Women?s health in mid-life: life course social roles and agencyas quality

Data from a prospective British birth cohort study showed that women who were childless, lone mothers or full-timehomemakers between the ages of 26 and 54 were more likely to report poor health at age 54 than women who occupiedmultiple roles between these ages. To explain this finding we developed and tested a theory of role quality based on theconcept of agency by drawing on Giddens? theory of structuration and Doyal and Gough?s theory of human needs.According to our theory, the patriarchal structuration (drawing on Giddens? term) of work and family roles provides bothlimitation and opportunity for the expression of agency. Doyal and Gough?s theory of human needs was then used toidentify the restriction of agency as a possible influence on health. This theory of role quality was operationalised using ameasure of work (paid and unpaid) quality at age 36 and a measure of work and family stress between ages 48 and 54. Therelatively poor subjective health in mid-life of lone mothers was explained by work and family stress and adult social class.In contrast, the poor health in mid-life of long-term homemakers and childless women was less easily explained.Homemaker?s excess risk of reporting poor health at age 54 remained strong and significant even after adjusting for rolequality and socioeconomic indicators, and childless women were at an increased risk of reporting poor health despite thesocial advantage inherent in attaining educational qualifications and occupying professional or managerial occupations.This study highlights the need to develop measures of role quality specifically designed to capture agency aspects of socialroles

Nonstandard work schedules in the UK: What are the implications for parental mental health and relationship happiness?

This article investigates the associations between nonstandard work schedules, parents’ mental health, and couple relationship happiness across childhood using the Millennium Cohort Study, a longitudinal, population-based data set of births in the UK. Using individual fixed effects models, we investigated the relationship between maternal and paternal nonstandard work schedules, examining both separate and joint work schedules and mental health and relationship happiness. Although we did not observe any associations between mothers’ nonstandard work schedules and their mental health, we did find regularly working night schedules were associated with lower relationship happiness, and particularly so during the school-age period. Fathers’ evening and weekend work schedules were associated with worse mental health. The joint work schedule in which mothers worked a standard schedule and fathers worked nonstandard schedules was associated with lower relationship happiness for mothers and worse mental health for fathers. These results demonstrate the salience of incorporating fathers’ work schedules to understand the challenges and benefits to families of nonstandard work schedules. Our study also emphasizes the significance of investigating the family consequences of nonstandard work schedules in different country contexts

Making it work: Fathers' nonstandard work schedules and parenting activities

Objective: We examined associations between types of nonstandard work schedules among fathers, couple-level work schedules, and fathers' parenting activities in infancy and middle childhood in the United Kingdom. Background: An emerging body of literature has interrogated the implications of fathers' nonstandard schedules for their parenting. The evidence is mixed owing to the range of child ages investigated and country context. It remains unclear whether nonstandard working hours are related to different types of parenting activities. Method: The authors used the Millennium Cohort Study, a nationally representative birth cohort from the UK, and two measures of fathers' parenting: basic care (9-month and 7-year interviews) and play and recreation (7 years). Regression models predicted parenting from fathers' nonstandard work schedules at 9-months (n = 11,412) and 7 years (n = 7791). Results: Fathers who regularly worked night schedules engaged in more basic care in both infancy and middle childhood, compared to fathers who regularly worked standard schedules. Evening schedules were related to lower levels of basic care among infants and 7-year-olds. There were stronger positive associations with parenting when considering mothers' work schedules. Fathers' parenting at both ages was higher in families in which both parents worked at nonstandard times or parents were engaged in split-shift schedules. Conclusion: Fathers' night work schedules were associated with more parenting activities in infancy and middle childhood. The combination of fathers' and mothers' work schedules were relatively more important than considering fathers' work schedules in isolation

Mental health inequalities during the second COVID-19 wave among Millennials who grew up in England: Evidence from the Next Steps cohort study

Background: There is relatively little evidence on socioeconomic inequalities in mental health among young adults after the end of the first COVID-19 wave in the UK, despite this group having faced the worse mental health and economic shocks across age groups at the start of the pandemic. Methods: We examined differences in mental health across two points - September 2020 and February 2021 - in a cohort of 4167 Millennials aged 30–31 using life dissatisfaction, psychological distress (GHQ-12), anxiety (GAD-2), and depressive symptoms (PHQ-2). We report adjusted prevalence ratios (aPR) from random-intercept models, testing differences by educational attainment and time-varying conditions (relationship status, living arrangements with adults and children, work status, and financial changes compared with before the outbreak), adjusting for baseline covariates at ages 13–14 and health covariates at ages 25–26. Results: Only dissatisfaction with life changed between time points (PR = 1.26, 95%CI 1.02–1.55). Educational attainment was not significantly associated with mental health. Being single (aPRs from 1.36 to 1.89) and being financially worse off since the start of the pandemic (aPRs from 1.58 to 1.76) were each associated with worse mental health. These associations did not further vary by educational attainment. Conclusion: Among Millennials who grew up in England, educational attainment was not associated with mental health whereas negative social and financial conditions were associated with worse mental health during the second COVID-19 wave. Mental health inequalities in this generation are likely to have continued increasing after the end of the first COVID-19 wave

Birth Order and First Sexual Experience: Do Siblings Influence Sexual Debut in Adolescents?

Birth order may foster specific roles for individuals within the family and set in train a dynamic that influences the development of specific behaviors. In this paper, we explored the relationship between birth order, sex, timing of sexual initiation, and its consequences for risky sexual behavior and sexual health. We conducted a path analysis to simultaneously estimate direct and indirect effects using data from the National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (NATSAL-3). Whereas women born as only-children were more likely to sexually debut at later ages, middle-child boys were significantly more prone to initiate sexual intercourse earlier compared with first-borns. As expected, early sexual initiation was associated with riskier behaviors and sexual health outcomes. These associations were partially moderated by siblings role as confidants about sexuality. Our findings have implications for preventive programs aimed at promoting healthy sexual debuts and behaviors over the life span

Relationship Satisfaction and Concordance in Attitudes to Maternal Employment in British Couples with Young Children

Changes in paid labor in families have occurred within the wider context of societal changes in gendered attitudes to work. However, changes in behavior and attitudes are not necessarily correlated with each other, and their associations with family relationships are complex. This study uses data from over 12,000 two-parent families in the U.K.’s Millennium Cohort Study, a nationally representative cohort of children born during 2000–2002. The study investigates the potential association between relationship satisfaction and discordance between attitudes to maternal employment and mothers’ actual participation in paid labor, as well as agreement in attitudes within couples. Results show that attitudes in favor of maternal employment and actual maternal employment are generally associated with better relationship satisfaction for both mothers and fathers. In addition, discordance between an individual’s attitudes and behavior in relation to maternal employment, and discordant attitudes within couples, is both associated with significantly lower relationship satisfaction compared with concordant couples

The Long Shadow of Youth: Girls' Transition From Full-Time Education and Later-Life Subjective Well-Being in the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing

OBJECTIVES: To investigate whether the timing and nature of women's transitions out of full-time (FT) education are related to later life subjective well-being and the life course experiences that might explain any associations seen. METHOD: Data are from women in wave 3 of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing who have participated in the life history interview and were aged 50+ at the interview (n=3,889). Using multichannel sequence analysis, we identified six types of transition out of FT education (ages 14-26). Regression models were used to examine associations between transition types and life satisfaction, quality of life, and depressive symptoms at age 50+. RESULTS: Women who made early transitions to married parenthood and FT domestic labour had lower levels of wellbeing on all three later life well-being outcomes (p&0.01), compared to women who made later transitions to family life and remained employed. Women who remained single up to age 26 also had lower life satisfaction (p&0.05) and quality of life (p&0.01) in later life than their counterparts who married and had children. These associations were explained by the life course socioeconomic and relationship pathways. Advantaged childhood socioeconomic circumstances and higher educational qualifications set 'Later Marriage and Later employment' women apart onto advantaged trajectories and a better quality of life later (p&0.01). DISCUSSION: The timing and nature of exits from FT education played a pivotal role in setting people onto lifecourse trajectories that influence wellbeing in later life for this older generation of women

Parenthood and psychological distress among English Millennials during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic: evidence from the Next Steps cohort study

Purpose: The COVID-19 pandemic led to disproportionate mental health responses in younger adults and parents. The aim of the study was to investigate how Millennial parents’ experiences were associated with psychological distress over the first year of the pandemic. Methods: We examined data in September 2020 (n men = 994; n women = 1824) and February 2021 (n men = 1054; n women = 1845) from the Next Steps cohort study (started ages 13–14 in 2003–04). In each wave, we examined differences in GHQ-12 scores between parent groups defined by the age and number of children, adjusting for background characteristics at ages 13–14, psychological distress at ages 25–26, and other circumstances during the pandemic. We also examined if differences varied by work status, financial situation before the outbreak and relationship status. Results: Whereas mothers with one or two children and children aged 0–2 reported less distress than non-mothers in September 2020, there were no such differences in February 2021. Fathers with three or more children reported more distress in February 2021. Compared with non-fathers who worked, fathers were also disproportionally distressed if they were working with one child or with children aged 2 or less in September 2020. Conclusion: The distribution of psychological distress among Millennial parents and non-parents has varied by age, sex, parenting stage, work status and the timing of the pandemic. Generous family policies are needed, with special attention dedicated to parents combining work and family responsibilities