Intergenerational Mobility and Changes in Drug Use Across the Life Course

2017 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 205-225 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher R. Dennison
Keyword(s):  
Drug Use ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Social Mobility ◽  
Intergenerational Mobility ◽  
Economic Recession ◽  
The United States ◽  
Adult Health ◽  
Downward Mobility ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Life Course

The consequences of “falling from grace”—or experiencing downward intergenerational mobility—are indeed becoming an abrupt reality for many entering the labor force. Scholars of social mobility speculate that such life course trajectories can result in antisocial behavior, but few have examined whether these trajectories lead to drug use. Thus, with the United States in the midst of a drug epidemic, as well as recovering from an economic recession, the study of social mobility may contribute to a better understanding of what causes individuals to turn to drugs. Using data from The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health) and a series of logistic diagonal reference models, this study examines the association between intergenerational social mobility and drug use. Overall, I find evidence that downward mobility is associated with increases in drug use, with the relationship strongest among those experiencing the greatest loss in status.

Social Characteristics as Predictors of ADHD Labeling across the Life Course

2020 ◽  
pp. 215686932091653
Author(s):  
Melissa Thompson ◽  
Lindsey Wilkinson ◽  
Hyeyoung Woo
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Social Characteristics ◽  
Adult Health ◽  
Adhd Symptoms ◽  
Hyperactivity Disorder ◽  
National Longitudinal Study ◽  
The Social ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Life Course ◽  
First Time

Although originally considered to be a disorder of childhood, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is increasingly being diagnosed for the first time in adulthood. Yet we know little about the social characteristics (race, gender, and social class) of those first labeled in adulthood, how these differ from those first labeled in childhood/adolescence, and whether the ADHD label is applied proportionately across social groups given ADHD symptomology. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health, the current research considers how typifications of ADHD affect application of the ADHD label in childhood/adolescence and in adulthood. Results indicate that even after controlling for ADHD symptoms, social characteristics are important predictors of the ADHD label in childhood/adolescence but are less influential in predicting ADHD labeling in adulthood. Additionally, results indicate the importance of race in moderating the association between childhood ADHD symptoms and application of the ADHD label throughout the life course.

Making Sense of Heterogeneity in the Influence of Childhood Abuse, Mental Health, and Drug Use on Women’s Offending Pathways

2018 ◽  
Vol 45 (10) ◽  
pp. 1565-1587 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa Broidy ◽  
Jason Payne ◽  
Alex R. Piquero
Keyword(s):  
Drug Use ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Childhood Abuse ◽  
Internalizing Symptoms ◽  
Age Of Onset ◽  
Making Sense ◽  
Pathways Model ◽  
Female Offending ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Life Course

Building from the developmental and life course literature and the feminist pathways literature, we aim to detail when and how exposure to abuse in childhood shapes female offending trajectories. Using data from 470 female offenders in Australia, our analyses assess whether internalizing symptoms and drug use help explain the link between early abuse and later offending among females. We then examine whether these links are most acute for females who onset early and evidence chronic involvement in offending. In support of the feminist pathways model, we find evidence for a pathway from early abuse to internalizing symptoms to drug use and then offending. In addition, and in line with the life course literature, we also find important differences in how these risks unfold across women, depending particularly on age of onset and offending chronicity. We reflect on the implications of our findings for theory and intervention with respect to female offending.

scholarly journals Life Course Pathways From Childhood SES to Age-Related Declines in Kidney Function Across Adulthood

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 832-832
Author(s):  
Agus Surachman ◽  
Alexis Santos ◽  
Jonathan Daw ◽  
Lacy Alexander ◽  
Christopher Coe ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Kidney Function ◽  
Parental Education ◽  
Strong Predictor ◽  
Early Adulthood ◽  
The United States ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Life Course ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Age is a strong predictor of declines in kidney function across adulthood. Using data from 2,045 adults (ages 25-84) in the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) study, we examined the life course pathways through which low parental education, through adult SES and body mass index (BMI), was associated with faster age-related declines in kidney function. Kidney function declines by 0.8 mL/min/1.73 m2 per year across adulthood. Lower parental education, through adult SES and BMI, was associated with higher kidney function among younger adults (Est = -1.61, SE = 0.62, 95%CI = -2.62, -0.60), but lower kidney function among older adults (Est = 0.93, SE = 0.51, 95%CI = 0.11, 1.79). The impact of early socioeconomic adversity on kidney function is initiated by kidney hyperfiltration in early adulthood and followed by faster declines and development into disease state in later adulthood.

Racial and Ethnic Differences in the Relationship Between Educational Mobility and Crime

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-90
Author(s):  
Christopher R. Dennison
Keyword(s):  
Race And Ethnicity ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The United States ◽  
Adult Health ◽  
Educational Mobility ◽  
Downward Mobility ◽  
Racial And Ethnic Differences ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Objective Meaning ◽  
The Relationship

Increases in postsecondary enrollment among minorities, decreases among Whites, and the growing concern of downward intergenerational mobility in the United States suggest potentially meaningful variation in the role of education on well-being across the life course. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health, the present study examines the relationship between intergenerational educational mobility (i.e., a comparison of one’s educational achievements to those of one’s parents’) and crime, as well as the degree to which this association is moderated by race and ethnicity. Results suggest that upward mobility particularly when one completes a 4-year degree is associated with decreases in crime. Downward mobility, however, is associated with increases in crime only among Whites. Moreover, and consistent with theories of social mobility, strain, and social control, these associations are partially mediated by familial and socioeconomic attainments as well as social–psychological measures. Findings are discussed as they relate to the subjective and objective meaning of education across generations for Whites, Blacks, and Hispanics.

Folklore and Folklife of American Age Groups and Aging

2018 ◽  
pp. 844-866
Author(s):  
Mary L. Sellers
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Group Identity ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
The United States ◽  
Childhood And Adolescence ◽  
Folk Traditions ◽  
Values And Beliefs ◽  
Infancy And Early Childhood ◽  
The Life Course ◽  
Pregnancy And Birth

Folklore occurs at every stage of a person’s life, and this chapter covers the way folklore and folklife across, and of, the life course has been studied. Six divisions in the life course that mark traditions of age groups as well as perceived stages in the United States are pregnancy and birth, infancy and early childhood, childhood and adolescence, adulthood, seniority, and death. Although much of the scholarship of age groups has been on the beginning and end of life, I demonstrate the conditions of aging in adolescence through the senior years that generate folklore and should be studied in relation to formation of age-group identity. This chapter emphasizes the use of folklore as an adaptation to aging. It examines the connection of folk traditions to the role that anxiety plays in the aging process, the formation of self and group identity, and the rites of passage that mark transitions from one stage to another. It shows that the presence of invented and emerging traditions indicates changing values and beliefs across the life course and encourages research in age-based research as a basic component of folklore and folklife studies.

scholarly journals A Confluence of Policy Inequality: Health Disparities in Old Age Among American Indian and Alaska Native Populations

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 37-37
Author(s):  
Sadie Giles
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Health Disparities ◽  
Life Course ◽  
American Indian ◽  
Old Age ◽  
Alaska Native ◽  
Political History ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Political ◽  
The Life Course

Abstract Racial health disparities in old age are well established, and new conceptualizations and methodologies continue to advance our understanding of health inequality across the life course. One group that is overlooked in many of these analyses, however, is the aging American Indian/Native Alaskan (AI/NA) population. While scholars have attended to the unique health inequities faced by the AI/NA population as a whole due to its discordant political history with the US government, little attention has been paid to unique patterns of disparity that might exist in old age. I propose to draw critical gerontology into the conversation in order to establish a framework through which we can uncover barriers to health, both from the political context of the AI/NA people as well as the political history of old age policy in the United States. Health disparities in old age are often described through a cumulative (dis)advantage framework that offers the benefit of appreciating that different groups enter old age with different resources and health statuses as a result of cumulative inequalities across the life course. Adding a framework of age relations, appreciating age as a system of inequality where people also gain or lose access to resources and status upon entering old age offers a path for understanding the intersection of race and old age. This paper will show how policy history for this group in particular as well as old age policy in the United States all create a unique and unequal circumstance for the aging AI/NA population.

scholarly journals A Faith to Move Mountains? Childhood Abuse, Religious Change, and Mental Health at Midlife

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 461-461
Author(s):  
Laura Upenieks
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Childhood Abuse ◽  
Childhood Maltreatment ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The United States ◽  
Religious Attendance ◽  
Three Dimensions ◽  
Religious Importance ◽  
The Life Course

Abstract Of all the various forms of adversity experienced during childhood, childhood maltreatment (emotional and physical abuse) is shown to have the largest impacts on mental health and well-being. Yet we still have a limited understanding of why some victims of early maltreatment suffer immense mental health consequences later on in the life course, while others are able to cushion the blow of these early insults. Using two waves of data from the National Survey of Midlife Development in the United States (MIDUS), this study considers change in religiosity as a buffer across three dimensions for victims of childhood abuse: religious importance, attendance, and the specific act of seeking comfort through religion. Results suggest that increases in religious comfort during adulthood are positively associated with adult mental health for victims of abuse, while decreases in religious comfort over time were associated with worse mental health. Changes in religious attendance and religious importance were not significant associated with mental health for victims of abuse. Taken together, my results show that the stress-moderating effects of religion for victims of childhood maltreatment are contingent on the stability or increases or decreases in religiosity over the life course, which has been overlooked in previous work.

scholarly journals Racial Disparities in Cognitive Function: The Roles of Cumulative Stress Exposures Across the Life Course

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 504-504
Author(s):  
Ruijia Chen ◽  
Jennifer Weuve ◽  
Laura Kubzansky ◽  
David Williams
Keyword(s):  
Executive Function ◽  
Cognitive Function ◽  
Episodic Memory ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Racial Disparities ◽  
The United States ◽  
Coping Resources ◽  
Age Group ◽  
Cumulative Stress ◽  
The Life Course

Abstract Introduction: Racial disparities in cognitive function have been well-documented in the literature, but factors driving the disparities remain under explored. This study aims to quantify the extent to which cumulative stress exposures across the life course explain Black–White disparities in executive function and episodic memory. Method: Data were drawn from the 2004–2006 wave of the Midlife Development in the United States (MIDUS) and the MIDUS refresher study (N=5,967, 5,277 White, 690 Black). Cumulative stress exposures were assessed by using 10 domains of stressors (e.g., financial stress, childhood adversity). Cognitive function was assessed using the Brief Test of Adult Cognition by Telephone. Marginal structural models were conducted to quantify the proportion of the effect of race/ethnicity status on cognitive function that can be explained by cumulative stress exposures. Result: Blacks reported higher levels of cumulative stress exposures and lower average levels of executive function and episodic memory than Whites. Cumulative stress exposures explained 8.43% of the disparities in executive function and 13.21 % of the disparities in episodic memory. Cumulative stress exposures had stronger effects on racial disparities in cognitive function in the older age group (age≥ 55 years old) than in the younger age group (age < 55 years old). Conclusion: Cumulative stress exposures explain modest proportions of racial disparities in levels of cognitive function. Interventions that focus on reducing stress exposures or improving coping resources among Blacks may help lessen racial disparities in cognitive function at the population level.

Identity and change of a field: A literature analysis of the concept of social mobility

2021 ◽  
pp. 053901842110221
Author(s):  
Magda Nico
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Literature Review ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Social Mobility ◽  
Golden Age ◽  
Literature Analysis ◽  
Scientific Publications ◽  
Diachronic Analysis ◽  
The Life Course ◽  
Systematic Collection

Social mobility is one of the concepts which is the most intrinsically bound to sociology. Hence, the diachronic analysis of this concept contributes to our understanding of sociology and the way that the discipline has changed, as it turned to individual social trajectories according to different topics. Aimed at contributing to this understanding, I’ve developed a literature review based on a systematic collection of the scientific publications in social sciences directly addressing social mobility. A database with conceptual and methodological variables was compiled (N=1054) and worked on. Distinct periods in the life course of this concept have been identified, with the emergence of a scattered concept (1920–1959), the golden age of social mobility (1960–1989), followed by a period of fragmentation and resistance (1990–2012). These three periods are characterized by different methodological and geographical hegemonies, flows and volumes of publications, and also by different tendencies and theoretical and disciplinary rivalries.

Educational Downgrading: Adult Education and Downward Mobility

2021 ◽  
pp. 003804072098289
Author(s):  
Corey Moss-Pech ◽  
Steven H. Lopez ◽  
Laurie Michaels
Keyword(s):  
Labor Market ◽  
Adult Education ◽  
Educational Aspirations ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
The United States ◽  
Job Seekers ◽  
Downward Mobility ◽  
Precarious Labor ◽  
The Life Course ◽  
Returning To School

Scholarship on adult education throughout the life course focuses on the relationship between education and upward mobility. Scholars rarely examine how adults’ educational aspirations or trajectories are affected by downward mobility or an increasingly precarious labor market. Drawing on in-depth qualitative interviews with 21 job seekers in the post–Great Recession labor market in the United States, this article advances the concept of educational downgrading: returning to school in pursuit of a credential lower than the highest level of education one previously sought or attained. We explore three pathways to downgrading connected to downward mobility: occupational dead ends, career reversals, and educational inflation. In the process, we highlight how individuals adjust their practical educational aspirations as they navigate a contemporary economy in which careers are unstable and credentials are needed for many kinds of jobs across the occupational hierarchy.

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