Adverse childhood experiences and adult employment outcomes: Unpacking mechanisms across the life course

Hayun Jang and Jinho Kim

Social Science & Medicine, 2025, vol. 384, issue C

Abstract: Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are increasingly recognized as determinants of long-term health and development, yet their effects on employment outcomes in adulthood remain understudied. This study examines the association between ACEs during adolescence and two employment outcomes in adulthood: unemployment status and precarious employment. Based on a life course framework, we also explored five potential mediators: educational attainment, locus of control, incarceration, depressive symptoms, and self-rated health. Data were drawn from three waves (Waves I, IV, and V) of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health), comprising 10,880 individuals. Precarious employment in adulthood was measured with a multidimensional index capturing instability, low material rewards, lack of benefits, and limited autonomy. Logistic and ordinary least squares regressions were used to estimate associations between ACEs and employment outcomes, and parametric mediation analysis grounded in the counterfactual framework were conducted to assess indirect effects. ACEs were significantly associated with higher risks of both unemployment and precarious employment in adulthood. Educational attainment and depressive symptoms emerged as the major prominent mediators for both outcomes, followed by incarceration. For precarious employment, these three prominent pathways accounted for most of the indirect association, whereas locus of control and self-rated health also contributed meaningfully for unemployment. Findings suggest that ACEs shape adult employment outcomes primarily through a cumulative chain of disadvantages spanning human capital, institutional, and health-related domains. This study contributes to the literature by highlighting long-term socioeconomic consequences of early adversity and supporting a life course approach to understanding employment conditions.

Keywords: Adverse childhood experiences; Unemployment; Precarious employment; Life course; Multiple mechanisms (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:socmed:v:384:y:2025:i:c:s0277953625008457

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DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.118514

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