scholarly journals Higher Ed as a Leveler: How Early Life and Higher Education Shape Resilience and Health in Adulthood

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 395-396
Author(s):  
Tyler Bruefach ◽  
Dawn Carr
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Psychological Health ◽  
Early Life ◽  
Successful Aging ◽  
Early Adulthood ◽  
College Education ◽  
Psychological Resilience ◽  
Early Life Factors ◽  
The Life Course

Abstract Growing evidence shows that individuals who have high levels of psychological resilience maintain higher levels of physical and psychological health in later life. Individuals cultivate psychological resilience over the life course, yet little research has explored its mechanistic effects on health during midlife. One source of resilience may be formal education, which is a well-established determinant of health in adulthood. Resilience might be one reason for this robust association, as education helps individuals develop greater psychological resources in adulthood. On the other hand, having a college degree also increases access to other health-promoting resources that can be leveraged over the life course, such as better-paying and higher-quality jobs. Using data drawn from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health), the current paper examines: 1) how early-life factors shape psychological resilience in early adulthood (24-32 years); and 2) the effects of early adulthood resilience on the association between education and health in mid-life (36-44 years). Results show that psychological resilience and college education have significant direct effects on health in midlife, net of health in early adulthood. However, first-generation college graduates cultivate more psychological resilience from their educational attainment than do those with college-educated parents. That is, higher education serves as a leveler for health gaps in midlife for those with fewer resources available in early life by bolstering resilience. These results provide important insights about how early life factors play an important role in shaping successful aging processes.

scholarly journals Socioeconomic Status and Biological Risks for Health and Illness Across the Life Course

2018 ◽  
Vol 75 (3) ◽  
pp. 613-624 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yang Claire Yang ◽  
Kristen Schorpp ◽  
Courtney Boen ◽  
Moira Johnson ◽  
Kathleen Mullan Harris
Keyword(s):  
Socioeconomic Status ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Metabolic Disorder ◽  
Early Life ◽  
Linear Models ◽  
Course Design ◽  
Early Adulthood ◽  
Protective Effects ◽  
Temporal Properties ◽  
The Life Course

Abstract Objectives We assess the temporal properties and biosocial mechanisms underlying the associations between early-life socioeconomic status (SES) and later health. Using a life-course design spanning adolescence to older adulthood, we assess how early life and various dimensions of adult SES are associated with immune and metabolic function in different life stages and examine possible bio-behavioral and psychosocial mechanisms underlying these associations. Method Data for this study come from 3 national studies that collectively cover multiple stages of the life course (Add Health, MIDUS, and HRS). We estimated generalized linear models to examine the prospective associations between early-life SES, adult SES, and biomarkers of chronic inflammation and metabolic disorder assessed at follow-up. We further conducted formal tests of mediation to assess the role of adult SES in linking early SES to biological functions. Results We found that early-life SES exerted consistent protective effects for metabolic disorder across the life span, but waned with time for CRP. The protective effect of respondent education remained persistent for CRP but declined with age for metabolic disorder. Adult income and assets primarily protected respondents against physiological dysregulation in middle and old ages, but not in early adulthood. Discussion These findings are the first to elucidate the life-course patterns of SES that matter for underlying physiological functioning during the aging process to produce social gradients in health.

scholarly journals Body size throughout the life-course and incident benign prostatic hyperplasia-related outcomes and nocturia

BMC Urology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Saira Khan ◽  
K. Y. Wolin ◽  
R. Pakpahan ◽  
R. L. Grubb ◽  
G. A. Colditz ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Early Life ◽  
Prostate Volume ◽  
Late Life ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Normal Weight ◽  
Prostatic Hyperplasia ◽  
The Life Course

Abstract Background Existing evidence suggests that there is an association between body size and prevalent Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH)-related outcomes and nocturia. However, there is limited evidence on the association between body size throughout the life-course and incident BPH-related outcomes. Methods Our study population consisted of men without histories of prostate cancer, BPH-related outcomes, or nocturia in the intervention arm of the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial (PLCO) (n = 4710). Associations for body size in early- (age 20), mid- (age 50) and late-life (age ≥ 55, mean age 60.7 years) and weight change with incident BPH-related outcomes (including self-reported nocturia and physician diagnosis of BPH, digital rectal examination-estimated prostate volume ≥ 30 cc, and prostate-specific antigen [PSA] concentration > 1.4 ng/mL) were examined using Poisson regression with robust variance estimation. Results Men who were obese in late-life were 25% more likely to report nocturia (Relative Risk (RR): 1.25, 95% Confidence Interval (CI): 1.11–1.40; p-trendfor continuous BMI < 0.0001) and men who were either overweight or obese in late-life were more likely to report a prostate volume ≥ 30 cc (RRoverweight: 1.13, 95% CI 1.07–1.21; RRobese: 1.10, 95% CI 1.02–1.19; p-trendfor continuous BMI = 0.017) as compared to normal weight men. Obesity at ages 20 and 50 was similarly associated with both nocturia and prostate volume ≥ 30 cc. Considering trajectories of body size, men who were normal weight at age 20 and became overweight or obese by later-life had increased risks of nocturia (RRnormal to overweight: 1.09, 95% CI 0.98–1.22; RRnormal to obese: 1.28, 95% CI 1.10–1.47) and a prostate volume ≥ 30 cc (RRnormal to overweight: 1.12, 95% CI 1.05–1.20). Too few men were obese early in life to examine the independent effect of early-life body size. Later-life body size modified the association between physical activity and nocturia. Conclusions We found that later-life body size, independent of early-life body size, was associated with adverse BPH outcomes, suggesting that interventions to reduce body size even late in life can potentially reduce the burden of BPH-related outcomes and nocturia.

scholarly journals Early-life circumstances and the risk of function-limiting long-term conditions in later life

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 157-180
Author(s):  
Matthew H. Iveson ◽  
Chris Dibben ◽  
Ian J. Deary
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Cognitive Ability ◽  
Early Life ◽  
Economic Status ◽  
Functional Limitation ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Socio Economic Status ◽  
Childhood Cognitive Ability ◽  
The Life Course

Older adults are particularly prone to function-limiting health issues that adversely affect their well-being. Previous work has identified factors from across the life course –childhood socio-economic status, childhood cognitive ability and education – that predict later-life functional outcomes. However, the independence of these contributions is unclear as later-in-the-life-course predictors are themselves affected by earlier ones. The present study capitalised on the recent linkage of the Scottish Mental Survey 1947 with the Scottish Longitudinal Study, using path analyses to examine the direct and indirect associations between life-course predictors and the risk of functional limitation at ages 55 (N = 2,374), 65 (N = 1,971) and 75 (N = 1,534). The odds of reporting a function-limiting long-term condition increased across later life. At age 55, reporting a functional limitation was significantly less likely in those with higher childhood socio-economic status, higher childhood cognitive ability and higher educational attainment; these associations were only partly mediated by other predictors. At age 65, adult socio-economic status emerged as a mediator of several associations, although direct associations with childhood socio-economic status and childhood cognitive ability were still observed. At age 75, only childhood socio-economic status and adult socio-economic status directly predicted the risk of a functional limitation, particularly those associated with disease or illness. A consistent pattern and direction of associations was observed with self-rated health more generally. These results demonstrate that early-life and adult circumstances are associated with functional limitations later in life, but that these associations are partly a product of complex mediation between life-course factors.

Youth Violence in Germany

2018 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
pp. 325-344 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anke Erdmann ◽  
Jost Reinecke
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Youth Violence ◽  
Mutual Influence ◽  
Early Adulthood ◽  
Theory Development ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Latent Growth ◽  
German Research Foundation ◽  
Parallel Processes ◽  
The Life Course

The victim–offender overlap is currently under discussion in criminology. However, the connection between victimization and offending over the life course still requires further investigation. The present study examines whether the victim–offender overlap is invariant during the transition from adolescence to early adulthood using seven consecutive waves of the German Research Foundation–funded self-report study “Crime in the Modern City,” which contain information about German students from the age of 14 to 20 years. The results indicate that the nature as well as the strength of the overlap changes over the period from adolescence to early adulthood. The introduced measurement of the relative victim–offender overlap indicates that with growing up, fewer victims are also offenders whereas the amount of offenders that are also victims remains stable. Longitudinal analyses based on latent growth and cross-lagged panel models further point out that the developments of victimization and offending are highly parallel processes that evince similar stability and mutual influence over the phase of youth and adolescence. However, the association between both weakens over age. In conclusion, our results suggest variance in the victim–offender overlap over the life course. This justifies the demand for further research and theory development on this criminological phenomenon.

scholarly journals CONTINUITY OF CAREER OVER THE LIFE COURSE ON LIFE SATISFACTION AND DEPRESSIVE SYMPTOMS IN LATER LIFE

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S128-S129
Author(s):  
Melanie S Hill ◽  
James E Hill ◽  
Stephanie Richardson ◽  
Jessica Brown ◽  
Jeremy B Yorgason ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
Life Satisfaction ◽  
Depressive Symptoms ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Career Choice ◽  
Early Adulthood ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The Life Course ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Identity scholars have suggested that having a unified sense of past, present, and future is related to positive well-being outcomes (Whitbourne, Sneed & Skultety, 2009). One’s occupation can have a profound influence on an individual’s identity throughout the life course (Nazar & van der Heijden, 2012). Research has looked at career mobility among younger age groups (Baiyun, Ramkissoon, Greenwood, & Hoyte, 2018); however, less is known about the impact of career stability later in life. Consistency in career choice over the life course may have positive outcomes down the line as career becomes part of an individual's identity. The current study uses the Life and Family Legacies dataset, a longitudinal state-representative sample of 3,348, to examine individual’s careers at three points in the life course: high school (projected career choice), early adulthood, and later life. Results revealed that a match of desired career in high school and actual career in early adulthood was not predictive of life satisfaction or depressive symptoms in later life. However, a match of career in early adulthood and later life was significantly related to better life satisfaction and less depressive symptoms, which was explained through higher levels of job satisfaction. This study highlights the importance of acquiring and maintaining a career that is fulfilling to the individual over the course of early adulthood to later life.

Does the Nature of the Victimization–Offending Association Fluctuate Over the Life Course? An Examination of Adolescence and Early Adulthood

2015 ◽  
Vol 63 (7) ◽  
pp. 786-813 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher J. Schreck ◽  
Mark T. Berg ◽  
Graham C. Ousey ◽  
Eric A. Stewart ◽  
J. Mitchell Miller
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Early Adolescence ◽  
Early Adulthood ◽  
Theoretical Development ◽  
Individual Change ◽  
The Core ◽  
Criminological Research ◽  
Strongly Connected ◽  
The Life Course ◽  
Pathways To Desistance

Decades of criminological research has established that victimization is strongly connected with offending—this pattern is among the most durable in the criminological literature. However, there are plausible reasons to believe that under some theoretically defined conditions, the association can vary across the life course. Using 10 waves from the Pathways to Desistance data, which follow more than 1,300 youth from early adolescence into adulthood, we model within-individual change in the victimization–offending association as well as evaluate possible theoretical reasons for this change. Our results show that the influence of victimization on offending weakens as people age, although the association remains positive across the life course. The core substantive predictors, however, could not account for this temporal weakening of the association. We discuss the implications of these results for further theoretical development on offending.

What role for the ‘long arm of childhood’ in social gradients in health? An international comparison of high-income contexts

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven A. Haas ◽  
Zhangjun Zhou ◽  
Katsuya Oi
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Early Life ◽  
Economic Status ◽  
Functional Limitation ◽  
Later Life ◽  
High Income ◽  
Childhood Health ◽  
Relative Contribution ◽  
Early Life Factors

Social gradients in health have been a focus of research for decades. Two important lines of social gradient research have examined (1) international variation in their magnitude and (2) their life course / developmental antecedents. The present study brings these two strands together to explore the developmental origins of educational gradients in health. We leverage data spanning 14 high-income contexts from the Health and Retirement Study and its sisters in Europe. We find that early-life health and socio-economic status consistently attenuate educational gradients in multimorbidity and functional limitation. However, the relative contribution of early-life factors to gradients varies substantially across contexts. The results suggest that research on social gradients, and population health broadly, would benefit from the unique insights available from a conceptual and empirical approach that integrates comparative and life course perspectives.<br /><br />Key messages<br /><ul><li>The magnitude of educational gradients in later life health depend, in part, on childhood health and socioeconomic circumstances.</li><br /><li>The role of early life factors in educational gradients in health varies substantially across high income contexts.</li></ul>

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