Black Deaths Matter: A Conceptual Framework for Understanding Racial Disparities in Relationship Loss and Health

Black Americans tend to die at younger ages than white Americans. Black Americans are also more likely than white Americans to experience the premature death of mothers, fathers, siblings, children, and other relatives and friends. In this brief, PRC director Debra Umberson presents a conceptual framework for how disparities in loss launch a lifelong cascade of psychological, social, behavioral, and biological consequences that undermine social connections, health, and well-being over the life course for black Americans.Population Research Cente

Race and Death of Child: Exposure and Consequences for Health Summary of Preliminary Results

Population Research Cente

Perceptions of Shared Power, Gender Conformity, and Marital Quality in Same- and Different-Sex Marriages

Marriage is a key institutional context for the study of gender and gender inequality. One way in which gender inequality is maintained in marriage is through gender norms, which are often upheld by hegemonic masculinity—the pattern of practices that legitimize men’s dominance over women. While studies have focused on how gender conformity (i.e., women embody femininity and men embody masculinity) affects different-sex unions, they have not considered how gender conformity might shape inequalities and marital quality within same-sex unions. Marriage is a key institutional context for the study of gender and gender inequality. This research brief, led by PRC postdoctoral fellow Amanda Pollitt, examines the relationships between gender conformity (i.e., women embody femininity and men embody masculinity), perceptions of shared power, and marital quality in same- and different-sex marriages.This research was supported, in part, by Grant R21AG044585 from the National Institute on Aging (PI, Debra Umberson); Grant P2CHD042849 awarded to the Population Research Center at The University of Texas at Austin by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD); and Grant T32 HD007081, Training Program in Population Studies, awarded to the Population Research Center at The University of Texas at Austin by NICHD.Population Research Cente

Family Life Course Statuses and Transitions: Relationships with Health Limitations

In this study, the author uses 25 years of data taken from the 1979 National Longitudinal Study of Youth to examine the relationship between family life course statuses and transitions and work-related health limitations. The author uses a detailed set of statuses and transitions that include marriage, divorce, cohabitation, and parenthood. The measures of health used tap health limitations in the kind and amount of work that can be performed. Using a fixed-effects estimator for dichotomous outcomes, the author finds that marriage is positively related to the health of men but negatively related to the health of women. The author also finds that parenthood is not related to the health of men but is positively related to the health of women. The results also indicate that statuses are more important for determining health limitations than are transitions

How Losing Family Members Earlier than Expected Adds to Racial Disadvantage for U.S. Blacks

PRC director Debra Umberson uses nationally representative data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth and the Health and Retirement Study to estimate the differences by race in the likelihood that Blacks will be exposed to more deaths of close family members than Whites throughout their lives. The data shows that Black Americans experience more family member deaths than Whites overall, and specific losses occur earlier in life. Studying this question is important because it could reveal an added layer of racial disadvantage suffered by Blacks that is not captured by differences in life expectancy or mortality alone.Population Research Cente

Marital Strain Increases Psychological Distress for Couples in Both Same-Sex and Different-Sex Marriages, but Women in Different-Sex Marriages Suffer More

It is well-established that marriage benefits physical and emotional well-being. However, substantial evidence – based almost exclusively on one spouse in heterosexual marriages – demonstrates that marital strain increases psychological distress for married people. In this research brief, PRC graduate student trainee Michael Garcia and PRC director Debra Umberson examine whether and how marital strain reported by both the respondent and his or her spouse is associated with psychological distress and whether differences exist for women and men in lesbian, gay, and heterosexual marriages. They find that people who report higher levels of their own marital strain as well as people whose spouses report higher levels of marital strain experience more psychological distress. They also find that, compared to men in other union types, women married to men report higher levels of distress as a result of their own and their spouse’s marital strain. Women in different-sex marriages also report higher levels of distress compared to women in same-sex marriages, but as a result of self-reported strain only. This research has implications for research on marital dynamics and health as well as on counseling for married heterosexual, lesbian and gay couples.Population Research Cente

The Unequal Burden of Child Death Adds to Disadvantage in Psychological Distress for Black and Hispanic Parents

Hundreds of studies have documented the adverse psychological consequences after parents experience the death of a child. However, very little is known about racial/ethnic variation in life course experiences following the death of a child. These gaps in knowledge are striking in the American context of systemic racism and recent public attention to grief associated with premature mortality in racial and ethnic minority communities. Using data from the Health and Retirement Study, CAPS co-director Debra Umberson and colleague Rachel Donnelly investigate how experiencing a child’s death is associated with parents’ subsequent psychological distress in mid to later life. They find that all parents who experienced a child’s death had higher levels of psychological distress in mid to later life than their nonbereaved counterparts but Black and Hispanic parents who experienced a child’s death had the highest levels of psychological distress. The authors advocate for more screening of bereavement-related risks in mid to later life with appropriate intervention to improve mental health outcomes. Published in partnership with UT Austin’s Population Research Center.Population Research Cente