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Author: Zhang, Zhe
Resulting in 6 citations.
1. Colen, Cynthia G.
Reczek, Corinne
Zhang, Zhe
Grandparents Know Best: Multigenerational Coresidence and Psychological Distress During Adolescence and Emerging Adulthood
Presented: Washington DC, Population Association of America Annual Meeting, March-April 2016
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79, NLSY79 Young Adult
Publisher: Population Association of America
Keyword(s): Coresidence; Depression (see also CESD); Family Structure; Grandparents; Household Composition

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

Despite the noteworthy proportion of children who reside in multigenerational households, relatively little is known about how this family structure influences child and adolescent wellbeing. We use 18 years of data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) in conjunction with latent growth curve regression models to assess the extent to which multigenerational coresidence during childhood impacts psychological distress through adolescence and young adulthood. Moreover, we investigate whether this effect depends on the duration or timing of multigenerational coresidence. Although adolescents who lived with a grandparent during childhood have higher initial depression (CES-D) scores, the rate at which these scores decline is significantly faster than adolescents who never lived with a grandparent. Children who were exposed to multigenerational coresidence during their first year of life experienced particularly rapid increases in psychological functioning, suggesting this period of the lifecourse is critical when considering the effects of family structure on wellbeing.

Also presented at Seattle WA, American Sociological Association Annual Meeting, August 2016

Bibliography Citation
Colen, Cynthia G., Corinne Reczek and Zhe Zhang. "Grandparents Know Best: Multigenerational Coresidence and Psychological Distress During Adolescence and Emerging Adulthood." Presented: Washington DC, Population Association of America Annual Meeting, March-April 2016.
2. Zhang, Zhe
How is Motherhood Associated Waistline at Midlife? Women's Fertility History and Body Weight at 40s
Presented: Montreal, QC, American Sociological Association Annual Meeting, August 2017
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Age at Birth; Body Mass Index (BMI); Fertility; Motherhood; Weight

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

Motherhood is highly associated with women's wellbeing, but few studies examine how motherhood and a complete fertility history are connected with women's midlife wellbeing in the most recent cohort. This study uses NLSY79 (N=3,889) to examine motherhood status and fertility history across women’s body weight at 40s. Findings suggest that childless women have higher body weight than mothers, but mothers are not all the same. Mothers with two children are the most advantaged group in terms of their higher SES background as well as lower body weight at midlife. Mothers' fertility history, particularly age at first birth, parity, and age at last birth, are associated with their midlife body weight. A positive effect of parity and a positive effect of age at last birth are found on midlife body weight, as well as an interaction between the two variables. Socioeconomic status and psychological distress explain partial relationship between fertility history and midlife BMI. I conclude that motherhood contributes to body weight differences at midlife among the contemporary cohort of U.S. women. Future studies should consider the heterogeneity of motherhood in relation to health disparities among women.
Bibliography Citation
Zhang, Zhe. "How is Motherhood Associated Waistline at Midlife? Women's Fertility History and Body Weight at 40s." Presented: Montreal, QC, American Sociological Association Annual Meeting, August 2017.
3. Zhang, Zhe
Intergenerational Relationship Quality and Mental Health at Midlife: Considering Mother's Relationship With Multiple Children
Presented: Austin TX, Population Association of America Annual Meeting, April 2019
Cohort(s): NLSY79, NLSY79 Young Adult
Publisher: Population Association of America
Keyword(s): Births, Repeat / Spacing; Health, Mental/Psychological; Intergenerational Patterns/Transmission; Mothers, Health; Parent-Child Relationship/Closeness; Well-Being

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

Parent-child relationship quality is highly influential for parents' wellbeing across the life course. However, few studies investigate how relationships with multiple children matter for midlife parents' mental health. Moreover, collective intergenerational ambivalence, the presence of both positive and negative emotions from multiple children, has received insufficient research attention despite its theorized impacts on maternal well-being. Using NLSY79 data, this study addresses these gaps by analyzing how multiple adolescent and young adult children's reports of relationship quality with their mother, categorized by uniformly close, collective ambivalent, and uniformly unclose, are associated with mother's mental health at age 50. Models from OLS regression with lagged dependent variables find that midlife mothers in a collectively ambivalent relationship were at higher risk of increasing psychological distress than mothers in a uniformly close relationship with children. This research adds nuances to understanding complex intergenerational relationships at mothers' mid-life, with implications for improving the family’s wellbeing.
Bibliography Citation
Zhang, Zhe. "Intergenerational Relationship Quality and Mental Health at Midlife: Considering Mother's Relationship With Multiple Children." Presented: Austin TX, Population Association of America Annual Meeting, April 2019.
4. Zhang, Zhe
Midlife Parenthood and Mental Well-being: How Does Parent-Child Coresidence and Children's Life Course Stage Matter?
Presented: Austin TX, Population Association of America Annual Meeting, April 2019
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Population Association of America
Keyword(s): Coresidence; Health, Mental/Psychological; Household Composition; Life Course; Modeling, OLS; Parent-Child Interaction; Parenthood; Residence, Return to Parental Home/Delayed Homeleaving

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

Current research examines the effects of parenting minor children and elder parent-adult child relationship on mental health in two separate literature, yet little research focuses on midlife parents -- most of whom care for both minor and adult children in the household. Using NLSY79 data, this study examines the relationship between midlife parenthood to coresidential children and psychological wellbeing among the late baby boomers, whose parenting experiences have become increasingly heterogeneous due to demographic trends including the delayed transition to parenthood and adult children's postponed departure from the parental home. OLS regression analysis shows that compared to parents who had both coresidential minor and adult children, parents coresiding with minor children only and parents coresiding with adult children only had more psychological distress at age 40. The difference in mental health between those living with minor and adult children and those living with adult children was only prominent among mothers.
Bibliography Citation
Zhang, Zhe. "Midlife Parenthood and Mental Well-being: How Does Parent-Child Coresidence and Children's Life Course Stage Matter?" Presented: Austin TX, Population Association of America Annual Meeting, April 2019.
5. Zhang, Zhe
Reczek, Corinne
Colen, Cynthia G.
Boomerang Kids and Mother's Health: Do Young Adult Residential Patterns Predict Maternal BMI Trajectories during Midlife?
Presented: Seattle WA, American Sociological Association Annual Meeting, August 2016
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Body Mass Index (BMI); Modeling, Growth Curve/Latent Trajectory Analysis; Mothers; Residence, Return to Parental Home/Delayed Homeleaving; Transition, Adulthood; Weight

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

Using data from NLSY79 and growth curve models, this paper examines how young adult's residential biography in their transition to adulthood matters for mothers' BMI trajectories in midlife. Compared to mothers whose children followed a "normative" leaving home pattern (left and never returned), we find that mothers of the boomerang kids had higher body weight primarily due to their lower sociodemographic status. Mothers to the young adults who never left home had very high baseline body weight but their weight seems to decrease at a faster rate than mothers of the boomerang kids.
Bibliography Citation
Zhang, Zhe, Corinne Reczek and Cynthia G. Colen. "Boomerang Kids and Mother's Health: Do Young Adult Residential Patterns Predict Maternal BMI Trajectories during Midlife?" Presented: Seattle WA, American Sociological Association Annual Meeting, August 2016.
6. Zhang, Zhe
Reczek, Corinne
Colen, Cynthia G.
Intergenerational Coresidence and Mothers' Body Weight at Midlife
Population Research and Policy Review 39 (2020): 1051-1085.
Also: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11113-020-09567-x
Cohort(s): NLSY79, NLSY79 Young Adult
Publisher: Springer
Keyword(s): Coresidence; Mothers, Health; Obesity; Residence, Return to Parental Home/Delayed Homeleaving; Weight

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

Midlife mothers report their children returning to the maternal home after departing (i.e., boomerang children) and remaining in the maternal home longer (i.e., never-left children) than the past half century. Over the same time period, the percent of Americans considered overweight and obese have increased. Yet, we know very little about how such delays affect the body weight of mothers. The current study uses the National Survey of Youth 1979 (NLSY79) and its corresponding young adult sample (NLSY79-YA) across 20 consecutive years (N = 7197) to determine if extended coresidence with an adult child is associated with midlife mothers' body weight changes. Results from multilevel regression models show that compared to mothers whose young adult children left home and never returned (“gone-for-good”), mothers of the "never-left" had higher body weight at 40, but similar body weight at 50. Mothers of the boomerangers had higher body weight relative to mothers of the "gone-for-good" across midlife. Mothers of the boomerangers and mothers of the "never-left" had similar weight at age 40, but the former group had more weight gain across midlife. These findings lend new insight into how different patterns of mother-young adult coresidence likely affect the health of mothers and suggest that the effects of recent demographic trends such as "failure to launch" on family formation and functioning should be viewed holistically with a more inclusive sociological lens.
Bibliography Citation
Zhang, Zhe, Corinne Reczek and Cynthia G. Colen. "Intergenerational Coresidence and Mothers' Body Weight at Midlife." Population Research and Policy Review 39 (2020): 1051-1085.