The double burden of precariousness: linking housing, employment, and perceived stress – a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Employment precariousness is widely recognised as a social determinant of health and a chronic stressor. Yet precariousness extends beyond employment, into other aspects of life.Using a multidimensional social pathways approach, this study examines the synergistic effects of employment and housing precariousness on self-perceived stress. This study uses the PRESSED dataset (N = 255) derived from the Barcelona Health Survey, which collects data on stress using the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS). Employment precariousness was operationalized using the Employment Precariousness Scale (EPRES) and a multidimensional indicator of housing precariousness was constructed. Generalized structural equation modelling was used to estimate associations between these indicators and self-perceived stress measured by Perceived Stress Survey (PSS), after accounting for sociodemographic variables.Employment and housing precariousness were positively associated with self-perceived stress (OR=3.23; p=0.002) (OR=4.28; p=0.065) respectively. The mediating effect of housing 2 precariousness accounted for 16% of the total effect of employment precariousness on stress after controlling for sociodemographic variables. Furthermore, we find that both precarious conditions were unequally distributed by age, sex educational level, and place of birth in the sample. We conclude that employment and housing precariousness are important chronic stressors and that a social pathway approach is needed .

Housing and health for people from refugee and asylum-seeking backgrounds: findings from an Australian qualitative longitudinal study

“…In the accounts of the participants, the cumulative health impacts over time of negative housing trajectories were evident and noted as occurring alongside other overlapping elements of SDH and integration such as challenges with employment, access to education, financial precarity, English language acquisition, migration pathway/temporary visa status, and health status itself. These compounding problems mirror literature pointing to the harm caused by cumulative stressors associated with precarity in multiple aspects of life [13,[68][69][70]. In contrast, those with existing resources such as English language skills, family networks, and importantly access to supports and services associated with their permanent residency/citizenship status were less susceptible to negative health impacts.…”

Strengthening the social resilience of people living at the intersection of precariousness and migration during pandemics: action recommendations developed in Munich, Germany

“…These dimensions interact, and each factor within the dimensions triggered others. Publications on the pandemic’s effects ( 7 , 24–29 ) confirm this intersectionality, which is caused by the fact that all these factors stem from the same underlying causes. As Siller and Aydın ( 30 ) pointed out, vulnerability is the product of structures that create adversity for marginalized groups.…”

“…Specifically trained fieldworkers were recruited who, through their networks, could reach out to different groups with those characteristics. Of the 82 people aged 18 and above reached in total, 25 (Table 1) were included in the present study because they came to Germany in the second half of their lives and met at least one of the following precariousness criteria (3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9). Individuals who were struggling to meet their basic needs due to lack of financial means whose situation was unlikely to improve in the near future, as well as people whose refugee status in Germany had not yet been determined or who were awaiting a residence permit, preventing them from working or forecasting their future fulfilled this criterion.…”

“…A hazardous lack of security or stability, dependence (3) on uncertain developments, or dependence on the will of others is referred to as precariousness. The concept of precariousness encompasses components that interact synergistically such as income, employment, housing, access to food and the enjoyment of civil, economic, and social rights (3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10). All these components are the results of political, economic, and social structures that may generate injustice and inequalities among citizens (11) and that frequently weigh disproportionately heavy on the financial, job, housing, and food security of migrants (5, 7,12,13).…”

‘Our home, your home?’ The precarious housing pathways of asylum seekers in Catalonia

“…( 2019 , p. 4) define as a ‘state of uncertainty which increases a person’s real or perceived likelihood of experiencing an adverse event, caused (at least in part) by their relationship with their housing provider, the physical qualities, affordability, security of their home, and access to essential services’. Recent years have seen considerable growth in scholarly attention to housing precariousness (Carr et al , 2018 ; Lombard, 2021 ; Waldron, 2021 ; Caroz-Armayones et al , 2022 ). Conceptually, it is connected with the broader literature on the related notion of precarity (for a review, see Han, 2018 ), which is often associated with the transformation of labour and the welfare state under globalization and encompasses employment conditions (Standing 2011 ), access to healthcare and education, or legal status (Baban et al ., 2017 ; Beer et al ., 2016 ), among other key aspects of lived experience.…”