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Age at First Birth and Later Life Health in Western and Eastern Europe
Author(s) -
Grundy Emily,
Foverskov Else
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
population and development review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.836
H-Index - 96
eISSN - 1728-4457
pISSN - 0098-7921
DOI - 10.1111/j.1728-4457.2016.00128.x
Subject(s) - socioeconomic status , disadvantage , life course approach , context (archaeology) , psychology , developmental psychology , family life , demography , gerontology , medicine , population , environmental health , geography , sociology , political science , socioeconomics , archaeology , law
MUCH OF THE research on life-course determinants of later life health has focused on cumulated effects of socioeconomic disadvantage (Ben-Shlomo and Kuh 2002; Luo and Waite 2005). Family life courses also involve differential exposures to stresses and supports and interact with other healthrelevant domains including socioeconomic status, health-related behaviors, and social support (Barban 2013; Grundy and Read 2015). The transition to parenthood is a pivotal life-course event whose timing and context may have implications for subsequent family and socioeconomic trajectories and for health (Knoester and Eggebeen 2006; Mirowsky 2002). Numerous studies of contemporary Western populations indicate that an early age at entry to parenthood is associated with poorer health and higher mortality in later life. Several processes are hypothesized to underlie this association between early parenthood and poorer later health. For women, pregnancy, parturition, and lactation present physiological challenges that may be greater for young mothers (Pirkle et al. 2014). Young mothers and fathers may also be less resilient in the face of the physical, emotional, and economic stresses involved in raising children and have fewer stress-buffering resources (Barban 2013). Additionally, early parenthood may disrupt educational and career progression and increase the chances of divorce and of high completed family size, all factors associated with socioeconomic disadvantage, health-damaging stress, and poorer later life health (Ermisch and Pevalin 2005; Grundy and Read 2015; Hofferth et al., 2001). Apart from these potential causal mechanisms, an additional, or alternative, explanation for associations is deprivation experienced earlier in life, given that childhood disadvantage is associated with increased chances of early parenthood and with poorer socioeconomic outcomes and poorer health in later years (Henretta 2007; Hobcraft 2008; Maughan and Lindelow 1997; Pudrovska and Carr 2009; Sigle-Rushton 2005).