Ariel Kalil, Ph.D.

Child & Family Policy

It seems like only yesterday that the dot-com boom was under way, and we were approaching a near mythical "full employment" economy. However, with the bust came a hit to the economy that would see families across all income levels facing economic loss and unemployment.

Losing a job is a financial and psychological blow to workers, and families feel the pinch in more ways than one. Although job loss is a well studied area, few of those studies have extended their view to the children in unemployed families. As a developmental psychologist with an interest in how economic conditions shape people's lives, Associate Professor Ariel Kalil was interested in linking these two lines of research.

Using data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation-a large, national survey of families-Kalil, along with Harris School PhD student Kathleen Ziol-Guest, explores the connection between parents' job loss and children's ties to school, grade repetition, and expulsion or suspension.

She finds that when parents lost more than one job over a two-year period, youth suffered too, but that the effects varied by which parent became unemployed. Generally, boys were affected when dads lost work, and girls were affected when moms lost work. When fathers lost more than one job, older boys in the family were more often expelled or suspended from school, and their connection to school loosened. Younger children were more often held back in school.

When moms lost multiple jobs, only girls were affected, and only older girls at that. They were more likely to repeat a grade and their attachment to school declined. But even the loss of one job during the two-year span was associated with less school attachment over time, but again only for girls, and only for those in low-education households. For both parents, downsizing-finding a new job at lower wages-or losing one job but finding another within two years had very little effect on school outcomes.

Kalil finds that it is the income instability that comes with unemployment that explains much of why youth are held back in school more often. However, income instability is not behind the higher school suspensions-which makes sense, she says.

"If you think about what those two outcomes mean," she says, "grade repetition more likely reflects cognitive achievement while school suspension represents behavioral issues. We know that income, in particular, is linked with a parent's ability to purchase items (such as books or activities) that can help promote cognitive development." On the other hand, to see behavioral effects, especially for older children, she says, "I'd look instead to parenting behavior, parents' psychological well-being, or their marital relationships," things she didn't include in this particular study.

Kalil suggests that policymakers "might want to consider extending unemployment insurance benefits if it is shown that these benefits can help families sufficiently smooth their income during periods of unemployment."

Kalil is currently conducting qualitative research in Chicago with seventy-five displaced managers and professionals to gain more in-depth insights into family behavior following parental job loss. A paper is expected later this year.