About

It conceives precarity as the perceived insecurity based on a subjective evaluation regarding one’s current employment and/or economic conditions. Opting for applying the concept of precarity allows OUTIP to bridge two strands of literature (job precariousness and economic insecurity), which have mainly developed independently in spite of the commonalities in their research object. The first original point of this project would thus be arguing for a direct impact of precarity on psychological wellbeing, considering at the same time its work-related and economicrelated dimensions of insecurity. As a second original contribution, we argue that the higher vulnerability of young people to mental health issues depends on several economic and social determinants, as well as on specific individual circumstances. Vulnerability mediates between precarity and psychological wellbeing, and it will be conceived in intersectional terms – taking gender into account in this project. We focus on youth as we consider that they are particularly vulnerable to mental health issue, due to their specific moment in life course.

The mental health of young people has been of growing concern and interest to policymakers and public health experts since the 2000s, with some describing it as a key public health challenge globally. In recent years, the COVID-19 pandemic has further highlighted the vulnerability of young people and their disproportionate exposure to social, public health and economic risks. Taking into account that precariousness is a crucial social determinant of mental health, some authors highlight the concentration of labour precariousness among youth as a key explanatory factor for poor mental health. While there is growing interest in job precariousness as a key explanatory factor for psychological wellbeing, a recent scoping review found the literature on the topic to be limited, with just a few studies focusing on young people and only limitedly taking into account the multidimensionality associated with the concept of precariousness. OUTIP continues the research that was founded by LaCaixa Foundation in 2023, with the project #VulnYouth.

OUTIP will adopt a mixed-methods approach to address these questions among the population of young people 20-34. We will field an original longitudinal survey to explore what feeling insecure in employment and life have youth psychological wellbeing (2 waves, 18 months span). A second research action will address young people’s most vulnerable profiles, exploring meanings challenging to intercept with a survey. We conduct 20 life-course interviews to reconstruct young people’s lives and understand the intersectional complexity of their vulnerability. This will allow us to understand if specific intersections of inequalities magnify the exposure of the person to the negative consequences in terms of psychological wellbeing determined by precarity. The policy implications of the empirical evidence collected within the project will be disseminated to the public, civil society associations and policymakers with tailored actions.