The expansion of precarious work in recent decades has motivated a large body of research on its implications for health. While considerable work has focused on whether precarious work undermines health, much less is known about why it matters. To fill this gap, this paper offers and tests a conceptual model whereby the effects of precarious work on health are mediated by social marginality, specifically reduced self-efficacy, weaker social integration, and lower social capital. All three mechanisms are understood as both social consequences of precarious work and important determinants of health. Empirically, we use data from the European Social Survey and investigate (1) conditional direct effects of precarious work on self-rated health and (2) extent of mediation via the three mechanisms. Furthermore, we assess the generalizability of the model across five welfare state regimes that prior work has deemed to be important moderators of the health–precarious work relationship. Results indicate precarious work has significant conditional direct effects and indirect effects through all three mediators that significantly reduce effect of precarious work on health. This is robust in the general sample and for four of five welfare state regimes. These findings highlight a previously unexplored vector connecting precarious work to health and indicate that the effects of precarious work on perceptions of self and social relations is a key link to poorer health. The study also expands conceptualization of the broad role of socioeconomic status for health inequalities and furthers understanding of the mechanisms at work.

中文翻译：

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为什么不稳定的工作对健康有害：社会边缘性是多国背景下的关键机制

近几十年来，不稳定工作的扩展激发了对其对健康影响的大量研究。虽然大量工作集中在不稳定的工作是否会损害健康，但对其重要性的了解却少得多。为了填补这一空白，本文提供并测试了一个概念模型，在该模型中，不稳定工作对健康的影响是由社会边缘性调节的，特别是自我效能感降低、社会融合变弱和社会资本降低。所有这三种机制都被理解为不稳定工作的社会后果和健康的重要决定因素。根据经验，我们使用来自欧洲社会调查的数据并调查 (1) 不稳定工作对自评健康的有条件的直接影响，以及 (2) 通过这三种机制的调解程度。此外，我们评估了该模型在五个福利国家制度中的普遍性，以前的工作被认为是健康与不稳定工作关系的重要调节因素。结果表明，不稳定工作具有显着的条件性直接影响和通过所有三种中介的间接影响，显着降低了不稳定工作对健康的影响。这在一般样本和五个福利国家制度中的四个中是稳健的。这些发现突出了以前未探索的将不稳定工作与健康联系起来的载体，并表明不稳定工作对自我和社会关系的看法的影响是导致健康状况不佳的关键环节。该研究还扩展了社会经济地位对健康不平等的广泛作用的概念化，并加深了对工作机制的理解。