Do Family-Work Friendly Policies Foster Healthy Aging?

Léa Cimelli , Institut National d'Etudes Démographiques (INED)
Constance Beaufils, King's College London
Emilie Courtin, London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)
Emmanuelle Cambois, Institut National d'Études Démographiques (INED)

European countries have implemented a number of work-family friendly policies in the late 1980’s. A French parental leave policy, the Allocation Parentale d'Education (APE) was proposed to allow mothers to take a long period of leave (up to three years after the latest birth) and keep their position at work for when they return. In previous work, the APE has been found to reduce mothers' employment and activity rates. Interrupted careers may affect women’s health, this study leverages the anteriority of APE to measure its possible long-term effect on health. We use the CONSTANCES cohort, an epidemiological cohort of over 200,000 individuals included over 7 years (2012-2019). The survey provides information on current health status, past occupational trajectories (duration of inactivity and unemployment, occupational mobility), childbirth dates and APE benefits. We assess under which circumstances APE is associated with better mental health, by relieving detrimental work-family strain, or contributed to health deterioration, through its negative effect on career progression.

See extended abstract

 Presented in Session 120. Flash session Gender Differences in Health, Wellbeing and Morbidity