ----- ----- ----- 0.050 0.036 0.158

Base Model Full Model

Results:Work Attitudes by Age

Est. S.E. P Est. S.E. P

Neighbourhood PredictorsSES 0.004 0.003 0.177 0.002 0.004 0.628Employment Rate -0.013 0.007 0.038 -0.006 0.008 0.441

Family PredictorsSES 0.004 0.014 0.803 0.012 0.016 0.434Employment Status -0.015 0.019 0.451 -0.008 0.019 0.683Birth Place -0.123 0.060 0.040 -0.018 0.067 0.789Family Mobility 0.045 0.046 0.326 0.071 0.056 0.206

Age 4-11 Age 12-16

Results:Work Attitudes by Sex

Est. S.E. P Est. S.E. P

Neighbourhood PredictorsSESus 0.005 0.003 0.168 0.003 0.004 0.406Employment Rate -0.005 0.007 0.496 -0.016 0.007 0.028

Family PredictorsSES -0.014 0.015 0.330 0.022 0.015 0.125Employment Status 0.012 0.018 0.514 -0.038 0.021 0.070Birth Place -0.100 0.061 0.102 -0.050 0.065 0.431Family Mobility -0.029 0.048 0.548 0.122 0.053 0.021

Males Females

Conclusions

• As expected, neighbourhood employment rate has positive effect on employment stability but only among males and children age 4 to 11

• Neighbourhood employment rate has negative effect on work attitudes but only among females and children age 4 to 11

• No significant effect for neighbourhood socio-economic status

• Limited support for collective socialization and social isolation theories

Thank You!