scholarly journals Mechanisms linking teenage mothers’ educational attainment with self-reported health at age 50

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Julie Maslowsky ◽  
C. Emily Hendrick ◽  
Haley Stritzel

Abstract Background Early childbearing is associated with adverse health and well-being throughout the life course for women in the United States. As education continues to be a modifiable social determinant of health after a young woman gives birth, the association of increased educational attainment with long-term health for women who begin childbearing as teenagers is worthy of investigation. Methods Data are from 301 mothers in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 who gave birth prior to age 19. We estimated path models to assess women’s incomes, partner characteristics, and health behaviors at age 40 as mediators of the relationship between their educational attainment and self-rated general health at age 50. Results After accounting for observed background factors that select women into early childbearing and lower educational attainment, higher levels of education (high school diploma and GED attainment vs. no degree) were indirectly associated with higher self-rated health at age 50 via higher participant income at age 40. Conclusions As education is a social determinant of health that is amenable to intervention after a teen gives birth, our results are supportive of higher educational attainment as a potential pathway to improving long-term health outcomes of women who begin childbearing early.

2020 ◽  
pp. 002087282097061
Author(s):  
Qin Gao ◽  
Xiaofang Liu

Racial discrimination against people of Chinese and other Asian ethnicities has risen sharply in number and severity globally amid the COVID-19 pandemic. This rise has been especially rapid and severe in the United States, fueled by xenophobic political rhetoric and racist language on social media. It has endangered the lives of many Asian Americans and is likely to have long-term negative impacts on the economic, social, physical, and psychological well-being of Asian Americans. This essay reviews the prevalence and consequences of anti-Asian racial discrimination during COVID-19 and calls for actions in practice, policy, and research to stand against it.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 461-461
Author(s):  
Laura Upenieks

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.


2021 ◽  
pp. 215686932110085
Author(s):  
Laura Upenieks

Beliefs about the probability of educational success tend to be very optimistic in the United States. However, scholars are beginning to uncover mental health consequences associated with quixotic hope—the unrealistic outstripping of expectation by aspiration. Using longitudinal data from Waves 1 and 3 of the National Study of Youth and Religion, this study asks, (1) does religiosity promote or diminish the likelihood of quixotic hope? and (2) does religious attendance and closeness to God mitigate long-term mental health consequences of quixotic hope? Results show that weekly religious attendance had a modest negative relationship with the likelihood of experiencing quixotic hope, while increasing religious attendance over time attenuated the negative mental health consequences of quixotic hope on increases in depression. Closeness to God neither predicted quixotic hope nor played a moderating role for depression. As educational expectations rise, regular religious practice may help protect the emotional well-being of youth.


2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S161-S161
Author(s):  
Rebecca L Mauldin ◽  
Kathy Lee ◽  
Antwan Williams

Abstract Older adults from racial and ethnic minority groups face health inequities in long-term care facilities such as nursing homes and assisted living facilities just as they do in the United States as a whole. In spite of federal policy to support minority health and ensure the well-being of long-term care facility residents, disparities persist in residents’ quality of care and quality of life. This poster presents current federal policy in the United States to reduce racial and ethnic health disparities and to support long-term care facility residents’ health and well-being. It includes legislation enacted by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (ACA), regulations of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) for health care facilities receiving Medicare or Medicare funds, and policies of the Long-term Care Ombudsman Program. Recommendations to address threats to or gaps in these policies include monitoring congressional efforts to revise portions of the ACA, revising DHHS requirements for long-term care facilities staff training and oversight, and amending requirements for the Long-term Care Ombudsman Program to mandate collection, analysis, and reporting of resident complaint data by race and ethnicity.


Circulation ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 142 (Suppl_3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nilay S Shah ◽  
Hongyan Ning ◽  
Amanda Perak ◽  
Norrina B Allen ◽  
John T Wilkins ◽  
...  

Introduction: Premature fatal cardiovascular disease rates have plateaued in the US. Identifying population distributions of short- and long-term predicted risk for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) can inform interventions and policy to improve cardiovascular health over the life course. Methods: Among nonpregnant participants age 30-59 years without prevalent CVD from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys 2015-18, continuous 10 year (10Y) and 30 year (30Y) predicted ASCVD risk were assigned using the Pooled Cohort Equations and a 30-year competing risk model, respectively. Intermediate/high 10Y risk was defined as ≥7.5%, and high 30Y risk was chosen a priori as ≥20%, based on 2019 guideline levels for risk stratification. Participants were combined into low 10Y/low 30Y, low 10Y/high 30Y, and intermediate/high 10Y categories. We calculated and compared risk distributions overall and across race-sex, age, body mass index (BMI), and education using chi-square tests. Results: In 1495 NHANES participants age 30-59 years (representing 53,022,413 Americans), median 10Y risk was 2.3% and 30Y risk was 15.5%. Approximately 12% of individuals were already estimated to have intermediate/high 10Y risk. Of those at low 10Y risk, 30% had high 30Y predicted risk. Distributions differed significantly by sex, race, age, BMI, and education (P<0.01, Figure ). Black males more frequently had high 10Y risk compared with other race-sex groups. Older individuals, those with BMI ≥30 kg/m 2 , and with ≤high school education had a higher frequency of low 10Y/high 30Y risk. Conclusions: More than one-third of middle-aged U.S. adults have elevated short- or long-term predicted risk for ASCVD. While the majority of middle-aged US adults are at low 10Y risk, a large proportion among this subgroup are at high 30Y ASCVD risk, indicating a substantial need for enhanced clinical and population level prevention earlier in the life course.


2017 ◽  
Vol 77 (1) ◽  
pp. 171-207 ◽  
Author(s):  
Howard Bodenhorn ◽  
Timothy W. Guinnane ◽  
Thomas A. Mroz

Understanding long-term changes in human well-being is central to understanding the consequences of economic development. An extensive anthropometric literature purports to show that heights in the United States declined between the 1830s and the 1890s, which is when the U.S. economy modernized. Most anthropometric research contends that declining heights reflect the negative health consequences of industrialization and urbanization. This interpretation, however, relies on sources subject to selection bias. Our meta-analysis shows that the declining height during industrialization emerges primarily in selected samples. We also develop a parsimonious diagnostic test that reveals, but does not correct for, selection bias in height samples. When applied to four representative height samples, the diagnostic provides compelling evidence of selection.


2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (8) ◽  
pp. 781-793
Author(s):  
Alison Pattison ◽  
Elissa Torres ◽  
Lori Wieters ◽  
Jennifer G. Waldschmidt

Background As the United States’ population ages and health concerns rise, the family caregiver occupation will continue to be an integral part of the health care system. Aims It is important to examine the burden that family caregivers experience so they can seek out additional training and services to maintain their own well-being. The researchers examined caregiver burden from a perspective of developmentally disabled and long-term care. Methods The researchers examined difference in Zarit scores, guilt, burden and personal strain for 72 caregivers of people with developmental disability (DD) or people with long-term care (LTC) needs. The researchers also examined differences in these based on whether the individual was caregiving for family or “others”. Results For DD, there were significant differences in Zarit, role strain and personal strain; caring for others has significantly lower scores on these. Role strain was significantly higher than personal strain, which was significantly higher than guilt for both LTC and DD groups. Conclusions Given these findings, it is important to support family caregivers first and foremost with role strain, especially for those caring for family members with DD. This support could be given through personal counselling, caregiver training, non-profit social service resources, and support groups for family caregivers.


Circulation ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 137 (suppl_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marialaura Bonaccio ◽  
Augusto Di Castelnuovo ◽  
Simona Costanzo ◽  
Mariarosaria Persichillo ◽  
Chiara Cerletti ◽  
...  

Introduction: A life course approach has been suggested as the most appropriated to establish the actual impact of socioeconomic status (SES) on health outcomes. Hypothesis: We assessed the hypothesis that SES trajectories from childhood to adulthood are useful to better evaluate the role of SES towards mortality risk in a large general population-based cohort. Methods: Longitudinal analysis on 22,194 subjects recruited in the general population of the Moli-sani study, Italy (2005-2010). Educational attainment (low/high) and SES in adulthood (measured by a score including occupational social class, housing and overcrowding, and dichotomized as low/high) were used to define four possible trajectories both in low and high SES in childhood (age of 8). Hazard ratios (HR) with 95% confidence intervals (95%CI) were calculated by multivariable Cox regression and competing risk models. Results: Over a median follow-up of 8.3 years (182,924 person-years), 1155 all-cause, of which 414 cardiovascular (CVD), deaths were ascertained. In the group with low SES in childhood, as opposed to those stably low (low education and low SES in adulthood), an upward in both educational attainment and material factors in adulthood was associated with lower risk of both all-cause (HR=0.64; 95%CI 0.52-0.79; Table) and CVD mortality (HR=0.62; 0.43-0.88), respectively. Subjects with high childhood SES experienced an increased risk of total and CVD death in absence of higher educational attainment despite a higher SES in adulthood (HR=1.47; 1.04-2.07 and HR=1.75;1.00-3.05, respectively) as compared to the group with both high education and high SES in adulthood. Conclusions: In conclusion, for individuals with low SES in childhood, an upward of both educational attainment and material factors over the life course is associated with lower risk of total and CVD death. In advantaged groups in childhood, lack of a higher educational attainment, rather than material factors, over the life course appears to be unfavourably associated with survival.


2019 ◽  
Vol 189 (12) ◽  
pp. 1461-1463 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ichiro Kawachi

Abstract There is broad agreement that religion is a social determinant of health. In the article by Chen and VanderWeele (Am J Epidemiol. 2018;187(11):2355–2364), the authors took an outcome-wide approach to demonstrate associations between religious practices early in the life course (regular service attendance and prayer/mediation) and a wide range of health endpoints and behaviors later on. Is religion a panacea? The study adds to the evidence that religious practices are correlated with a broad swath of health outcomes. However, more work is needed to translate that evidence into practicable advice for individuals and for society. The following tasks remain. 1) We must sharpen our understanding of which elements of religious practices promote health. (Specifically, is it service attendance, prayer, or both? Could a nonreligious person achieve the same benefit via regular participation in a secular group, like a choir?). 2) We should improve our understanding of the different contexts in which religion is likely to have beneficial, as well as potentially harmful, effects.


2020 ◽  
Vol 61 (2) ◽  
pp. 190-207
Author(s):  
Eun Ha Namkung ◽  
Deborah Carr

We examine whether perceived interpersonal discrimination mediates the association between disability and psychological well-being (depression, negative and positive affect) and how these processes differ across the life course. Data are from two waves (2004–2006; 2013–2014) of the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS; N = 2,503). Perceived discrimination accounts for 5% to 8% of the association between disability and the three mental health outcomes. Moderated mediation analyses reveal significant age differences; perceived discrimination is a stronger explanatory mechanism among midlife (ages 40–64) relative to older (age 65+) adults. Disability stigma takes a heightened psychological toll at midlife, a life stage when adults are expected to be able-bodied and interact with a diverse social network, which may be a source of interpersonal mistreatment. Among older adults, for whom impairment is expected and common, the psychological impact of disability may operate through other pathways. We discuss implications for research and practice.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document