Parental Job Loss and Young Children’s Socioemotional Development during COVID-19

• In Event: Family Law, Family Structure, and Health and Well-Being

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic placed many families at risk of economic insecurity, yet its impact on young children’s socioemotional development remains understudied. This study examines how parental job loss during the COVID-19 pandemic affected preschool-age children’s socioemotional development, focusing on differential effects of fathers’ and mothers’ job loss. Using panel data from New York City families with young children (Respondent parents: 39% Latino, 30% White, 18% Black, 6% Asian, 7% other race and ethnicity, 89% female; Respondents’ children: Mage=5, 48% female), we follow children across three periods: pre-COVID (2019), early-COVID (2020), and mid-COVID (2021-2022). We estimate Lagged Dependent Variable model to assess whether maternal and paternal job loss predicts a poorer socioemotional development, measured by the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, controlling for pre-pandemic development. Findings indicate that a father’s job loss, but not a mother’s, predicted higher socioemotional problems during mid-COVID particularly for boys. Regarding mechanisms, a father’s job loss predicted reduced family income and parent–child activity, though in mediation models these factors did not significantly mediate the association with children’s socioemotional development. Findings suggest that the developmental effects of parental job loss differ by parent gender, with fathers’ job loss uniquely linked to declines in children’s socioemotional development. The results underscore the need to consider gendered family roles and children’s differential sensitivity to disruptive events when designing supports for families facing job loss.

Authors

• Eunho Cha, University of California, Irvine
  Presenting Author

• Jeanne Brooks-Gunn
  Non-Presenting Co-Author

• Jane Waldfogel, Columbia University
  Non-Presenting Co-Author