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Author: Ross, Clifford
Resulting in 4 citations.
1. Thomeer, Mieke Beth
Reczek, Rin
Ross, Clifford
Childbearing Biographies and Midlife Women's Health
Journal of Aging and Health published online (3 February 2022): DOI: 10.1177/08982643211070136.
Also: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/08982643211070136
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Sage Publications
Keyword(s): Age at First Birth; Births, Repeat / Spacing; Childbearing; Family Size; Health/Health Status/SF-12 Scale; Modeling, Latent Class Analysis/Latent Transition Analysis; Socioeconomic Status (SES)

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Objectives: We introduce a "childbearing biography" approach to show how multiple childbearing characteristics cluster in ways significant for midlife health.

Methods: We analyze the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (NLSY79; N = 3992) using mixed-mode Latent Class Analysis with eight childbearing variables (e.g., age at first birth, parity, birth spacing, and mistimed births) to identify how childbearing biographies are associated with midlife health, adjusting for key covariates--including socioeconomic status (SES) and relationship history.

Results: We identify six childbearing biographies: (1) early compressed, (2) staggered, (3) extended high parity, (4) later, (5) married planned, and (6) childfree. Childbearing biographies are strongly associated with physical health but not mental health, with differences primarily explained by SES.

Bibliography Citation
Thomeer, Mieke Beth, Rin Reczek and Clifford Ross. "Childbearing Biographies and Midlife Women's Health." Journal of Aging and Health published online (3 February 2022): DOI: 10.1177/08982643211070136.
2. Thomeer, Mieke Beth
Reczek, Rin
Ross, Clifford
Bijou, Christina
Sequencing of Births by Wantedness: Implications for Changes in Mid-Life Health Among Aging NLSY79 Women
Journal of Gerontology Series B 78, 11 (November 2023): 1881-1891.
Also: https://academic.oup.com/psychsocgerontology/article/78/11/1881/7234546?login=true
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Gerontological Society of America
Keyword(s): Age at Birth; Birth Preferences/Birth Expectations; Birth, Unwanted; Births, Repeat / Spacing; Childbearing; Childbearing, Adolescent; Demography; Health Disparities; Life Course; Mothers, Adolescent; Pregnancy, Adolescent; Pregnancy, Unwanted; Womens Health

Objectives: As life course frameworks highlight and gerontological studies confirm, the health implications of early birth timing (e.g., adolescent births) and unplanned births (e.g., unwanted or mistimed births) extend years after those births into mid and later life. Yet past research often overlooks the considerable diversity in sequencing and timing of unplanned births even within the same individual (e.g., having both wanted and unwanted births), which are likely fundamental for women's long-term health trajectories. We develop a holistic understanding of birth timing and wantedness to provide insight into when and how childbearing histories matter for aging women's health.

Methods: We use sequence analysis with hierarchical cluster method and estimate regression models using the 1979 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (N = 3,231) to examine how timing and patterning of births by wantedness are associated with changes in physical and mental health from ages 40 to 50.

Results: We identify 7 clusters of childbearing sequences. Of those 7 clusters, respondents with sequences characterized by wanted births in their 20s and 30s had the smallest declines in health in mid-life, whereas respondents with sequences with mainly unwanted births at any age or with mainly mistimed births beginning in adolescence had the greatest health declines. Adjusting for social and economic variables accounted for some, but not all, health differences across childbearing clusters.

Discussion: This project demonstrates the need for comprehensive life course perspectives on long-term health implications of birth wantedness and timing, recognizing diversity within and between individuals.

Bibliography Citation
Thomeer, Mieke Beth, Rin Reczek, Clifford Ross and Christina Bijou. "Sequencing of Births by Wantedness: Implications for Changes in Mid-Life Health Among Aging NLSY79 Women." Journal of Gerontology Series B 78, 11 (November 2023): 1881-1891.
3. Thomeer, Mieke Beth
Ross, Clifford
Reczek, Rin
Hossain, Monir
Women's Childbearing Histories and Their Alcohol Use at Midlife
Journal of Woman and Aging published online (09 October 2023).
Also: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/08952841.2023.2266961
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Haworth Press, Inc.
Keyword(s): Alcohol Use; Births, Repeat / Spacing; Childbearing; Latent Class Analysis; Women; Women at Mid-Life

There has been increased alcohol use among mid-life women in recent decades. Given the association between alcohol use and childbearing earlier in life and the centrality of childbearing for other aspects of mid-life women's health, we examined how multiple components of childbearing histories were associated with mid-life alcohol use. Our analysis included 3,826 women from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (NLSY79). We estimated how nine components of childbearing were associated with women's alcohol use at age 50. We investigated these components independently and also created six childbearing profiles using Mixed-Mode Latent Class Analysis (MM-LCA). The most alcohol was consumed by women without any childbirths, with older ages at first birth, with low parity, and with the same or fewer births than expected. Women with older ages at first and last birth and more childbirths were less likely to abstain from alcohol compared to women with younger ages at first and last birth and fewer childbirths. Our MM-LCA demonstrated that women with multiple childbirths over a long period of time consumed the least alcohol compared to other groups. Binge drinking at mid-life was generally not associated with childbearing histories in our models. In summary, childbearing histories mattered for women's drinking behaviors at mid-life. Given that an increasing number of women do not have children, the age at first birth continues to trend older, and parity is decreasing, we may expect mid-life women's alcohol use to continue to increase in line with these observed fertility trends.
Bibliography Citation
Thomeer, Mieke Beth, Clifford Ross, Rin Reczek and Monir Hossain. "Women's Childbearing Histories and Their Alcohol Use at Midlife." Journal of Woman and Aging published online (09 October 2023).
4. Thomeer, Mieke
Ross, Clifford
Reczek, Rin
Bijou, Christina
Sequencing of Planned and Unplanned Births and Implications for Mid- and Later-Life Health among NLSY79 Women
Innovation in Aging 6,S1 (November 2022): 316-317.
Also: https://doi.org/10.1093/geroni/igac059.1252
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Keyword(s): Birth Preferences/Birth Expectations; Health, Mental/Psychological; Health/Health Status/SF-12 Scale

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

In order to provide a more holistic understanding of how birthing experiences births are associated with midlife health, we use Sequence Analysis (SA) on the 1979 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY79; N=3,992) to examine how patterning of planned and unplanned births is associated with physical and mental health at ages 50 and 60 (SF-12). Preliminary analysis indicates that compared to respondents with only planned births, respondents with unplanned birth(s) followed by planned birth(s) have worse physical and mental health at midlife, but there is no difference in health for respondents with only planned births, only unplanned births, and planned birth(s) followed by unplanned birth(s). Future analysis with SA will consider how more detailed sequences (e.g., timing, number and type, ordering, spacing) are associated with these mid- and later-life health outcomes, taking into account selection factors such as childhood SES and educational attainment. This project demonstrates the need for life course perspectives on the long-term health implications of unplanned births, recognizing diversity within and between individuals.
Bibliography Citation
Thomeer, Mieke, Clifford Ross, Rin Reczek and Christina Bijou. "Sequencing of Planned and Unplanned Births and Implications for Mid- and Later-Life Health among NLSY79 Women." Innovation in Aging 6,S1 (November 2022): 316-317.