Search Results

Source: Social Science and Medicine
Resulting in 52 citations.
1. Arkes, Jeremy
How the Economy Affects Teenage Weight
Social Science and Medicine 68,11 (June 2009): 1943-1947.
Also: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953609001877
Cohort(s): NLSY97
Publisher: Elsevier
Keyword(s): Body Mass Index (BMI); Economics, Regional; Gender Differences; Geographical Variation; Modeling, Fixed Effects; Obesity; Teenagers; Unemployment Rate; Weight

Much research has focused on the proximate determinants of weight gain and obesity for adolescents, but not much information has emerged on identifying which adolescents might be at risk or on prevention. This research focuses on a distal determinant of teenage weight gain, namely changes in the economy, which may help identify geographical areas where adolescents may be at risk and may provide insights into the mechanisms by which adolescents gain weight. This study uses a nationally representative sample of individuals, between 15 and 18years old from the 1997 US National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, to estimate a model with state and year fixed effects to examine how within-state changes in the unemployment rate affect four teenage weight outcomes: an age- and gender-standardized percentile in the body-mass-index distribution and indicators for being overweight, obese, and underweight. I found statistically significant estimates, indicating that females gain weight in weaker economic periods and males gain weight in stronger economic periods. Possible causes for the contrasting results across gender include, among other things, differences in the responsiveness of labor market work to the economy and differences in the types of jobs generally occupied by female and male teenagers.
Bibliography Citation
Arkes, Jeremy. "How the Economy Affects Teenage Weight." Social Science and Medicine 68,11 (June 2009): 1943-1947.
2. Bacak, Valerio
Wildeman, Christopher
An Empirical Assessment of the "Healthy Prisoner Hypothesis"
Social Science and Medicine 138 (August 2015): 187-191.
Also: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953615003287
Cohort(s): NLSY97
Publisher: Elsevier
Keyword(s): Depression (see also CESD); Health/Health Status/SF-12 Scale; Incarceration/Jail; Injuries

Lower mortality among inmates, compared to the general population, is typically ascribed to access to health care during incarceration and the low risk of death due to homicide, accidents, and drug overdose. In this study, we test an alternative explanation based on selection of healthy individuals into jails and prisons--"the healthy prisoner hypothesis." According to this hypothesis, inmates have to be healthy to commit crimes and become incarcerated, which explains why they experience lower mortality than comparable segments of the general population. Using ten waves of data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997, we compare individuals who become incarcerated the following year to those who do not on four measures of health--depression, self-rated health, functional limitations, and injury or illness requiring medical attention. Results from matched samples indicate that future inmates are hardly ever in significantly better health the year prior to their incarceration. These findings strongly suggest that the paradoxical mortality advantage of inmates is not due to health selection.
Bibliography Citation
Bacak, Valerio and Christopher Wildeman. "An Empirical Assessment of the "Healthy Prisoner Hypothesis"." Social Science and Medicine 138 (August 2015): 187-191.
3. Barnes, Andrew James
Zimmerman, Frederick J.
Associations of Occupational Attributes and Excessive Drinking
Social Science and Medicine 92 (September 2013): 35-42.
Also: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953613003079
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Elsevier
Keyword(s): Alcohol Use; Gender Differences; Job Characteristics; Occupational Information Network (O*NET); Occupations

Numerous work-related drinking mechanisms have been posited and, oftentimes, examined in isolation. We combined data from over 100 occupational attributes into several factors and tested the association of these factors with measures of alcohol use. We used the NLSY79 2006 wave, a U.S. representative sample of 6,426 workers ages 41 to 49 and the 2006 Occupational Information Network database (O*NET), a nationally representative sample of nearly 1,000 occupations. We conducted exploratory factor analysis on 119 occupational attributes and found three independent workplace characteristics – physical demands, job autonomy, and social engagement - explained the majority of the variation. We then tested the association of these composite attributes with three drinking measures, before and after adjusting for gender, race/ethnicity, and a measure of human capital using count data models. We then stratified by gender and repeated our analyses. Men working in occupations with a one standard deviation higher level of physical demand (e.g. construction) reported a higher number of heavy drinking occasions (+20%, p<0.05). Job autonomy was not significantly associated with measures of alcohol use and when the combined association of higher levels of physical demand and lower levels of job autonomy was examined, modest support for job strain as a mechanism for work-related alcohol consumption was found. In our pooled sample, working in occupations with one standard deviation higher levels of social engagement was associated with lower numbers of drinking days (-9%, p<0.05) after adjustment. Physical demand and social engagement were associated with alcohol consumption measures but these relationships varied by workers’ gender. Future areas of research should include confirmatory analyses using other waves of O*Net data and replicating the current analysis in other samples of workers. If our results are validated, they suggest male workers in high physical demand occupations could be targets for intervention.
Bibliography Citation
Barnes, Andrew James and Frederick J. Zimmerman. "Associations of Occupational Attributes and Excessive Drinking." Social Science and Medicine 92 (September 2013): 35-42.
4. Benson, Rebecca Irene
von Hippel, Paul
Lynch, Jamie L.
Does More Education Cause Lower BMI, or Do Lower-BMI Individuals Become More Educated? Evidence from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979
Social Science and Medicine 211 (August 2018): 370-377.
Also: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953617301971
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Elsevier
Keyword(s): Body Mass Index (BMI); Educational Attainment; Gender Differences; Obesity

More educated adults have lower average body mass index (BMI). This may be due to selection, if adolescents with lower BMI attain higher levels of education, or it may be due to causation, if higher educational attainment reduces BMI gain in adulthood. We test for selection and causation in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979, which has followed a representative US cohort from age 14-22 in 1979 through age 47-55 in 2012. Using ordinal logistic regression, we test the selection hypothesis that high-overweight and obese adolescents were less likely to earn high school diplomas and bachelor's degrees. Then, controlling for selection with individual fixed effects, we estimate the causal effect of degree completion on BMI and obesity status. Among 18-year-old women, but not among men, being overweight or obese predicts lower odds of attaining higher levels of education. Higher education at age 47-48 is associated with lower BMI, but 70-90% of the association is due to selection. Net of selection, a bachelor's degree predicts less than a 1 kg reduction in body weight, and a high school credential does not reduce BMI. At midlife, selection accounts for almost all of the education gradient in women's BMI.
Bibliography Citation
Benson, Rebecca Irene, Paul von Hippel and Jamie L. Lynch. "Does More Education Cause Lower BMI, or Do Lower-BMI Individuals Become More Educated? Evidence from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979." Social Science and Medicine 211 (August 2018): 370-377.
5. Boynton-Jarrett, Renée
Hair, Elizabeth Catherine
Zuckerman, Barry
Turbulent Times: Effects of Turbulence and Violence Exposure in Adolescence on High School Completion, Health Risk Behavior, and Mental Health in Young Adulthood
Social Science and Medicine 95 (October 2013): 77-86.
Also: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953612006703
Cohort(s): NLSY97
Publisher: Elsevier
Keyword(s): Family Structure; Health, Mental/Psychological; High School Completion/Graduates; Home Environment; Life Course; Mobility, Residential; Risk-Taking; Social Environment; Substance Use; Turbulence

Turbulent social environments are associated with health and developmental risk, yet mechanisms have been understudied. Guided by a life course framework and stress theory, this study examined the association between turbulent life transitions (including frequent residential mobility, school transitions, family structure disruptions, and homelessness) and exposure to violence during adolescence and high school completion, mental health, and health risk behaviors in young adulthood. Participants (n = 4834) from the U.S. National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, 1997 cohort were followed prospectively from age 12–14 years for 10 years. We used structural equation models to investigate pathways between turbulence and cumulative exposure to violence (CEV), and high school completion, mental health, and health risk behaviors, while accounting for early life socio-demographics, family processes, and individual characteristics. Results indicated that turbulence index was associated with cumulative exposure to violence in adolescence. Both turbulence index and cumulative exposure to violence were positively associated with higher health risk behavior, poorer mental health, and inversely associated with high school completion. These findings highlight the importance of considering the cumulative impact of turbulent and adverse social environments when developing interventions to optimize health and developmental trajectory for adolescents transitioning into adulthood.
Bibliography Citation
Boynton-Jarrett, Renée, Elizabeth Catherine Hair and Barry Zuckerman. "Turbulent Times: Effects of Turbulence and Violence Exposure in Adolescence on High School Completion, Health Risk Behavior, and Mental Health in Young Adulthood." Social Science and Medicine 95 (October 2013): 77-86.
6. Buckles, Kasey S.
Kolka, Shawna
Prenatal Investments, Breastfeeding, and Birth Order
Social Science and Medicine 118 (October 2014): 66-70.
Also: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S027795361400495X
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
Publisher: Elsevier
Keyword(s): Birth Order; Births, Repeat / Spacing; Breastfeeding; Family Size; Missing Data/Imputation; Modeling, Fixed Effects; Parental Investments; Pre/post Natal Behavior; Pre/post Natal Health Care

Mothers have many opportunities to invest in their own or their child’s health and well-being during pregnancy and immediately after birth. These investments include seeking prenatal care, taking prenatal vitamins, and breastfeeding. In this paper, we investigate a potential determinant of mothers’ investments that has been largely overlooked by previous research—birth order. Data are from the National Longitudinal Study of Youth 1979 (NLSY79) Child and Young Adult Survey, which provides detailed information on pre- and post-natal behaviors of women from the NLSY79. These women were between the ages of 14 and 22 in 1979, and form a nationally representative sample of youth in the United States. Our sample includes births to these women between 1973 and 2010 (10,328 births to 3,755 mothers). We use fixed effects regression models to estimate within-mother differences in pre- and post-natal behaviors across births. We find that mothers are 6.6 percent less likely to take prenatal vitamins in a fourth or higher-order birth than in a first and are 10.6 percent less likely to receive early prenatal care. Remarkably, mothers are 15.4 percent less likely to breastfeed a second-born child than a first, and are 20.9 percent less likely to breastfeed a fourth or higher-order child. These results are not explained by changing attitudes toward investments over time. These findings suggest that providers may want to increase efforts to encourage these behaviors at women with higher parity. The results also identify a potential mechanism for the emergence of differences in health and other outcomes across birth orders.
Bibliography Citation
Buckles, Kasey S. and Shawna Kolka. "Prenatal Investments, Breastfeeding, and Birth Order." Social Science and Medicine 118 (October 2014): 66-70.
7. Carlson, Daniel Lee
Explaining the Curvilinear Relationship Between Age at First Birth and Depression Among Women
Social Science and Medicine 72,4 (February 2011): 494-503.
Also: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953610008282
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Elsevier
Keyword(s): Age at First Birth; Health, Mental/Psychological; Health/Health Status/SF-12 Scale; Parenthood

Recent research suggests that the effect of age at first birth on mental health for women is curvilinear, with first births at both young (age 20 and younger) and older ages (after age 30) being positively associated with psychological distress. Scholars have theorized that accumulated disadvantages and physical health problems associated with age at first birth explain this pattern, although empirical support for these explanations has varied. Using data from the US National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979, this study provides evidence of an alternative explanation for this curvilinear relationship through its focus on: 1) the relationship between deviations from expected age at first birth and women's actual age at first birth, and 2) the effect deviations from expected age at first birth have on mental health. Results indicate that deviating from their expected age at first birth results in higher levels of depressive symptoms for women in midlife who transition into parenthood both earlier and later than expected. These deviations from expected birth timing account for the upward trend in depressive symptoms at older ages of first birth, but explain only a small amount of the higher levels of depressive symptoms at younger ages. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Bibliography Citation
Carlson, Daniel Lee. "Explaining the Curvilinear Relationship Between Age at First Birth and Depression Among Women." Social Science and Medicine 72,4 (February 2011): 494-503.
8. Cohen, Alison K.
Rehkopf, David
Deardorff, Julianna
Abrams, Barbara
Education and Obesity at Age 40 among American Adults
Social Science and Medicine 78 (February 2013): 34-41.
Also: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953612007836
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Elsevier
Keyword(s): Body Mass Index (BMI); College Graduates; Education; Educational Attainment; High School Completion/Graduates; Obesity; Racial Differences

Although many have studied the association between educational attainment and obesity, studies to date have not fully examined prior common causes and possible interactions by race/ethnicity or gender. It is also not clear if the relationship between actual educational attainment and obesity is independent of the role of aspired educational attainment or expected educational attainment. The authors use generalized linear log link models to examine the association between educational attainment at age 25 and obesity (BMI≥30) at age 40 in the USA’s National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 cohort, adjusting for demographics, confounders, and mediators. Race/ethnicity but not gender interacted with educational attainment. In a complete case analysis, after adjusting for socioeconomic covariates from childhood, adolescence, and adulthood, among whites only, college graduates were less likely than high school graduates to be obese (RR= 0.69, 95%CI: 0.57, 0.83). The risk ratio remained similar in two sensitivity analyses when the authors adjusted for educational aspirations and educational expectations and analyzed a multiply imputed dataset to address missingness. This more nuanced understanding of the role of education after controlling for a thorough set of confounders and mediators helps advance the study of social determinants of health and risk factors for obesity.
Bibliography Citation
Cohen, Alison K., David Rehkopf, Julianna Deardorff and Barbara Abrams. "Education and Obesity at Age 40 among American Adults." Social Science and Medicine 78 (February 2013): 34-41.
9. Colen, Cynthia G.
Ramey, David
Is Breast Truly Best? Estimating the Effects of Breastfeeding on Long-term Child Health and Wellbeing in the United States Using Sibling Comparisons
Social Science and Medicine 109 (May 2014): 55-65.
Also: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953614000549
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
Publisher: Elsevier
Keyword(s): Asthma; Behavior Problems Index (BPI); Body Mass Index (BMI); Breastfeeding; CESD (Depression Scale); Child Health; Depression (see also CESD); Digit Span (also see Memory for Digit Span - WISC); Infants; Modeling, Fixed Effects; Obesity; Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Math); Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Reading); Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT); Pre-natal Care/Exposure; Pre/post Natal Behavior; Self-Perception Profile for Children (SPPC); Siblings; Temperament; Weight

Breastfeeding rates in the U.S. are socially patterned. Previous research has documented startling racial and socioeconomic disparities in infant feeding practices. However, much of the empirical evidence regarding the effects of breastfeeding on long-term child health and wellbeing does not adequately address the high degree of selection into breastfeeding. To address this important shortcoming, we employ sibling comparisons in conjunction with 25 years of panel data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) to approximate a natural experiment and more accurately estimate what a particular child’s outcome would be if he/she had been differently fed during infancy. Results from standard multiple regression models suggest that children aged 4 to 14 who were breast- as opposed to bottle-fed did significantly better on 10 of the 11 outcomes studied. Once we restrict analyses to siblings and incorporate within-family fixed effects, estimates of the association between breastfeeding and all but one indicator of child health and wellbeing dramatically decrease and fail to maintain statistical significance. Our results suggest that much of the beneficial long-term effects typically attributed to breastfeeding, per se, may primarily be due to selection pressures into infant feeding practices along key demographic characteristics such as race and socioeconomic status.
Bibliography Citation
Colen, Cynthia G. and David Ramey. "Is Breast Truly Best? Estimating the Effects of Breastfeeding on Long-term Child Health and Wellbeing in the United States Using Sibling Comparisons." Social Science and Medicine 109 (May 2014): 55-65.
10. Colen, Cynthia G.
Ramey, David
Cooksey, Elizabeth C.
Williams, David R.
Racial Disparities in Health among Nonpoor African Americans and Hispanics: The Role of Acute and Chronic Discrimination
Social Science and Medicine 199 (February 2018): 167-180.
Also: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953617302903
Cohort(s): NLSY79 Young Adult
Publisher: Elsevier
Keyword(s): Discrimination; Ethnic Differences; Health/Health Status/SF-12 Scale; Racial Differences; Socioeconomic Status (SES)

Racial disparities in health tend to be more pronounced at the upper ends of the socioeconomic (SES) spectrum. Despite having access to above average social and economic resources, nonpoor African Americans and Latinos report significantly worse health compared to nonpoor Whites. We combine data from the parents and children of the 1979 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY79) to address two specific research aims. First, we generate longitudinal SES trajectories over a 33-year period to estimate the extent to which socioeconomic mobility is associated with exposure to discrimination (acute and chronic) across different racial/ethnic groups (nonHispanic Whites, nonHispanic Blacks, and Hispanics). Then we determine if the disparate relationship between SES and self-rated health across these groups can be accounted for by more frequent exposure to unfair treatment. For Whites, moderate income gains over time result in significantly less exposure to both acute and chronic discrimination. Upwardly mobile African Americans and Hispanics, however, were significantly more likely to experience acute and chronic discrimination, respectively, than their socioeconomically stable counterparts. We also find that differential exposure to unfair treatment explains a substantial proportion of the Black/White, but not the Hispanic/White, gap in self-rated health among this nationally representative sample of upwardly mobile young adults. The current study adds to the debate that the shape of the SES/health gradient differs, in important ways, across race and provides empirical support for the diminishing health returns hypothesis for racial/ethnic minorities.
Bibliography Citation
Colen, Cynthia G., David Ramey, Elizabeth C. Cooksey and David R. Williams. "Racial Disparities in Health among Nonpoor African Americans and Hispanics: The Role of Acute and Chronic Discrimination." Social Science and Medicine 199 (February 2018): 167-180.
11. Comer, Benjamin P.
Connolly, Eric J.
Exposure to Gun Violence and Handgun Carrying from Adolescence to Adulthood
Social Science and Medicine published online (22 May 2023): 115984.
Also: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953623003416
Cohort(s): NLSY97
Publisher: Elsevier
Keyword(s): Childhood Adversity/Trauma; Handguns, carrying or using; Modeling, Growth Curve/Latent Trajectory Analysis

Rationale: While empirical interest in understanding the mental health consequences surrounding gun violence has increased, currently there is much unknown about the long reach of childhood exposure to gun violence on handgun carrying across the life course.

Objective: The current study aims to evaluate the relations between witnessing gun violence before age 12 and subsequent handgun-carrying behavior from adolescence to adulthood in a nationally representative sample of U.S. youth.

Methods: Data from 15 waves from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997) are analyzed (Ns range from 5695 to 5875 participants). Categorical latent growth curve models are estimated to assess individual differences in handgun-carrying behavior over time and the relationships between childhood exposure to gun violence, initial levels during adolescence, and rates of change from adolescence to adulthood.

Results: Participants who reported witnessing seeing someone shot or shot at in childhood demonstrated higher odds of carrying a handgun in adolescence. Exposure to gun violence was not associated with changes in the odds of handgun carrying from adolescence to adulthood after controlling for theoretically relevant covariates.

Bibliography Citation
Comer, Benjamin P. and Eric J. Connolly. "Exposure to Gun Violence and Handgun Carrying from Adolescence to Adulthood." Social Science and Medicine published online (22 May 2023): 115984.
12. Connolly, Eric J.
Jackson, Dylan B.
Semenza, Daniel C.
Quality Over Quantity? Using Sibling Comparisons to Examine Relations between Sleep Quality, Sleep Duration, and Delinquency
Social Science and Medicine 280 (July 2021): 114053.
Also: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953621003853
Cohort(s): NLSY79 Young Adult
Publisher: Elsevier
Keyword(s): Delinquency/Gang Activity; Siblings; Sleep

Objective: The current study examines the relationship between self-reported restless sleep, sleep duration, and delinquency from ages 16-19 in a population-based sample of U.S. youth.

Methods: Data from full siblings from the Children and Young Adult sample of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (CNLSY) are analyzed. Negative binomial regression models and sibling comparisons are estimated to assess between- and within-family effects of sleep on delinquency during ages 16-17. Sibling comparison cross-lagged models are then fitted to the data to examine whether sibling differences in sleep are related to sibling differences in changes in delinquency from ages 16-19.

Results: Siblings with higher levels of self-reported restless sleep were more likely to report higher levels of delinquency at ages 16-17, net of observable covariates and unobservable familial confounders. Sibling differences in restless sleep at ages 16-17 were also associated with increases in delinquency at ages 18-19 after controlling for familial confounding and temporal stability in both sleep and delinquent behavior.

Bibliography Citation
Connolly, Eric J., Dylan B. Jackson and Daniel C. Semenza. "Quality Over Quantity? Using Sibling Comparisons to Examine Relations between Sleep Quality, Sleep Duration, and Delinquency." Social Science and Medicine 280 (July 2021): 114053.
13. Corallo, Kelsey L.
Carr, Christopher P.
Lavner, Justin A.
Koss, Kalsea J.
Ehrlich, Katherine B.
The Protective Role of Parental Vigilance in the Link between Risky Childhood Environments and Health
Social Science and Medicine published online (5 December 2022): 115593.
Also: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953622008991
Cohort(s): NLSY97
Publisher: Elsevier
Keyword(s): Childhood Residence; Health, Mental/Psychological; Health/Health Status/SF-12 Scale; Neighborhood Effects; Parent Supervision/Monitoring

Growing up in a risky environment is associated with poor lifespan physical and mental health. However, promotive factors that have protective or compensatory effects (i.e., buffer against negative outcomes or promote positive ones in the context of risk) allow individuals to remain healthy despite adverse upbringings. Parental vigilance, including parents' efforts to set boundaries and limitations and/or monitor and have knowledge of children's daily lives, has been shown to buffer and protect against negative health outcomes among individuals who grow up in risky environments. Conversely, some aspects of parental vigilance have been shown to be maladaptive for, or unrelated to, health among individuals who are raised in low-risk environments. The current study leveraged longitudinal data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 97 to explore the link between environmental risk in adolescence and indices of physical and mental health in young adulthood, and whether parental vigilance (limit-setting and knowledge) buffered these associations (n = 4829). Results indicated that childhood environmental risk predicted a greater likelihood of experiencing physical health limitations at age 29 but was not significantly associated with mental health symptoms at approximately age 34. Further, there was evidence that parental limit-setting (but not knowledge) buffered the relation between childhood risk and physical health limitations, such that the association between risk and physical limitations became slightly less pronounced at greater levels of parental limit-setting. Additionally, maternal knowledge was associated with fewer mental health symptoms in young adulthood among all participants. Results highlight the importance of parental limit-setting in reducing physical health consequences associated with childhood risk and suggest that there may be long-term mental health benefits of maternal knowledge of adolescents, regardless of childhood risk exposure.
Bibliography Citation
Corallo, Kelsey L., Christopher P. Carr, Justin A. Lavner, Kalsea J. Koss and Katherine B. Ehrlich. "The Protective Role of Parental Vigilance in the Link between Risky Childhood Environments and Health." Social Science and Medicine published online (5 December 2022): 115593.
14. D'Onise, Katina
Lynch, John W.
Sawyer, Michael G.
McDermott, Robyn A.
Can Preschool Improve Child Health Outcomes? A Systematic Review
Social Science and Medicine 70, 9 (May 2010) 1423-1440.
Also: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20199834
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY97
Publisher: Elsevier
Keyword(s): CESD (Depression Scale); Child Health; Head Start; Human Capital; Pearlin Mastery Scale; Preschool Children; Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES) (see Self-Esteem); School Completion

Early childhood development interventions (ECDIs) have the potential to bring about wide ranging human capital benefits for children through to adulthood. Less is known, however, about the potential for such interventions to improve population health. The aim of this study was to examine the evidence for child health effects of centre-based preschool intervention programs for healthy 4 year olds, beyond the preschool years. Medline, Embase, ERIC, Psych Info, Sociological Abstracts, the Cochrane Library, C2-SPECTR and the Head Start database were searched using terms relating to preschool and health from 1980 to July 2008, limited to English language publications. Reference lists and the journal Child Development were hand searched for eligible articles missed by the electronic search. There were 37 eligible studies identified. The reviewed studies examined a range of interventions from centre-based preschool alone, to interventions also including parenting programs and/or health services. The study populations were mostly sampled from populations at risk of school failure (76%). Only eight of the 37 studies had a strong methodological rating, 15 were evaluated as at moderate potential risk of bias and 14 as at high potential risk of bias. The review found generally null effects of preschool interventions across a range of health outcomes, however there was some evidence for obesity reduction, greater social competence, improved mental health and crime prevention. We conclude that the great potential for early childhood interventions to improve population health across a range of health outcomes, as anticipated by policy makers worldwide, currently rests on a rather flimsy evidence base. Given the potential and the increasingly large public investment in these interventions, it is imperative that population health researchers, practitioners and policy makers worldwide collaborate to advance this research agenda.
Bibliography Citation
D'Onise, Katina, John W. Lynch, Michael G. Sawyer and Robyn A. McDermott. "Can Preschool Improve Child Health Outcomes? A Systematic Review ." Social Science and Medicine 70, 9 (May 2010) 1423-1440.
15. Dirlam, Jonathan
Zheng, Hui
Job Satisfaction Developmental Trajectories and Health: A Life Course Perspective
Social Science and Medicine 178 (April 2017): 95-103.
Also: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953617300473
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Elsevier
Keyword(s): CESD (Depression Scale); Health, Mental/Psychological; Health/Health Status/SF-12 Scale; Job Satisfaction; Life Course; Sleep

Understanding the health consequence of job dissatisfaction becomes increasingly important because job insecurity, stress and dissatisfaction have significantly increased in the United States in the last decade. Despite the extensive work in this area, prior studies nonetheless may underestimate the harmful effect of job dissatisfaction due to the cross-sectional nature of their data and sample selection bias. This study applies a life-course approach to more comprehensively examine the relationship between job satisfaction and health. Using data from the NLSY 1979 cohort, we estimate group based job satisfaction trajectories of respondents starting at age 25 and ending at age 39. Four job satisfaction trajectory groups are identified, a consistently high satisfaction group, a downward group, an upward group, and a lowest satisfaction group. We examine the effects of these trajectories on several physical and mental health outcomes of respondents in their early forties. We find membership in the lowest job satisfaction trajectory group to be negatively associated with all five mental health outcomes, supporting the accumulation of risks life course model. Those in the upward job satisfaction trajectory group have similar health outcomes to those in the high job satisfaction trajectory group, supporting the social mobility life course model. Overall, we find the relationship between job satisfaction trajectories and health to be stronger for mental health compared to physical health.
Bibliography Citation
Dirlam, Jonathan and Hui Zheng. "Job Satisfaction Developmental Trajectories and Health: A Life Course Perspective." Social Science and Medicine 178 (April 2017): 95-103.
16. Egan, Mark
Daly, Michael
Delaney, Liam
Adolescent Psychological Distress, Unemployment, and the Great Recession: Evidence from the National Longitudinal Study of Youth 1997
Social Science and Medicine 156 (May 2016): 98-105.
Also: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953616301137
Cohort(s): NLSY97
Publisher: Elsevier
Keyword(s): Adolescent Health; Depression (see also CESD); Economic Changes/Recession; Educational Attainment; Health, Mental/Psychological; Unemployment

This paper uses the National Longitudinal Study of Youth 1997 data to examine whether adolescent psychological distress in 2000 predicts higher unemployment over 2000-11, whether this relationship changed in the period following the Great Recession, and whether it is robust to adjustment for family effects.
Bibliography Citation
Egan, Mark, Michael Daly and Liam Delaney. "Adolescent Psychological Distress, Unemployment, and the Great Recession: Evidence from the National Longitudinal Study of Youth 1997." Social Science and Medicine 156 (May 2016): 98-105.
17. Frisco, Michelle
Weden, Margaret M.
Lippert, Adam M.
Burnett, Kristin
The Multidimensional Relationship Between Early Adult Body Weight and Women’s Childbearing Experiences
Social Science and Medicine 74,11 (June 2012): 1703-1711.
Also: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21944717
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Elsevier
Keyword(s): Body Mass Index (BMI); Childbearing; Marital Status; Obesity; Weight; Women

This study has three primary goals that make an important contribution to the literature on body weight and childbearing experiences among United States’ women. It sheds light on the physiological and social nature of this relationship by examining whether the consequences of early adult weight for lifetime childbearing are shaped by historical social context, women’s social characteristics, and their ability to marry. We analyze data from two female cohorts who participated in the National Longitudinal Study of Youth (NLSY79). Cohort 1 entered early adulthood before the U.S. obesity prevalence increased. Cohort 2 entered early adulthood after the obesity prevalence increased. We find that early adult weight is negatively related to the childbearing trajectories and marital status of Cohort 1 but not Cohort 2. Failing to account for race/ethnicity and women’s educational background as confounders masks some of these associations, which are evident for both White and Black women. Our results suggest that the health consequences of body weight do not fully drive its impact on childbearing. Rather, the lifetime fertility consequences of early adult weight are malleable, involve social processes, and are dependent on social context.

Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Bibliography Citation
Frisco, Michelle, Margaret M. Weden, Adam M. Lippert and Kristin Burnett. "The Multidimensional Relationship Between Early Adult Body Weight and Women’s Childbearing Experiences." Social Science and Medicine 74,11 (June 2012): 1703-1711.
18. Gee, Gilbert C.
Walsemann, Katrina Michelle
Does Health Predict the Reporting of Racial Discrimination or Do Reports of Discrimination Predict Health? Findings from The National Longitudinal Study Of Youth
Social Science and Medicine 68,9 (May 2009): 1676-1684.
Also: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953609000872
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Elsevier
Keyword(s): Discrimination, Racial/Ethnic; Ethnic Studies; Health Factors; Health/Health Status/SF-12 Scale; Racial Studies; Well-Being

Racial discrimination may contribute to diminished well-being, possibly through stress and restricted economic advancement. Our study examines whether reports of racial discrimination predict health problems, and whether health problems predict the reporting of racial discrimination. Data come from years 1979 to 1983 of the US National Longitudinal Study of Youth, focusing on respondents of Black (n = 1851), Hispanic (n = 1170), White (n = 3450) and other (n = 1387) descent. Our analyses indicate that reports of racial discrimination in seeking employment predict health-related work limitations, although these limitations develop over time, and not immediately. We also find that reports of discrimination at two time-points appear more strongly related to health-related work limitations than reports at one time-point. A key finding is that these limitations do not predict the subsequent reporting of racial discrimination in seeking employment. These findings inform our knowledge of the temporal ordering of racial discrimination in seeking employment and health-related work conditions among young adults. The findings also indicate that future research should carefully attend to the patterns and timing of discrimination. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved)
Bibliography Citation
Gee, Gilbert C. and Katrina Michelle Walsemann. "Does Health Predict the Reporting of Racial Discrimination or Do Reports of Discrimination Predict Health? Findings from The National Longitudinal Study Of Youth." Social Science and Medicine 68,9 (May 2009): 1676-1684.
19. Green, Michael J.
Stritzel, Haley
Smith, Chelsea
Popham, Frank
Crosnoe, Robert
Timing of Poverty in Childhood and Adolescent Health: Evidence from the US and UK
Social Science and Medicine 197 (January 2018): 136-143.
Also: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953617307347
Cohort(s): NLSY79, NLSY79 Young Adult
Publisher: Elsevier
Keyword(s): Adolescent Health; British Household Panel Survey (BHPS); Childhood Adversity/Trauma; Children, Poverty; Family Income; Health, Mental/Psychological; Health/Health Status/SF-12 Scale; Poverty; Smoking (see Cigarette Use)

Childhood poverty is associated with poorer adolescent health and health behaviours, but the importance of the timing of poverty remains unclear. There may be critical or sensitive periods in early life or early adolescence, or poverty may have cumulative effects throughout childhood. Understanding when poverty is most important can support efficient timing of interventions to raise family income or buffer against the effects of low income, but answers may vary across social contexts. The US and the UK are a useful comparison with similar liberal approaches to cash transfers, but very different approaches to healthcare provision. Utilising data from large population studies in the US (n = 9408; born 1979-1996) and UK (n = 1204; born 1991-1997), this study employs a structured life course approach to compare competing hypotheses about the importance of the timing or pattern of childhood exposure to poverty in predicting adolescent health limitations, symptoms of psychiatric distress, and smoking at age 16 (age 15/16 in US). Household income histories identified experience of poverty (measured as <60% of the national median equivalised income for a given year) in early life (ages 0-5), mid-childhood (ages 6-10) and early adolescence (ages 11-15). The Bayesian Information Criterion (BIC) compared fit across models with variables representing different life course patterns of exposure to poverty. Adolescent distress was not associated with poverty in either country. In both countries, however, variables representing cumulative or persistent experiences of poverty exhibited optimal fit of all poverty exposure variables in predicting adolescent smoking and health limitations. There was also evidence of an early life sensitive period for smoking in the US. Poverty was more persistent in the US, but associations between poverty and outcomes were consistent across countries. Although poverty can have cumulative effects on health and behaviour, early interventions may offer the best long-term protection.
Bibliography Citation
Green, Michael J., Haley Stritzel, Chelsea Smith, Frank Popham and Robert Crosnoe. "Timing of Poverty in Childhood and Adolescent Health: Evidence from the US and UK." Social Science and Medicine 197 (January 2018): 136-143.
20. Kelly, Brian
Vuolo, Mike
Frizzell, Laura C.
Hernandez, Elaine M.
Denormalization, Smoke-free Air Policy, and Tobacco Use among Young Adults
Social Science and Medicine 211 (August 2018): 70-77.
Also: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953618302946
Cohort(s): NLSY97
Publisher: Elsevier
Keyword(s): Census of Population; Current Population Survey (CPS) / CPS-Fertility Supplement; Geocoded Data; Legislation; Smoking (see Cigarette Use)

Smoke-free air laws and the denormalization of smoking are important contributors to reductions in smoking during the 21st century. Yet, tobacco policy and denormalization may intersect in numerous ways to affect smoking. We merge data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997, Tobacco Use Supplement of the Current Population Survey, American Nonsmokers’ Right Foundation, and Census to produce a unique examination of the intersection of smoking bans and denormalization and their influence on any smoking and heavy smoking among young adults. Operationalizing denormalization as complete unacceptability of smoking within nightlife venues, we examine 1) whether smoking bans and denormalization have independent effects on smoking, 2) whether denormalization mediates the influence of smoking bans on smoking, and 3) whether denormalization moderates the impact of smoking bans on smoking. For any smoking, denormalization has a significant independent effect beyond the influence of smoking bans. For heavy smoking, denormalization mediates the relationship between smoking bans and habitual smoking. Denormalization does not moderate the relationship of smoking bans with either pattern of smoking. This research identifies that the intersection of denormalization and smoking bans plays an important role in lowering smoking, yet they remain distinct in their influences. Notably, smoking bans are efficacious even in locales with lower levels of denormalization, particularly for social smoking.
Bibliography Citation
Kelly, Brian, Mike Vuolo, Laura C. Frizzell and Elaine M. Hernandez. "Denormalization, Smoke-free Air Policy, and Tobacco Use among Young Adults." Social Science and Medicine 211 (August 2018): 70-77.
21. Krause, Neal
Stryker, Sheldon
Stress and Well-being: the Buffering Role of Locus of Control Beliefs
Social Science and Medicine 18,9 (1984): 783-790.
Also: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0277953684901059
Cohort(s): Older Men
Publisher: Elsevier
Keyword(s): Internal-External Attitude; Locus of Control (see Rotter Scale); Rotter Scale (see Locus of Control); Stress; Well-Being

Data from the 1969 and 1971 panels of the NLS of Older Men are analyzed to assess the mediating effects of locus of control beliefs in the relationship between stressful job and economic events and psycho-physiological well-being. The analyses indicate that men with internal locus of control orientations respond more adequately to stress than do those with external locus of control beliefs. A more detailed examination of the data revealed that men with moderately internal locus of control orientations cope more effectively with stress than those whose locus of control beliefs may be classified as extreme internal, extreme external or moderately external. The theoretical implications of these findings are discussed.
Bibliography Citation
Krause, Neal and Sheldon Stryker. "Stress and Well-being: the Buffering Role of Locus of Control Beliefs." Social Science and Medicine 18,9 (1984): 783-790.
22. Lairson, David
Lorimor, Ronald
Slater, Carl
Estimates of the Demand for Health: Males in the Pre-Retirement Years
Social Science and Medicine 19,7 (1984): 741-747.
Also: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0277953684902478
Cohort(s): Older Men
Publisher: Elsevier
Keyword(s): Family Income; Family Resources; Health/Health Status/SF-12 Scale; Racial Differences; Simultaneity; Wages

Michael Grossman's theory (The Demand for Health: A Theoretical and Empirical Investigation, New York: National Bureau of Economic Research, 1972) is replicated with improved wage and wealth statistics in order to estimate separately the demand for health of black and white preretirement age males. Analysis of a subset of data obtained from the NLS of Older Men reveals that while demand functions for whites involved wage rate, education, and job satisfaction variables, only wage rate and wife's educational level were significant for blacks. Grossman's results are argued to be primarily representative of the white population, and several explanations for the observed black-white differentials are proposed. The inverse relationship between wage and health is examined through the use of a simultaneous equation model that yields an even greater wage effect than expected.
Bibliography Citation
Lairson, David, Ronald Lorimor and Carl Slater. "Estimates of the Demand for Health: Males in the Pre-Retirement Years." Social Science and Medicine 19,7 (1984): 741-747.
23. Lynch, Jamie L.
von Hippel, Paul
An Education Gradient in Health, a Health Gradient in Education, or a Confounded Gradient in Both?
Social Science and Medicine 154 (April 2016): 18-27.
Also: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953616300843
Cohort(s): NLSY97
Publisher: Elsevier
Keyword(s): Educational Attainment; Health/Health Status/SF-12 Scale; Modeling, Fixed Effects

There is a positive gradient associating educational attainment with health, yet the explanation for this gradient is not clear. Does higher education improve health (causation)? Do the healthy become highly educated (selection)? Or do good health and high educational attainment both result from advantages established early in the life course (confounding)? This study evaluates these competing explanations by tracking changes in educational attainment and Self-rated Health (SRH) from age 15 to age 31 in the National Longitudinal Study of Youth, 1997 cohort. Ordinal logistic regression confirms that high-SRH adolescents are more likely to become highly educated. This is partly because adolescent SRH is associated with early advantages including adolescents' academic performance, college plans, and family background (confounding); however, net of these confounders adolescent SRH still predicts adult educational attainment (selection). Fixed-effects longitudinal regression shows that educational attainment has little causal effect on SRH at age 31. Completion of a high school diploma or associate's degree has no effect on SRH, while completion of a bachelor's or graduate degree have effects that, though significant, are quite small (less than 0.1 points on a 5-point scale). While it is possible that educational attainment would have greater effect on health at older ages, at age 31 what we see is a health gradient in education, shaped primarily by selection and confounding rather than by a causal effect of education on health.
Bibliography Citation
Lynch, Jamie L. and Paul von Hippel. "An Education Gradient in Health, a Health Gradient in Education, or a Confounded Gradient in Both?" Social Science and Medicine 154 (April 2016): 18-27.
24. Maximova, Katerina
Quesnel-Vallée, Amélie
Mental Health Consequences of Unintended Childlessness and Unplanned Births: Gender Differences and Life Course Dynamics
Social Science and Medicine 68,5 (March 2009): 850-857.
Also: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953608005789
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Elsevier
Keyword(s): CESD (Depression Scale); Depression (see also CESD); Fertility; Gender Differences; Life Course; Wantedness

The discordance between fertility intentions and outcomes may be associated with mental health in the general population. This requires data directly linking individuals' fertility intentions with their outcomes. This study brings together two streams of research on fertility and psychological distress to examine whether unintended childlessness and unplanned births are associated with psychological distress, compared with intended childlessness and planned births. We also examine whether unintended childlessness and unplanned births are differently associated with distress at two stages of the individuals' life course: in early and late 30s. As women are more directly affected by the decline in fertility with age and the experience of motherhood is more central to women's identity, we also examined gender differences in these associations. Thus, we examined the association between four possible fertility events (planned and unplanned births, intended and unintended childlessness) and psychological distress of men and women, at two different stages over the life course (early and late 30s). We used longitudinal data from the US National Longitudinal Study of Youth 1979 (N = 2524) to link individuals' fertility intentions and outcomes to evaluate the association of depressive symptoms (CES-D) with four possible fertility events occurring in two-year intervals, for men and women separately. Contrary to our first hypothesis, unintended childlessness and unplanned births were not associated with psychological distress for women. Among men, only unplanned births in their early 30s were associated with increases in psychological distress. We did not find support for our second hypothesis that unintended childlessness and unplanned births have a different association with psychological distress for men and women and as a function of the stage of life. These findings are discussed in the context of previous literature in this area.
Bibliography Citation
Maximova, Katerina and Amélie Quesnel-Vallée. "Mental Health Consequences of Unintended Childlessness and Unplanned Births: Gender Differences and Life Course Dynamics." Social Science and Medicine 68,5 (March 2009): 850-857.
25. McCauley, Erin J.
The Role of Stress and Absence: How Household Member Incarceration is Associated with Risky Sexual Health Behaviors
Social Science and Medicine 272 (March 2021): 113718.
Also: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953621000502
Cohort(s): NLSY97
Publisher: Elsevier
Keyword(s): Contraception; Fathers, Absence; Incarceration/Jail; Parental Influences; Sexual Behavior; Stress

Sexual health is a critical indicator of wellbeing with consequences for population health. However, little is known about whether and how household member incarceration affects the sexual health behaviors of young adults. This study seeks to assess the association between household member incarceration and sexual health behaviors and provides an initial test of mechanisms. Drawing upon data from the NLSY97, this study estimates the association between household member incarceration and sexual health behaviors using linear probability models, and then re-estimates these associations using two alternative comparison groups; 1) youth who experienced other forms of stress, and 2) youth who experienced other forms of family absence. Results indicate that household incarceration is positively associated with a higher risk of reporting sexual intercourse with an intravenous drug user net of individual and family characteristics and is negatively associated with condom use net of individual but not family characteristics. The results also show that the associations between household member incarceration and sexual health behaviors may be attributable, at least in part, to the well documented stress associated with incarceration. Yet, the results provide little evidence that absence is a pathway linking household member incarceration to risky sexual health behaviors. It is possible that household member incarceration is linked to deleterious outcomes for youth through different mechanisms than parental incarceration given the differing roles of parents versus other adults in the home.
Bibliography Citation
McCauley, Erin J. "The Role of Stress and Absence: How Household Member Incarceration is Associated with Risky Sexual Health Behaviors." Social Science and Medicine 272 (March 2021): 113718.
26. Miech, Richard A.
Chilcoat, Howard
Maternal Education and Adolescent Drug Use: A Longitudinal Analysis of Causation and Selection Over a Generation
Social Science and Medicine 60,4 (February 2005): 725-735.
Also: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953604002928
Cohort(s): NLSY79, NLSY79 Young Adult
Publisher: Elsevier
Keyword(s): Drug Use; Intergenerational Patterns/Transmission; Mothers, Education; Substance Use

Current evidence indicates that in the USA illegal drug use among adolescents between the 1980s and 1990s became significantly more prevalent in families with lower maternal education in comparison to families with higher maternal education. In this study, we examine whether this inter-generational change results from either (a) a changing influence of socioeconomic status on drug use, as predicted by the inter-generational social 'causation' hypothesis, or (b) a negative influence of drug use on socioeconomic status, as predicted by the inter-generational social 'selection/drift' hypothesis. The analyses are based on the US National Longitudinal Study of 1979, which includes information on drug use for both a nationally representative sample of respondents aged 19–27 in 1984, as well as drug use information for the children of these respondents, who were aged 18–27 in 1998. The results indicate that inter-generation change in cocaine and marijuana use resulted almost entirely from social causation. These findings support illegal drug use as a good candidate for analyses in the 'fundamental cause' tradition that seek to understand the social factors that concentrate poor health and health behaviors in the lower social strata over historical time.
Bibliography Citation
Miech, Richard A. and Howard Chilcoat. "Maternal Education and Adolescent Drug Use: A Longitudinal Analysis of Causation and Selection Over a Generation." Social Science and Medicine 60,4 (February 2005): 725-735.
27. Mossakowski, Krysia N.
Is the Duration of Poverty and Unemployment a Risk Factor for Heavy Drinking?
Social Science and Medicine 67,6 (September 2008): 947-955.
Also: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S027795360800258X
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Elsevier
Keyword(s): Alcohol Use; Health, Mental/Psychological; Life Course; Poverty; Socioeconomic Status (SES); Stress; Unemployment

Research on the influence of socioeconomic status (SES) on heavy drinking of alcohol has provided contradictory findings. A limitation of the literature is that studies have primarily measured SES at one point in time. Inspired by the life course perspective and sociological research on chronic stress, this study uses data from the US National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (1979-1992 wave) to examine whether the duration of poverty and unemployment is a risk factor for heavy drinking. Results from logistic and ordinary least squares regression analyses demonstrate that longer durations of poverty and involuntary unemployment across a span of 13 years significantly predict being a heavy drinker and more frequent heavy drinking at ages 27-35 years. These effects are independent of gender, age, race/ethnicity, marital status, prior heavy drinking, and present SES. Overall, this study contributes to the literature that histories of poverty and involuntary unemployment have lasting effects on heavy drinking. More studies should use longitudinal data to explore the temporal dimension of SES.
Bibliography Citation
Mossakowski, Krysia N. "Is the Duration of Poverty and Unemployment a Risk Factor for Heavy Drinking?" Social Science and Medicine 67,6 (September 2008): 947-955.
28. Mossakowski, Krysia N.
Unfulfilled Expectations and Symptoms of Depression among Young Adults
Social Science and Medicine 73,5 (September 2011): 729-736.
Also: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21798639
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Elsevier
Keyword(s): Depression (see also CESD); Educational Attainment; Labor Force Participation; Parenthood

This study uses the life course perspective and data from 16 waves of the US National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (1979–1994) to examine whether unfulfilled expectations about educational attainment, employment, marriage, and parenthood are risk factors for subsequent symptoms of depression among young adults in the United States. Results from ordinary least squares regression analyses indicate that achieving a lower level of education than expected, becoming a parent unexpectedly, and being out of the labor force unexpectedly at ages 19–27 predict higher levels of depressive symptoms at ages 29–37, adjusting for demographics, family background, and earlier mental health. These effects do not significantly vary by gender, age, race/ethnicity, or family background, and are not explained by being selected out of the labor force for long durations because of mental or physical illness, attending school, keeping house, or other reasons. Overall, this study contributes to the literature on stress and mental health by acknowledging people’s expectations about the markers of adulthood, and advances our understanding of why the timing of transitions in people’s lives can have long-term mental health consequences.
Bibliography Citation
Mossakowski, Krysia N. "Unfulfilled Expectations and Symptoms of Depression among Young Adults." Social Science and Medicine 73,5 (September 2011): 729-736.
29. Mumford, Elizabeth A.
Liu, Weiwei
Hair, Elizabeth Catherine
Yu, Tzy-Chyi
Concurrent Trajectories of BMI and Mental Health Patterns in Emerging Adulthood
Social Science and Medicine 98 (December 2013): 1-7.
Also: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953613005017
Cohort(s): NLSY97
Publisher: Elsevier
Keyword(s): Body Mass Index (BMI); Health, Mental/Psychological; Obesity; Poverty

Affective disorders and weight status have been consistently linked in childhood and adult research, and this comorbidity has synergistic effects leading to more severe health consequences. We map the co-development of these developmental processes in the U.S. National Longitudinal Survey of Youth – 1997 (NLSY97) cohort ages 15 to 27 to inform the targeting of public health interventions. We estimate profiles of youth mental health and weight status through parallel process growth mixture modeling within a person-centered framework controlling for race/ethnicity, gender, and poverty status. Fit statistics indicate a 5-class parallel process model for the concurrent trajectories of BMI and mental health. The concurrent trajectories model reveals latent class trajectories of "stable normal weight, stable good mental health" (82.2%); "consistently obese, stable good mental health" (6.8%); "overweight becoming obese, declining mental health" (5.6%); "stable normal weight, improving mental health" (3.3%); and "morbid obesity, stable good mental health" (2.1%). The risk of developmental trajectories of poor mental health and BMI outcomes is greater for females, blacks, Hispanics, and individuals living below the poverty line. These results should help public health professionals to better target subpopulations approaching or already experiencing developmental pathways of risk for poor mental health and weight comorbidities. Multilevel investigation of lifestyle and contextual factors will foster further refinement of public health interventions.
Bibliography Citation
Mumford, Elizabeth A., Weiwei Liu, Elizabeth Catherine Hair and Tzy-Chyi Yu. "Concurrent Trajectories of BMI and Mental Health Patterns in Emerging Adulthood." Social Science and Medicine 98 (December 2013): 1-7.
30. Platt, Jonathan M.
Bates, Lisa
Jager, Justin
McLaughlin, Katie A.
Keyes, Katherine M.
Changes in the Depression Gender Gap from 1992-2014: Cohort Effects and Mediation by Gendered Social Position
Social Science and Medicine 258 (August 2020): 113088.
Also: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953620303075
Cohort(s): NLSY79, NLSY79 Young Adult
Publisher: Elsevier
Keyword(s): College Degree; Depression (see also CESD); Employment; Gender Attitudes/Roles; Gender Differences; Housework/Housewives; Intergenerational Patterns/Transmission

The present study examined the evidence for a changing depression gap across birth cohorts and tested the extent to which any changes over time were mediated by changes in relative social position between women and men. Data were from the National Longitudinal Surveys. The depression gap was defined as differences in mean CESD scores for women vs. men. The analytic sample included 13,666 respondents interviewed from 1992-2014. Hierarchical mixed models estimated the magnitude of the gender depression gap over time, its association with 10-year birth cohort (range: 1957-1994), and whether any variation was mediated by ratios among women relative to men of obtaining a college degree, being employed full-time, and the average number of hours spent doing housework per week, three indicators of gendered social position. There was a linear decrease in the depression gap by 0.18 points across birth cohort (95% CI= -0.26, -0.10). The results of the mediation analysis estimated that an increasing ratio of college degree attainment mediated 39% of the gender depression gap across cohorts (95% CI= 0.18, 0.78). There was no evidence of mediation due to changing employment or housework ratios. These findings partially support the hypothesis that the depression gap is changing over time and is meaningfully related to the social environment.
Bibliography Citation
Platt, Jonathan M., Lisa Bates, Justin Jager, Katie A. McLaughlin and Katherine M. Keyes. "Changes in the Depression Gender Gap from 1992-2014: Cohort Effects and Mediation by Gendered Social Position." Social Science and Medicine 258 (August 2020): 113088.
31. Powell, Lisa M.
Wada, Roy
Krauss, Ramona C.
Wang, Youfa
Ethnic Disparities in Adolescent Body Mass Index in the United States: The Role of Parental Socioeconomic Status and Economic Contextual Factors
Social Science and Medicine 75,3 (August 2012): 469-476.
Also: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S027795361200278X
Cohort(s): NLSY97
Publisher: Elsevier
Keyword(s): Body Mass Index (BMI); Ethnic Differences; Household Income; Neighborhood Effects; Parental Influences; Racial Differences; Socioeconomic Background; Socioeconomic Status (SES); Weight

This paper examined the importance of household and economic contextual factors as determinants of ethnic disparities in adolescent body mass index (BMI). Individual-level data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 for the years 1997 through 2000 were combined with economic contextual data on food prices, outlet density and median household income. The Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition method was used to examine the factors that could help explain ethnic disparities in BMI. Ethnic differences in household demographic, parental socioeconomic status (SES), and economic contextual factors explained the majority of the male black-white (63%), male Hispanic-white (78%) and female Hispanic-white (62%) BMI gaps but less than one half of the female black-white BMI gap (44%). We found that adding the economic contextual factors increased the explained portion of the ethnic BMI gap for both female and male adolescents: the economic contextual factors explained 28% and 38% of the black-white and Hispanic-white BMI gaps for males and 13% and 8% of the black-white and Hispanic-white BMI gaps for females, respectively. Parental SES was more important in explaining the Hispanic-white BMI gap than the black-white BMI gap for both genders, whereas neighborhood economic contextual factors were more important in explaining the male BMI gap than the female BMI gap for both black-white and Hispanic-white ethnic disparities. A significantly large portion of the ethnic BMI gap, however, remained unexplained between black and white female adolescents.
Bibliography Citation
Powell, Lisa M., Roy Wada, Ramona C. Krauss and Youfa Wang. "Ethnic Disparities in Adolescent Body Mass Index in the United States: The Role of Parental Socioeconomic Status and Economic Contextual Factors." Social Science and Medicine 75,3 (August 2012): 469-476.
32. Quesnel-Vallée, Amélie
Dehaney, Suzanne
Ciampi, Antonio
Temporary Work and Depressive Symptoms: A Propensity Score Analysis
Social Science and Medicine 70,12 (June 2010):1982-1987.
Also: http://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v70y2010i12p1982-1987.html
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Elsevier
Keyword(s): Depression (see also CESD); Job Characteristics; Modeling; Part-Time Work; Propensity Scores; Shift Workers; Work Hours/Schedule; Work, Atypical

Recent decades have seen a tremendous increase in the complexity of work arrangements, through job sharing, flexible hours, career breaks, compressed work weeks, shift work, reduced job security, and part-time, contract and temporary work. In this study, we focus on one specific group of workers that arguably most embodies non-standard employment, namely temporary workers, and estimate the effect of this type of employment on depressive symptom severity. Accounting for the possibility of mental health selection into temporary work through propensity score analysis, we isolate the direct effects of temporary work on depressive symptoms with varying lags of time since exposure. We use prospective data from the U.S. National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (NLSY79), which has followed, longitudinally, from 1979 to the present, a nationally representative cohort of American men and women between 14 and 22 years of age in 1979. Three propensity score models were estimated, to capture the effect of different time lags (immediately following exposure, and 2 and 4 years post exposure) between the period of exposure to the outcome. The only significant effects were found among those who had been exposed to temporary work in the two years preceding the outcome measurement. These workers report 1.803 additional depressive symptoms from having experienced this work status (than if they had not been exposed). Moreover, this difference is both statistically and substantively significant, as it represents a 50% increase from the average level of depressive symptoms in this population. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Bibliography Citation
Quesnel-Vallée, Amélie, Suzanne Dehaney and Antonio Ciampi. "Temporary Work and Depressive Symptoms: A Propensity Score Analysis." Social Science and Medicine 70,12 (June 2010):1982-1987.
33. Quesnel-Vallée, Amélie
Taylor, Miles G.
Socioeconomic Pathways to Depressive Symptoms in Adulthood: Evidence from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979
Social Science and Medicine 74,5 (March 2012): 734-743.
Also: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22300713
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Elsevier
Keyword(s): Depression (see also CESD); Education; Family Income; Health, Mental/Psychological; Life Course; Modeling, Growth Curve/Latent Trajectory Analysis; Parental Influences; Socioeconomic Status (SES)

The existence of a direct effect of early socioeconomic position (SEP) on adult mental health outcomes net of adult SEP is still debated. This question demands the explicit modeling of pathways linking early SEP to adult SEP and mental health. In light of this background, we pursue two objectives in this study. First, we examine whether depressive symptoms in adulthood can be fit in a trajectory featuring both an intercept, or baseline range of depressive symptoms that varied between individuals, and a slope describing the average evolution of depressive symptoms over the years. Second, we estimate the direct and indirect pathways linking early SEP, respondents’ education and adult household income, with a particular focus on whether early SEP retains a significant direct effect on the trajectory of depressive symptoms once adult SEP is entered into the pathway model. Drawing from 29 years of cohort data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979, a survey that has been following a national probability sample of American civilian and military youth (Zagorsky and White, 1999), we used structural equation models to estimate the pathways between parents’ education, respondent’s education, and latent growth curves of household income and depressive symptoms. We found that the effect of parents’ education was entirely mediated by respondent’s education. In turn, the effect of respondent’s education was largely mediated by household income. In conclusion, our findings showed that the socioeconomic attainment process that is rooted in parents’ education and leads to respondent’s education and then to household income is a crucial pathway for adult mental health. These results suggest that increasing educational opportunities may be an effective policy to break the intergenerational transmission of low socioeconomic status and poor mental health.
Bibliography Citation
Quesnel-Vallée, Amélie and Miles G. Taylor. "Socioeconomic Pathways to Depressive Symptoms in Adulthood: Evidence from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979." Social Science and Medicine 74,5 (March 2012): 734-743.
34. Reagan, Patricia Benton
Salsberry, Pamela J.
Cross Race Comparisons Between SES Health Gradients Among African-American and White Women at Mid-life
Social Science and Medicine 108 (May 2014): 81-88.
Also: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953614001324
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Elsevier
Keyword(s): Educational Attainment; Health/Health Status/SF-12 Scale; Income; Racial Differences; Socioeconomic Status (SES)

This study explored how multiple indicators of socioeconomic status (SES) inform understanding of race differences in the magnitude of health gains associated with higher SES. The study sample, 1268 African–American women and 2066 white women, was drawn from the National Longitudinal Surveys of Youth 1979. The outcome was the Physical Components Summary from the SF-12 assessed at age 40. Ordinary least squares regressions using education, income and net worth fully interacted with race were conducted. Single measure gradients tended to be steeper for whites than African–Americans, partly because “sheepskin” effects of high school and college graduation were higher for whites and low income and low net worth whites had worse health than comparable African–Americans. Conditioning on multiple measures of SES eliminated race disparities in health benefits of education and net worth, but not income. A discussion of current public policies that affect race disparities in levels of education, income and net wealth is provided.
Bibliography Citation
Reagan, Patricia Benton and Pamela J. Salsberry. "Cross Race Comparisons Between SES Health Gradients Among African-American and White Women at Mid-life." Social Science and Medicine 108 (May 2014): 81-88.
35. Reagan, Patricia Benton
Salsberry, Pamela J.
Race and Ethnic Differences in Determinants of Preterm Birth in the USA: Broadening the Social Context
Social Science and Medicine 60,10 (May 2005): 2217-2228.
Also: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953604005167
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
Publisher: Elsevier
Keyword(s): Aid for Families with Dependent Children (AFDC); Body Mass Index (BMI); Hispanics; Neighborhood Effects; Poverty; Pre-natal Care/Exposure; Pre/post Natal Behavior; Welfare

Preterm births occur in 9.7% of all US singleton births. The rate for blacks is double that of whites and the rate is 25% higher for Hispanics than for whites. While a number of individual correlates with preterm birth have been identified, race and ethnic differences have not been fully explained. Influenced by a growing body of literature documenting a relationship among health, individual income, and neighborhood disadvantage, researchers interested in explaining racial differences in preterm birth are designing studies that extend beyond the individual. No studies of adverse birth outcomes have considered contextual effects beyond the neighborhood level. Only a handful of studies, comparing blacks and whites, have evaluated the influence of neighborhood disadvantage on preterm birth. This study examines how preterm birth among blacks, whites and Hispanics is influenced by social context, broadly defined to include measures of neighborhood disadvantage and cumulative exposure to state-level income inequality, controlling for individual risk factors. Neighborhood disadvantage is determined by Census tract data. Cumulative exposure to income inequality is measured by the fraction of the mother's life since age 14 spent residing in states with a state-level Gini coefficient above the median. The results for neighborhood disadvantage are highly sensitive across race/ethnicities to the measure used. We find evidence that neighborhood poverty rates and housing vacancy rates increased the rate of very preterm birth and decreased the rate of moderately preterm birth for blacks. The rate of very preterm increased with the fraction of female-headed households for Hispanics and decreased with the fraction of people employed in professional occupations for whites. We find direct effects of cumulative exposure to income inequality only for Hispanics. However, we do find indirect effects of context broadly defined on behaviors that increased the risk of preterm birth.
Bibliography Citation
Reagan, Patricia Benton and Pamela J. Salsberry. "Race and Ethnic Differences in Determinants of Preterm Birth in the USA: Broadening the Social Context." Social Science and Medicine 60,10 (May 2005): 2217-2228.
36. Reagan, Patricia Benton
Salsberry, Pamela J.
Fang, Muriel Z.
Gardner, William P.
Pajer, Kathleen
African-American/White Differences in the Age of Menarche: Accounting for the Difference
Social Science and Medicine 75,7 (October 2012): 1263-1270.
Also: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953612004327
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
Publisher: Elsevier
Keyword(s): Birthweight; Body Mass Index (BMI); Menarche/First Menstruation; Poverty; Racial Differences; Smoking (see Cigarette Use); Weight

Lifetime health disparity between African-American and white females begins with lower birthweight and higher rates of childhood overweight. In adolescence, African-American girls experience earlier menarche. Understanding the origins of these health disparities is a national priority. There is growing literature suggesting that the life course health development model is a useful framework for studying disparities. The purpose of this study was to quantify the influence of explanatory factors from key developmental stages on the age of menarche and to determine how much of the overall race difference in age of menarche they could explain. The factors were maternal age of menarche, birthweight, poverty during early childhood (age 0 through 5 years), and child BMI z-scores at 6 years. The sample, drawn from the US National Longitudinal Surveys of Youth Child–Mother file, consisted of 2337 girls born between 1978 and 1998. Mean age of menarche in months was 144 for African-American girls and 150 for whites.

An instrumental variable approach was used to estimate a causal effect of child BMI z-score on age of menarche. The instrumental variables were pre-pregnancy BMI, high gestational weight gain and smoking during pregnancy. We found strong effects of maternal age of menarche, birthweight, and child BMI z-score (−5.23, 95% CI [−7.35,−3.12]) for both African-Americans and whites. Age of menarche declined with increases in exposure to poverty during early childhood for whites. There was no effect of poverty for African-Americans. We used Oaxaca decomposition techniques to determine how much of the overall race difference in age of menarche was attributable to race differences in observable factors and how much was due to race dependent responses. The African-American/white difference in childhood BMI explained about 18% of the overall difference in age of menarche and birthweight differences explained another 11%.

Bibliography Citation
Reagan, Patricia Benton, Pamela J. Salsberry, Muriel Z. Fang, William P. Gardner and Kathleen Pajer. "African-American/White Differences in the Age of Menarche: Accounting for the Difference." Social Science and Medicine 75,7 (October 2012): 1263-1270.
37. Reagan, Patricia Benton
Salsberry, Pamela J.
Olsen, Randall J.
Does the Measure of Economic Disadvantage Matter? Exploring the Effect of Individual and Relative Deprivation on Intrauterine Growth Restriction
Social Science and Medicine 64,10 (May 2007): 2016-2029.
Also: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953607000548
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
Publisher: Elsevier
Keyword(s): Birth Outcomes; Child Health; Geographical Variation; Health/Health Status/SF-12 Scale; Income Distribution; Life Course; Mothers, Health; Poverty; Pre/post Natal Behavior; Pregnancy and Pregnancy Outcomes

This paper examines the relation between health, individual income, and relative deprivation. Three alternative measures of relative deprivation are described, Yitzhaik relative deprivation, Deaton relative deprivation, and log income difference relative deprivation, with attention to problems in measuring permanent disadvantage when the underlying income distribution is changing over time. We used data from the National Longitudinal Surveys of Youth, a US-based longitudinal survey, to examine the associations between disadvantage, measured cross-sectionally and aggregated over the life course, and intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR). We reject the hypotheses that any of the economic measures, whether permanent/contemporaneous or individual/relative, have different associations with IUGR in terms of sign and significance. There was some evidence that permanent economic disadvantage was associated with greater risk of IUGR than those on the corresponding contemporaneous measures. The fitted values from logistic regressions on each measure of disadvantage were compared with the two-way plots of the observed IUGR-income pattern. Deaton relative deprivation and log income difference tracked the observed probability of IUGR as a function of income more closely than the other two measures of relative deprivation. Finally, we examined the determinants of each measure of disadvantage. Observed characteristics in childhood and adulthood explained more of the variance in log income difference and Deaton relative deprivation than in the other two measures of disadvantage. They also explained more of the variance in permanent disadvantage than in the contemporaneous counterpart.

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Bibliography Citation
Reagan, Patricia Benton, Pamela J. Salsberry and Randall J. Olsen. "Does the Measure of Economic Disadvantage Matter? Exploring the Effect of Individual and Relative Deprivation on Intrauterine Growth Restriction." Social Science and Medicine 64,10 (May 2007): 2016-2029.
38. Seeman, Melvin
Lewis, Susan Kay
Powerlessness, Health and Mortality: A Longitudinal Study of Older Men and Mature Women
Social Science and Medicine 41,4 (August 1995): 517-525.
Also: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/027795369400362W
Cohort(s): Mature Women, Older Men
Publisher: Elsevier
Keyword(s): Health Care; Health Factors; Health/Health Status/SF-12 Scale; Mortality; Psychological Effects

Data from the 1976/77 and 1981/82 National Longitudinal Surveys of older men (ages 45-59 when first surveyed in 1966) and 3,475 mature women (ages 30-44 in 1967) establish the association over time between the sense of powerlessness and various indices of health status (chiefly, psychosocial symptoms and limits on physical activities). Results are basically coordinate for men and women, and are replicated for initially healthy and initially impaired subsamples. Powerlessness is associated with greater activity limits and more psychosocial symptoms, and also provides prospective prediction, since high initial powerlessness scores are associated with health problems observed 5 and 10 years later, with initial health controlled. Increasing powerlessness accompanies deterioration in health (with stringent controls on prior health). For a subsample of men, mortality 1976-1981 is also associated with initially high powerlessness scores (with prior health controlled). Results are discussed for their import in relation to the steadily growing interest in social psychological factors in health. 4 Tables, 35 References. Adapted from the source document. (Copyright 1996, Sociological Abstracts, Inc., all rights reserved.)
Bibliography Citation
Seeman, Melvin and Susan Kay Lewis. "Powerlessness, Health and Mortality: A Longitudinal Study of Older Men and Mature Women." Social Science and Medicine 41,4 (August 1995): 517-525.
39. Sirois, Catherine
The Strain of Sons' Incarceration on Mothers' Health
Social Science and Medicine 264 (November 2020): 113264.
Also: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953620304834
Cohort(s): NLSY79, NLSY79 Young Adult
Publisher: Elsevier
Keyword(s): Incarceration/Jail; Intergenerational Patterns/Transmission; Modeling, Fixed Effects; Mothers, Health; Sons; Well-Being

Research on disadvantage across generations typically focuses on the resources that parents pass on to their children. Yet, social disadvantage might also result from the transmission of adverse experiences from children to their parents. This paper explores one such adverse experience by examining the influence of a son's incarceration on his mother's health. Using panel data from the 1979 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth and its young adult follow up (n=2,651 mothers; 18,390 observations), the paper shows that mothers are more likely to suffer health limitations after a son is incarcerated. A time-distributed fixed effects analysis indicates that the effect on maternal health may persist or even grow over time. Rather than a short-term shock whose effect soon diminishes, a son's incarceration is a long-term strain on mothers' health. The disproportionate incarceration of young men in disadvantaged communities is thus likely to contribute to cumulative adversity among mothers already at risk of severe hardship. More broadly, the results suggest how children's adverse experiences may influence parental well-being, producing further disadvantage across generations.
Bibliography Citation
Sirois, Catherine. "The Strain of Sons' Incarceration on Mothers' Health." Social Science and Medicine 264 (November 2020): 113264.
40. Spence, Naomi J.
Eberstein, Isaac W.
Age at First Birth, Parity, and Post-Reproductive Mortality among White and Black Women in the US, 1982-2002.
Social Science and Medicine 68,9 (March 2009): 1625-1632.
Also: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953609000987
Cohort(s): Mature Women
Publisher: Elsevier
Keyword(s): Age at First Birth; Fertility; First Birth; Mortality; Racial Differences

We investigate the relationship between the timing of first birth, parity, and women's risk of post-reproductive mortality over twenty-one years (1982-2002), among representative samples of black and white women in the United States. Data are taken from the National Longitudinal Survey of Mature Women. We find early childbearing to be associated with higher mortality among whites, while later childbearing is associated with higher mortality among blacks. The effect of age at first birth on white women's mortality is explained by background and mediating social, economic, and health related factors, but this effect remains robust for black women. In addition, childless white women have a higher risk of post-reproductive mortality than those with 2-3 children. High parity (6+ children) has a significant protective effect for blacks, though the effect is reduced with age. A similar protective effect of high parity becomes apparent among whites only after controlling for background and mediating characteristics. Findings are interpreted in light of the weathering hypothesis and from a life course framework that views women's fertility as adaptive to particular social and historical contexts.
Bibliography Citation
Spence, Naomi J. and Isaac W. Eberstein. "Age at First Birth, Parity, and Post-Reproductive Mortality among White and Black Women in the US, 1982-2002." Social Science and Medicine 68,9 (March 2009): 1625-1632.
41. Stritzel, Haley
Green, Michael J.
Crosnoe, Robert
A Cross-National Comparison of the Linkages between Family Structure Histories and Early Adolescent Substance Use
Social Science and Medicine published online (15 November 2022): 115540.
Also: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953622008462
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79
Publisher: Elsevier
Keyword(s): Adolescent Health; Cross-national Analysis; Family Structure; Millennium Cohort Study (UK); Substance Use

Family structure can influence adolescent health with cascading implications into adulthood. Life course theory emphasizes how this phenomenon is dynamic across time, contextualized in policy systems, and grounded in processes of selection and socialization. This study used data from the U.S. (National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 Child and Young Adults, n = 6236) and U.K. (Millennium Cohort Study, n = 11,095) to examine associations between a single mother family structure between ages 0-14 and early adolescent substance use at age 14 across time and place, using inverse probability of treatment weighting to explore how results varied by selection into family structure. In both countries, single parenthood, regardless of its timing during childhood, consistently predicted adolescent substance use when samples were re-weighted to resemble the overall population. However, when samples were re-weighted so that their background characteristics resembled those of actual single parent families, there was little evidence that single parenting posed risks, suggesting that single parenting might matter less for adolescents who are likely to experience it (and vice versa). In addition, more generous welfare policy in the U.K. than in the U.S. did not appear to have ameliorated the observed role of single parenting in adolescent substance use. Findings supported a model of disadvantage saturation, where single parenting has little additional impact over the myriad other disadvantages that single parent families tend to experience, rather than a model of cumulative disadvantage, where single parenting compounds or adds to other disadvantages. Policy and interventions might more valuably focus on these other disadvantages than on family structure.
Bibliography Citation
Stritzel, Haley, Michael J. Green and Robert Crosnoe. "A Cross-National Comparison of the Linkages between Family Structure Histories and Early Adolescent Substance Use." Social Science and Medicine published online (15 November 2022): 115540.
42. von Hippel, Paul
Lynch, Jamie L.
Why are Educated Adults Slim—Causation or Selection?
Social Science and Medicine 105 (March 2014): 131-139.
Also: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953614000264
Cohort(s): NLSY97
Publisher: Elsevier
Keyword(s): Body Mass Index (BMI); Educational Attainment; Modeling, Fixed Effects; Obesity; Socioeconomic Background; Weight

More educated adults tend to have lower body mass index (BMI) and a lower risk of overweight and obesity. We contrast two explanations for this education gradient in BMI. One explanation is selection: adolescents with high BMI are less likely to plan for, attend, and complete higher levels of education. An alternative explanation is causation: higher education confers lifelong social, economic, and psychological benefits that help adults to restrain BMI growth. We test the relative importance of selection and causation using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, 1997 cohort (NLSY97), which tracks BMI from adolescence (age 15) through young adulthood (age 29).

Ordinal regression models confirm the selection hypothesis that high-BMI adolescents are less likely to complete higher levels of education. Selection has primarily to do with the fact that high-BMI adolescents tend to come from socioeconomically disadvantaged families and tend to have low grades and test scores. Among high-BMI girls there is also some evidence that educational attainment is limited by bullying, pessimism, poor health, and early pregnancy. About half the selection of high-BMI girls out of higher education remains unexplained.

Fixed-effects models control for selection and suggest that the causal effect of education on BMI, though significant, accounts for only one-quarter of the mean BMI differences between more and less educated adults at age 29. Among young adults, it appears that most of the education gradient in BMI is due to selection.

Bibliography Citation
von Hippel, Paul and Jamie L. Lynch. "Why are Educated Adults Slim—Causation or Selection?" Social Science and Medicine 105 (March 2014): 131-139.
43. Waldron, Ingrid
Hughes, Mary Elizabeth
Brooks, Tracy L.
Marriage Protection and Marriage Selection--Prospective Evidence for Reciprocal Effects of Marital Status and Health
Social Science and Medicine 43,1 (July 1996): 113-123.
Also: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0277953695003479
Cohort(s): Young Women
Publisher: Elsevier
Keyword(s): Employment; Health Factors; Health/Health Status/SF-12 Scale; Marital Dissolution; Marital Status; Wives, Work

Married adults are generally healthier than unmarried adults. It has been hypothesized that marriage is associated with good health because marriage has beneficial effects on health (marriage protection effects) and/or because healthier individuals are more likely to marry and to stay married (marriage selection effects). To investigate these hypotheses, this study analyzes prospective panel data for a large national sample of women in the U.S. (the National Longitudinal Surveys of Young Women). The women were aged 24-34 yr at the beginning of two successive five-year follow-up intervals. Analyses of the prospective data indicate that there were significant marriage protection effects. but only among women who were not employed. Specifically. for women who were not employed. married women had better health trends than unmarried women in each follow-up interval. It appears that marriage had beneficial effects on health for women who did not have a job which could provide an alternative source of financial resources and social support. In addition, analyses of the prospective data provide limited evidence for marriage selection effects. Specifically, women who had better health initially were more likely to marry and less likely to experience marital dissolution. but only for women who were not employed full-time and only during the first follow-up interval. Thus the prospective evidence suggests that, for women who were not employed, both marriage protection and marriage selection effects contributed to the marital status differential in health observed in cross-sectional data. In contrast, neither marriage protection nor marriage selection effects were observed for women who were employed full-time. As would be expected, the cross-sectional data show that marital status differentials in health were large and highly significant for women who were not employed, whereas marital status differentials in health were much smaller and often not significant for employed women. Women who were neither married nor employed had particularly poor health. Additional evidence indicates that the women who were neither married nor employed suffered from multiple interacting disadvantages, including poor health, low incomes, and sociodemographic characteristics which contributed to difficulty in obtaining employment. Copyright @ 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd.
Bibliography Citation
Waldron, Ingrid, Mary Elizabeth Hughes and Tracy L. Brooks. "Marriage Protection and Marriage Selection--Prospective Evidence for Reciprocal Effects of Marital Status and Health." Social Science and Medicine 43,1 (July 1996): 113-123.
44. Waldron, Ingrid
Weiss, Christopher C.
Hughes, Mary Elizabeth
Marital Status Effects on Health - Are There Differences Between Never Married Women and Divorced and Separated Women?
Social Science and Medicine 45,9 (November 1997): 1387-1397.
Also: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953697000658
Cohort(s): Young Women
Publisher: Elsevier
Keyword(s): Divorce; Health Factors; Health/Health Status/SF-12 Scale; Marital Stability; Marital Status

To test whether the effects of marital status on health differ between never married women and divorced and separated women, this study utilizes prospective panel data for a large national sample of non-institutionalized young women in the U. S. (the National Longitudinal Surveys of Young Women). The women were aged 24-34 at the beginning of two successive five-year follow-up intervals (1978-1983 and 1983-1988). The health effects of marital status were evaluated in regressions which assessed the relationships between initial marital status and subsequent health trends in each follow-up interval. In the first follow-up interval, never married women tended to have worse health trends than divorced and separated women for physical impairments and for overall health problems. However, there were no differences between never married women and divorced and separated women in health trends for psychosomatic symptoms in either follow-up interval or for any health measure in the sec ond follow-up interval. Our analyses of cross-sectional data showed few significant differences in health between never married women and divorced and separated women. Taken together, the evidence from our study and previous studies suggests that differences between never married women and divorced and separated women may vary by age and/or cohort. Evidence for the 1970s and 1980s suggests that, among older women, divorced and separated women may have experienced more harmful health effects than never married women; however, among younger women, this difference may have been absent or possibly reversed.
Bibliography Citation
Waldron, Ingrid, Christopher C. Weiss and Mary Elizabeth Hughes. "Marital Status Effects on Health - Are There Differences Between Never Married Women and Divorced and Separated Women?" Social Science and Medicine 45,9 (November 1997): 1387-1397.
45. Walsemann, Katrina Michelle
Gee, Gilbert C.
Gentile, Danielle
Sick of Our Loans: Student Borrowing and the Mental Health of Young Adults in the United States
Social Science and Medicine 124 (January 2015): 85-93.
Also: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953614007503
Cohort(s): NLSY97
Publisher: Elsevier
Keyword(s): College Enrollment; Debt/Borrowing; Educational Attainment; Financial Assistance; Health, Mental/Psychological; Human Capital; Modeling, Fixed Effects; Student Loans / Student Aid

Student loans are increasingly important and commonplace, especially among recent cohorts of young adults in the United States. These loans facilitate the acquisition of human capital in the form of education, but may also lead to stress and worries related to repayment. This study investigated two questions: 1) what is the association between the cumulative amount of student loans borrowed over the course of schooling and psychological functioning when individuals are 25-31 years old; and 2) what is the association between annual student loan borrowing and psychological functioning among currently enrolled college students? We also examined whether these relationships varied by parental wealth, college enrollment history (e.g. 2-year versus 4-year college), and educational attainment (for cumulative student loans only). We analyzed data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 (NLSY97), a nationally representative sample of young adults in the United States. Analyses employed multivariate linear regression and within-person fixed-effects models. Student loans were associated with poorer psychological functioning, adjusting for covariates, in both the multivariate linear regression and the within-person fixed effects models. This association varied by level of parental wealth in the multivariate linear regression models only, and did not vary by college enrollment history or educational attainment. The present findings raise novel questions for further research regarding student loan debt and the possible spillover effects on other life circumstances, such as occupational trajectories and health inequities. The study of student loans is even more timely and significant given the ongoing rise in the costs of higher education.
Bibliography Citation
Walsemann, Katrina Michelle, Gilbert C. Gee and Danielle Gentile. "Sick of Our Loans: Student Borrowing and the Mental Health of Young Adults in the United States." Social Science and Medicine 124 (January 2015): 85-93.
46. Weden, Margaret M.
Astone, Nan Marie
Bishai, David M.
Racial, Ethnic, and Gender Differences in Smoking Cessation Associated with Employment and Joblessness Through Young Adulthood in the US
Social Science and Medicine 62,2 (January 2006): 303-316.
Also: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953605002911
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Elsevier
Keyword(s): Cigarette Use (see Smoking); Ethnic Differences; Gender Differences; Labor Force Participation; Labor Supply; Modeling, Hazard/Event History/Survival/Duration; Racial Differences; Smoking (see Cigarette Use); Women

The dynamics of labor force participation and joblessness during young adulthood influence access to social and material resources and shape exposure to different sources of psychosocial strain. Differences in these dynamics by race, ethnicity, and gender are related to changes in a behavioral determinant of poor health (tobacco use) for young adults aging into midlife. Using discrete-time hazards models, we estimate the relationship between labor force participation in the past year and smoking cessation for US adults (ages 14?21 years in 1979) followed in a population-representative sample until 1998 (i.e. the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth). We assess the unique role of racial, ethnic and gender differences in exposure, vulnerability, and reactivity to employment and joblessness by controlling for social and economic resources obtained through working and by controlling for early life factors that select individuals into certain labor force and smoking trajectories. There are three main findings: (1) joblessness is more strongly associated with persistent daily smoking among women than among men; (2) fewer social and economic resources for women out of the labor force compared to employed women explains their lower cessation rates; and (3) lower cessation among unemployed women compared to employed women can only partially be explained by these resources. These findings illustrate how differential access to work-related social and economic resources is an important mediator of poor health trajectories. Contextual factors such as social norms and psychosocial strains at work and at home may play a unique role among European American men and women in explaining gender differences in smoking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR; Copyright 2006 Elsevier]
Bibliography Citation
Weden, Margaret M., Nan Marie Astone and David M. Bishai. "Racial, Ethnic, and Gender Differences in Smoking Cessation Associated with Employment and Joblessness Through Young Adulthood in the US." Social Science and Medicine 62,2 (January 2006): 303-316.
47. Wolfe, Joseph D.
Thomeer, Mieke
Reczek, Rin
Age at First Birth and Women's Midlife Health: Cohort and Race Differences Across the 20th Century
Social Science & Medicine Volume 331 (August 2023).
Also: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2023.116097
Cohort(s): Mature Women, NLSY79
Publisher: Elsevier
Keyword(s): Childbearing; Childbearing, Adolescent; Education; Education, Adult; Life Course; Midlife Health; Mothers; Mothers, Health; Racial Differences; Racial Studies; Socioeconomic Background; Socioeconomic Status (SES); Women; Womens Health

We test whether the negative association between socially “early” childbearing and poor health in later adulthood, well-established in prior research, differs across distinct historical contexts in the U.S. We further examine whether socioeconomic status explains this shift in the impact of childbearing timing and poor health and whether there are additional differences across racial groups. To address these questions, we pooled data from two nationally representative longitudinal surveys: the National Longitudinal Surveys’ Mature Women (born 1922–1937) and Youth 1979 (born 1957–1964). Together, these NLS cohorts include women who entered adolescence before and after the major economic, political, and demographic changes in the latter half of the twentieth century that gave women access to socioeconomic structures previously limited to White men. These data thus provide a unique opportunity to test cohort and racial differences. Overall, findings suggest that the negative association of young childbearing, which included adolescent childbearing and childbearing in early 20s, with midlife health grew across the two cohorts, with this largely explained by differences in adult educational attainment. This cohort shift appeared especially large for White women compared to Black women. This study highlights the importance of sociopolitical context in shaping the health consequences of major life events like childbearing.
Bibliography Citation
Wolfe, Joseph D., Mieke Thomeer and Rin Reczek. "Age at First Birth and Women's Midlife Health: Cohort and Race Differences Across the 20th Century." Social Science & Medicine Volume 331 (August 2023).
48. Yang, Tse-Chuan
Chen, I-Chien
Choi, Seung-won
Kurtulus, Aysenur
Linking Perceived Discrimination during Adolescence to Health during Mid-adulthood: Self-esteem and Risk-Behavior Mechanisms
Social Science and Medicine 232 (July 2019): 434-443.
Also: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953618303125
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Elsevier
Keyword(s): Discrimination; Health, Mental/Psychological; Health/Health Status/SF-12 Scale; Modeling, Structural Equation; Risk-Taking

Rationale: The literature on the effect of perceived discrimination on health has three gaps. First, the long-term relationship between perceived discrimination and health is underexplored. Second, the mechanisms through which perceived discrimination affects health remain unclear. Third, most studies focus on racial/ethnic discrimination, and other aspects of discrimination are overlooked.

Objective: This study aims to fill these gaps by testing a research framework that links the discriminatory experience during adolescence to an individual's health during mid-adulthood via self-esteem and risk behaviors at early adulthood.

Method: Structural equation modeling is applied to the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, 1979 Cohort (N = 6478).

Results: The discriminatory experience during adolescence imposes an adverse impact on health during mid-adulthood even after accounting for other potential covariates, a detrimental effect lasting for over 30 years. In addition, while perceived discrimination reduces self-esteem at early adulthood, it affects only mental health during mid-adulthood, rather than general health. Finally, the discriminatory experience promotes risk behaviors at early adulthood and the risk behaviors subsequently compromise health during mid-adulthood.

Bibliography Citation
Yang, Tse-Chuan, I-Chien Chen, Seung-won Choi and Aysenur Kurtulus. "Linking Perceived Discrimination during Adolescence to Health during Mid-adulthood: Self-esteem and Risk-Behavior Mechanisms." Social Science and Medicine 232 (July 2019): 434-443.
49. Yang, Tse-Chuan
South, Scott J.
Neighborhood Effects on Body Mass: Temporal and Spatial Dimensions
Social Science and Medicine 217 (November 2018): 45-54.
Also: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953618305513
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Elsevier
Keyword(s): American Community Survey; Body Mass Index (BMI); Census of Population; Geocoded Data; Modeling, Fixed Effects; Neighborhood Effects; Obesity

Research examining the effects of neighborhood characteristics on obesity and excess body weight has generally neglected the influence of both life-course exposure and geographically-proximate communities. Using data on 9357 respondents to the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, 1979 Cohort, in conjunction with tract-level data from the 1980-2010 U.S. censuses, this study examines how black, Hispanic, and white individuals' cumulative exposure to varying levels of neighborhood poverty and co-ethnic density from their mid-teens through mid-adulthood, as well as the levels of poverty and co-ethnic density in nearby, or "extralocal," neighborhoods, are associated with their body mass index (BMI). Fixed-effect regression models show that, among Hispanics and whites, cumulative exposure to co-ethnic neighbors is a stronger positive predictor of BMI than the co-ethnic density of the immediate, point-in-time neighborhood. Among whites, cumulative exposure to neighborhood poverty is a stronger positive predictor of BMI than is the poverty rate of the current neighborhood of residence. And among both blacks and whites, the distance-weighted poverty rate of extralocal neighborhoods is significantly and inversely related to BMI, suggesting that relative affluence in nearby neighborhoods engenders relative deprivation among residents of the focal neighborhood, leading to increased BMI. Overall, the results suggest that greater attention to both the temporal and spatial dimensions of neighborhood effects has the potential to enhance our understanding of how neighborhoods affect obesity and related health outcomes.
Bibliography Citation
Yang, Tse-Chuan and Scott J. South. "Neighborhood Effects on Body Mass: Temporal and Spatial Dimensions." Social Science and Medicine 217 (November 2018): 45-54.
50. Yörük, Ceren Ertan
Yörük, Baris K.
The Impact of Drinking on Psychological Well-Being: Evidence from Minimum Drinking Age Laws in the United States
Social Science and Medicine 75,10 (November 2012): 1844-1854.
Also: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953612005618
Cohort(s): NLSY97
Publisher: Elsevier
Keyword(s): Alcohol Use; Psychological Effects; Well-Being

In this paper, we investigate the relationship between alcohol consumption and psychological well-being among young adults in the United States. We do so by exploiting the discontinuity in alcohol consumption at age 21 and using a regression discontinuity design. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (1997 Cohort), we document that young adults tend to increase their alcohol consumption and drink on average 1.5 days per month more once they are granted legal access to alcohol at age 21. However, we also show that in general, this discrete jump in alcohol consumption at age 21 has no statistically significant impact on several indicators of psychological well-being among young adults. This result suggests that although stricter alcohol control targeted toward young adults may result in meaningful reductions in alcohol consumption, the immediate spillover effects of such policies on psychological well-being are relatively limited.
Bibliography Citation
Yörük, Ceren Ertan and Baris K. Yörük. "The Impact of Drinking on Psychological Well-Being: Evidence from Minimum Drinking Age Laws in the United States." Social Science and Medicine 75,10 (November 2012): 1844-1854.
51. Zimmerman, Frederick J.
Christakis, Dimitri A.
Vander Stoep, Ann
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Patient: Work Attributes and Depression Disparities Among Young Adults
Social Science and Medicine 58,10 (May 2004): 1889-1901.
Also: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953603004106
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Elsevier
Keyword(s): Benefits, Insurance; CESD (Depression Scale); Depression (see also CESD); Ethnic Differences; Job Characteristics; Job Status; Racial Differences; Socioeconomic Status (SES)

Prior studies have consistently found the occurrence of depression to be higher among persons with lower socio-economic status (SES), but causal mechanisms for this relationship are often not well understood. For example, while depression has been shown to increase during spells of unemployment, little work has been done on job attributes that may be related to depression among employed people early in their careers. This study links the 1992 wave of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 cohort, which included Depression symptom scores on the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression (CES-D) instrument, to the US Department of Labor's new occupational characteristics O*Net dataset. The resulting dataset includes information regarding depression, SES, and specific attributes of jobs held by the young adult respondents. Job attributes included measures of social status, interpersonal stressors, and physical conditions. Multivariate analysis revealed that for young men, higher job status is associated with lower CES-D scores. Higher scores on the opposition scale, which measures the extent to which employees are obliged to take a position opposed to others, is associated with higher CES-D scores. For young women, physically uncomfortable or dangerous jobs are associated with more depressive symptoms. Results are stratified by race/ethnicity. For Black men, unlike for White men or Latinos, job security is associated with fewer depressive symptoms; and for Latino men, but not for Black or White men, physically uncomfortable or dangerous jobs are associated with more depressive symptoms. For Black women, job status is associated with fewer depressive symptoms. We conclude that part of the SES-depression relationship may arise from the psychosocial aspects of jobs, which we have found to be significantly and meaningfully associated with depressive symptoms among employed young adults. [Copyright 2004 Elsevier]
Bibliography Citation
Zimmerman, Frederick J., Dimitri A. Christakis and Ann Vander Stoep. "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Patient: Work Attributes and Depression Disparities Among Young Adults." Social Science and Medicine 58,10 (May 2004): 1889-1901.
52. Ziol-Guest, Kathleen M.
Dunifon, Rachel
Kalil, Ariel
Parental Employment and Children's Body Weight: Mothers, Others, and Mechanisms
Social Science and Medicine 95 (October 2013): 52-59.
Also: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953612006673
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
Publisher: Elsevier
Keyword(s): Body Mass Index (BMI); Employment; Maternal Employment; Obesity; Parental Influences; Television Viewing; Weight; Work Hours/Schedule

A robust body of literature spanning several countries indicates a positive association between maternal employment and child body mass index (BMI). Fewer studies have examined the role of paternal employment. More importantly, little empirical work examines the mechanisms that might explain the relationships between parental employment and children's BMI. Our paper tests the relationship between the cumulative experience of maternal and spouse employment over a child's lifetime and that child's BMI, overweight, and obesity at age 13 or 14. We further examine several mechanisms that may explain these associations. We use data from the U.S. National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY79) merged mother–child file on cohorts of children who were born during a period of dramatic increase in both childhood obesity and maternal employment. We find that the number of hours that highly-educated mothers work over her child's lifetime is positively and statistically significantly associated with her child's BMI and risk of overweight at ages 13 or 14. The work hours of mothers' spouses and partners, on the other hand, are not significantly associated with these outcomes. Results suggest that, for children of highly-educated mothers, the association between maternal work hours and child BMI is partially mediated by television viewing time.
Bibliography Citation
Ziol-Guest, Kathleen M., Rachel Dunifon and Ariel Kalil. "Parental Employment and Children's Body Weight: Mothers, Others, and Mechanisms." Social Science and Medicine 95 (October 2013): 52-59.