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Fertility trajectories and later-life depression among parents in England

Fertility trajectories and later-life depression among parents in England
Fertility trajectories and later-life depression among parents in England

We examine pathways between indicators of fertility tempo/quantum and depressive symptoms among parents aged 55+ with at least two children, using three waves of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing. Using standard regression approaches and path analysis within the structural equation framework, we also investigate whether fertility trajectories mediated the association between childhood disadvantage and later-life depression. Results provide limited support for direct influences of fertility trajectories on depression, but indicate indirect linkages for both women and men. Associations are mediated by partnership history, social support, wealth, later-life smoking, and functional limitation. Associations between childhood disadvantage and later-life depression are partially mediated by fertility stressors. Results confirm the influence of life course experiences on depression at older ages and demonstrate the interlinked role of family and other life course pathways on later-life well-being.

age at first birth, ageing, birth intervals, depression, fertility, life course, life history, parity, path analysis
0032-4728
219-240
Grundy, Emily
be7d387c-04d1-43f0-8d8d-6153d4811b25
Read, Sanna
b7e7f94f-68b4-48b7-b4e4-c1b49908bbe1
Vaisanen, Heini
ee5b9497-7825-4fd8-8b7e-3d5d2b164766
Grundy, Emily
be7d387c-04d1-43f0-8d8d-6153d4811b25
Read, Sanna
b7e7f94f-68b4-48b7-b4e4-c1b49908bbe1
Vaisanen, Heini
ee5b9497-7825-4fd8-8b7e-3d5d2b164766

Grundy, Emily, Read, Sanna and Vaisanen, Heini (2020) Fertility trajectories and later-life depression among parents in England. Population Studies, 74 (2), 219-240. (doi:10.1080/00324728.2019.1649450).

Record type: Article

Abstract

We examine pathways between indicators of fertility tempo/quantum and depressive symptoms among parents aged 55+ with at least two children, using three waves of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing. Using standard regression approaches and path analysis within the structural equation framework, we also investigate whether fertility trajectories mediated the association between childhood disadvantage and later-life depression. Results provide limited support for direct influences of fertility trajectories on depression, but indicate indirect linkages for both women and men. Associations are mediated by partnership history, social support, wealth, later-life smoking, and functional limitation. Associations between childhood disadvantage and later-life depression are partially mediated by fertility stressors. Results confirm the influence of life course experiences on depression at older ages and demonstrate the interlinked role of family and other life course pathways on later-life well-being.

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Grundy, Read, Vaisanen 2019 Accepted MS Population Studies - Accepted Manuscript
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Grundy, Read, Vaisanen 2019 Population Studies - Version of Record
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Accepted/In Press date: 10 May 2019
e-pub ahead of print date: 27 August 2019
Published date: 3 May 2020
Additional Information: Funding Information: 2 The research leading to these results received funding from the European Research Council under the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007–2013)/ ERC grant agreement number 324055 and the UK Economic and Social Research Council (National Centre for Research Methods Pathways node ES/I025561/1, ES/I025561/2, and ES/I025561/3). The data were made available through the UK Data Service. ELSA was developed by a team of researchers based at NatCen Social Research, University College London, and the Institute for Fiscal Studies. The data were collected by NatCen Social Research. The funding for ELSA is provided by the US National Institute on Aging and a consortium of UK government departments coordinated by the Office for National Statistics. The developers and funders of ELSA and the UK Data Service bear no responsibility for the analyses or interpretations presented here. Publisher Copyright: © 2019, © 2019 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
Keywords: age at first birth, ageing, birth intervals, depression, fertility, life course, life history, parity, path analysis

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 431657
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/431657
ISSN: 0032-4728
PURE UUID: 0b045dfb-694e-4c7c-8a70-adc22f68709b
ORCID for Heini Vaisanen: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-5494-0415

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 12 Jun 2019 16:30
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 07:55

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Contributors

Author: Emily Grundy
Author: Sanna Read
Author: Heini Vaisanen ORCID iD

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