Trajectories of insecurity: Young adults' employment entry, health and well-being

an article by Katharina Klug and Sonja Drobnič (University of Bremen, Germany) and Hilke Brockmann (European University Institute, Florence, Italy) Journal of Vocational Behavior Volume 115 (December 2019)

Highlights

• Five distinct trajectories of labor market entry are identified for young adults.
• Low and high education, and migration background predict less secure trajectories.
• Men experience less secure trajectories, but parenthood increases risk for women.
• Cumulative employment insecurity predicts declining health and life satisfaction.

Abstract

Young adults in the transition from education to employment are vulnerable to employment insecurity.

We explore trajectories of employment insecurity over six years after leaving education, and investigate their associations with sociodemographic predictors, self-reported health and life satisfaction.

Based on a sample of 2,752 education leavers from a representative longitudinal dataset in Germany, we identify five distinct trajectories via latent class growth analysis:

1. ‘smooth transition’ (43%) signifies a quick entrance into permanent employment;
2. ‘inhibited transition’ (23%) comprises repeated temporary employment;
3. ‘stepping stone’ (21%) indicates a transition from temporary to permanent employment;
4. ‘long-term NEET’ (not in education, employment or training, 10%) describes persistent exclusion; and
5. ‘dropout’ (3%) captures transitions from permanent employment to NEET status and/or temporary employment. 

Low education and migration background are associated with long-term NEET status.

Both low education and high education are associated with inhibited transitions.

Young women face fewer difficulties after leaving education than men, but parenthood increases women's likelihood of insecure trajectories.

Long-term NEET status and inhibited transitions are associated with persistently lower health and life satisfaction.

We find deteriorating health among long-term NEETs and the stepping stone trajectory; and deteriorating life satisfaction for long-term NEETs, the inhibited transition and dropouts.

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Effects of exposure to self-harm on social media: Evidence from a two-wave panel study among young adults

an article by Florian Arendt (University of Vienna, Austria), Sebastian Scherr (KU Leuven, Belgium) and Daniel Romer (University of Pennsylvania, USA) published in New Media & Society Volume 21 Issue 11-12 (November 2019)

Abstract

Suicide is a leading cause of death among youth, and media depictions of suicidal behaviour can be a contributing risk factor.

Of interest, Instagram recently received more scholarly attention due to its large number of publicly available, explicit, and graphic depictions of self-harm. Importantly, researchers have hypothesized that exposure to this content could be a risk for self-harm and suicide in vulnerable audiences.

We tested this hypothesis using a two-wave US panel survey among young adults (N = 729).

Analyses indicated that exposure to self-harm on Instagram was associated with suicidal ideation, self-harm, and emotional disturbance even controlling for exposure to other sources with similar content.

As hypothesised, exposure to self-harm on Instagram at the first wave prospectively predicted self-harm and suicidality-related outcomes at the second wave 1 month later.

These findings provide evidence that such exposure can lead to contagion in vulnerable users.

Implications are discussed.

Full text (PDF 21pp)

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Navigating drugs at university: normalisation, differentiation and drift?

an article by David Patton (University of Derby, UK) published in Safer Communities Volume 17 Issue 4 (2018)

Abstract

Purpose
Whilst drug use appears to be common amongst university students, the purpose of this paper is to move beyond mere drug prevalence, and use the six dimensions of normalisation to better understand the role and place drugs play in the lives of university students.

Design/methodology/approach
In total, 512 students completed a student lifestyle survey.

Findings
A differentiated normalisation is occurring amongst different student groups; the social supply of drugs is common, and some users are “drifting” into supply roles yet such acts are neutralised. Students are “drug literate” and have to navigate drugs, and their consumption, availability and marketing, as part of their everyday student life.

Practical implications
Student drug use is not homogenous and very little is known about the nuances and diversity of their use/non-use beyond prevalence data. Qualitative studies are needed to better understand the processes of differentiated normalisation and social supply.

Originality/value
This is the first study in the UK to use the six dimensions of normalisation amongst a sample of university students.

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Parents, local house prices, and leaving home in Britain

an article by Sait Bayrakdar (University of Cambridge, UK) and Rory Coulter (UCL, London, UK) published in Population, Space and Place Volume 24 Issue 2 (March 2018)

Abstract

Leaving the parental home is a significant step in young adults' housing careers and pathways to independence. Although a large literature examines how life course trajectories influence leaving home, much less is known about how the “linked lives” of parents and the local cost of housing shape young people's departures from the family residence.

By enriching the U.K. Household Longitudinal Study with house price data, this study investigates how parental attributes and the geography of local housing costs influence home leaving in contemporary Britain. The results show that higher local house prices are associated with delayed departure from the parental home, although the relative magnitude of this effect is modest.

By contrast, the effects of parental factors are more nuanced. Parental characteristics have little impact on the odds of leaving home to form partnerships, whereas the likelihood of departing to live alone or in shared accommodation is reduced by parental homeownership or living with both biological parents.

Taken together, these findings suggest that young adults' residential pathways are shaped by the complex patterns of choice and constraint that are generated by disparities in family circumstances and local opportunity structures.

Full text (PDF 13pp)

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Educating young adults to be work-ready in Ireland and the United Kingdom: A review of programmes and outcomes

an article by Jennifer E. Symonds (University College Dublin, Republic of Ireland) and Carmel O'Sullivan (Trinity College Dublin, Republic of Ireland) published in Review of Education Volume 5 Issue 3 (October 2017)

Abstract

Across Europe, young adult unemployment remains an important issue. Those who have grown up in contexts of social and educational disadvantage can find it particularly difficult to find work. In response, governments, charitable foundations and in the rare case, researchers, have developed programmes of training and work-based learning to help them enter the workforce.

These programmes aim to improve the young adults’ work-readiness (also known as work-preparedness or career-readiness), which can be viewed as a set of competencies including career motivation, basic skills, job-specific skills, higher-order thinking skills, social skills and personal characteristics and attitude.

Despite a growing literature on these competencies, major work-readiness programmes in Ireland and the UK are documented as trying to get young people into work quickly, rather than on enhancing their work-readiness thereby improving human capital.

We examine this issue by reviewing work-readiness programmes’ designs and outcomes, in relation to conceptualisations of work-readiness and Elder's (1998) life-course theory. In doing so we provide detail on how programmes connect to the socio-historical context, operate in relation to the school-to-work transition, impact young people through networks of linked lives and influence their agency in young adulthood and opportunity for cumulative agency throughout the life course.

Growing up before their time: The early adultification experiences of homeless young people

Rachel M. Schmitz and Kimberly A. Tyler (University of Nebraska-Lincoln, United States) published in Children and Youth Services Review Volume 64 (May 2016)

Highlights

• Early adultification among 40 homeless youth is qualitatively explored.
• Premature caregiving burdened participants with familial responsibility.
• Early independence forced young people to provide for their own needs.
• Parenthood thrust young people into the adult role of childcare once they left home.

Abstract

This paper explores the experiences of early adultification among 40 homeless youth aged 19 to 21. Findings from semi-structured, face-to-face interviews revealed the experiences of early adultification among homeless young people. We used both initial and focused coding and the final qualitative themes emerged naturally from the data.

Early adultification encompassed the following processes, which were closely tied to prominent descriptions of family conflict and caregiver neglect: premature caregiving, early independence and parenthood.

Premature caregiving burdened participants with familial responsibility such as caring for younger siblings prior to their leaving home.

Early independence occurred when young people provided for their own needs in the absence of caregiver guidance when they were still residing with family.

Parenthood thrust young people into the adult role of caring for an infant once they left home.

Early adultification complicated participants' experiences with leaving home by imbuing them with premature independence and familial detachment. Identifying the unique aspects surrounding young people's lives prior to and after leaving home is crucial in preventing residential instability and in alleviating the issues that homeless young adults experience.

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Economic socialization, saving and assets in European young adults

an article by Paul Webley (SOAS, University of London, UK) and Ellen K. Nyhus (University of Agder, Kristiansand, Norway) published in Economics of Education Review Volume 33 (April 2013)

Abstract

We analyse the role economic socialisation plays in the economic behavior and asset accumulation of young adults by parents using data from European young adults and teenagers.

We study the role of four distinct strands of economic socialisation (providing pocket money, jobs at home, work for others, and parental encouragement) using a Dutch sample of young adults (age 18–32, n = 392).

Results show positive links between parental encouragement and ability to control spending, saving preferences, future orientation, conscientiousness, and saving.

A sample of teenagers (age 14–15, n = 548) and their parents (256 mothers, 227 fathers) is drawn for a Norwegian study of economic socialisation. Analyses reveal a small difference in the socialisation of adolescents from poorer and less educated backgrounds: they are less likely to receive pocket money and to have part-time work but are more likely to have piggy banks and savings accounts at a younger age.

Variations in the economic socialisation by parents highlight the importance of financial education in schools.

Highlights

► We analyse the role of economic socialisation by parents using data from Dutch and Norwegian young adults and teenagers.
► Young adults who had been encouraged to save and taught to budget were more conscientious, more future oriented and better able to control spending.
► The total savings of young adults could be predicted from psychological characteristics and parental encouragement to save as an adolescent.
► Working as an adolescent was positively associated with the amount of debt, and negatively with total savings.
► The socialisation experience of those from poorer or less educated backgrounds was no worse than that of those from more affluent backgrounds.

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The experiences of long-term unemployed young adults in the South West of England: some new insights

an article by Robert Lawy and Rachel Wheeler (University of Exeter, UK) published in Research in Post-Compulsory Education Volume 18 Issue 1-2 (2013)

Abstract

In this paper we explore the experiences of three long-term unemployed young adults from different backgrounds in the 18–24 age range.

The data comprise three interviews conducted over an 18-month period with seven of the original 19 participants in the research. At the time of first interview none of the young adults had been in education, employment or training for six months. Drawing upon a Bourdieusian framework, we demonstrate that differential access to economic, social and cultural resources significantly influenced, not only what they were able to reasonably contemplate but also what they were able to achieve.

We question some commonly held assumptions about young people and their orientations, and the efficacy of economic and educational policies designed to increase employment, reduce inequality and ‘meet the needs’ of the unemployed.

We claim that new insights and understandings of youth unemployment and transition can result from a broader, more holistic theorisation that fully represents the experiences and understandings of all the young adults that are being affected.

Notwithstanding this, we indicate the need for research to increase understanding and provide a strong, robust and theoretically informed evidence base for policy-makers and those concerned with the interests of young unemployed adults.

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Employment Status and Income Generation Among Homeless Young Adults: Results From a Five-City, Mixed-Methods Study

an article by Kristin M. Ferguson (University of Southern California, Los Angeles), Kimberly Bender (University of Denver), Sanna J. Thompson (University of Texas at Austin), Elaine M. Maccio (Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge) and David Pollio (University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa) published in Youth & Society Volume 44 Number 3 (September 2012)

Abstract

This mixed-methods study identified correlates of unemployment among homeless young adults in five cities.

Two hundred thirty-eight homeless young people from Los Angeles (n = 50), Austin (n = 50), Denver (n = 50), New Orleans (n = 50), and St. Louis (n = 38) were recruited using comparable sampling strategies.

Multivariate logistic regression results indicate that homeless young adults were more likely to be unemployed if they had been on the streets longer, currently lived on the streets, earned an income from panhandling, and were addicted to drugs.

Quantitative findings are expanded on with focus-group data from a group of homeless young people in Los Angeles regarding their challenges in locating and maintaining employment.

Employment-related barriers for this population include prior homelessness, geographic transience, previous felonies, mental illness, and addiction.

Findings suggest that homeless young adults’ employment status and use of specific income-generating activities may be influenced by demographic, environmental, and geographic contexts.

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Destination unknown? Transition to adulthood for people with autism spectrum disorders

an article by Ewelina Rydzewska (University of the West of Scotland School of Education) published in British Journal of Special Education Volume 39 Issue 2 (June 2012)

Abstract

This article, written by Ewelina Rydzewska, a PhD student and associate lecturer at the University of the West of Scotland, draws upon a range of research evidence in order to explore the process of transition to adulthood for people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

It provides a brief overview of extended and complex youth transitions in different cultural contexts, with particular reference to Scotland. It also highlights particular patterns of vulnerability for people with ASD.

The focus here is on the nature of ASD and its impact on the transition to adulthood, the conceptualisation of this process, the characteristics of effective service provision, as well as the ever-changing social, political and economic context of young people's transitions.

The article concludes with a summary of principal conclusions drawn from the current literature and some suggestions for future research.

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Facebook usage patterns and school attitudes

an article by Bernadett Koles and Peter Nagy, (Business School, Central European University, Budapest, Hungary) published in Multicultural Education & Technology Journal Volume 6 Issue 1 (2012)

Abstract

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore teenagers’ and young adults’ use of social networking sites (SNS), in light of certain personal, social and educational outcomes and attitudes.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were gathered on the basis of surveys, and were analyzed through a series of multivariate models.
Findings
It was found that participants’ reasons and motivations for online presence varied as a function of gender and age. Different degrees of Facebook usage were linked with different school-related attitudes. More specifically, more extensive usage was associated with more negative school and peer attitudes; more so for females and for college students. Furthermore, greater reliance on online interactions for social and emotional support was found disadvantageous for college students, while neutral or in some cases beneficial for high school students.
Research limitations/implications
Gender and educational level appear to be important factors explaining some of the variation in school-related attitudes, and thus should be explored separately.
Practical implications
The differential impact of online presence on school attitudes for college and high school students highlights the need for teachers and student advisors to be sensitive to such transitional groups.
Social implications
The authors found that more popular students, those often viewed as “opinion leaders”, tended to show more negative school outcomes than less popular students in general; a relevant point for organizations.
Originality/value
Facebook usage and school-related attitudes were observed simultaneously in high school and college populations studying in Budapest, Hungary.

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Does High Cost of Mortgage Debt Explain Why Young Adults Live with Their Parents?

an article by Nuno Martins (Barclays Capital) and Ernesto Villanueva (Banco de Españna) published in Journal of the European Economic Association Volume 7 Number 5 (September 2009)

Abstract

Young adults leave their parents’ homes at a higher rate in Northern Europe or in the United States than in Southern Europe, with broad implications on labour market mobility and on fertility. We assess if differences in household formation are associated to differences in access to credit by estimating the impact of the cost of a mortgage on the probability that a young adult leaves his or her parents’ home. Exogenous changes in the cost of credit are identified using the reform in 1998 and the cancellation in 2002 of Crédito Bonificado, a Portuguese programme that provided four different reductions of the interest rate of mortgages signed by low- and medium-income youth. Using a unique data set that links administrative records of debt with the 1998–2004 waves of the Employment Survey, we document three findings.
First, borrowing among young adults fell when borrowing costs increased.
Second, the elasticity of new household formation with respect to net interest rates lies between −0.8 and −3.3.
Third, young adults responded to the increase in mortgage costs by delaying home purchases or by reducing the quality of housing services purchased, but there was only a modest increase of the probability of renting a new accommodation.

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