Does youth matter? Long-term effects of youth characteristics on the diversity of partnership trajectories

Author(s):  
Jana Jung

Previous research has mainly concentrated on the study of certain transitions and the influence of economic and socio-structural factors on partnership status. From a life course perspective, it remains unclear how factors anchored in youth are related to the diversity of partnership biographies. Arguing that individuals act and behave based on prior experiences and resources, I analyse how personal and social resources as well as socio-demographic characteristics influence the turbulence of longitudinal partnership trajectories.Using a longitudinal dataset from the German LifE Study, I examine partnership histories from the ages 16 to 45. The results suggest that in addition to the influence of an individual’s socio-demographic placement (for example, religious commitment and regional living conditions), personal and social resources anchored in youth also have a long-term effect on the diversity of partnership trajectories. This article shows that women are influenced by their attitudes towards marriage and family, while men are influenced by their attitudes towards their careers.<br />Key messages<br /><ul><li>Partnership trajectories are influenced by individual’s socio-structural placement as well as resources in youth.</li><br /><li>Attitudes towards family and career shape future life course and set young women and men on certain paths.</li><br /><li>Positive attitudes towards marriage and family stabilize women’s partnership trajectories.</li><br /><li>Men’s attitudes towards their career opportunities destabilize partnership trajectories.</li></ul>

2021 ◽  
pp. 002214652110611
Author(s):  
Christina Kamis ◽  
Allison Stolte ◽  
Molly Copeland

Traditional theories of grief suggest that individuals experience short-term increases in depressive symptoms following the death of a parent. However, growing evidence indicates that effects of parental bereavement may persist. Situating the short- and long-term effects of parental death within the life course perspective, we assess the combined influence of time since loss and life course stage at bereavement on mental health for maternal and paternal death. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (N = 11,877) to examine biological parental death from childhood to mid-adulthood, we find that those who experience recent maternal or paternal death have heightened depressive symptoms. Furthermore, those who experience maternal death in childhood or paternal death in young adulthood exhibit long-term consequences for mental health. Our findings underscore the theoretical importance of early life course stages and parent’s gender when determining whether depressive symptoms persist following parental bereavement.


Author(s):  
John Eckenrode ◽  
Mary Campa ◽  
Dennis W. Luckey ◽  
Charles R. Henderson ◽  
Robert Cole ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Vol 58 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Torbjörn Bildtgård ◽  
Marianne Winqvist ◽  
Peter Öberg

The increasing prevalence of ageing stepfamilies and the potential of stepchildren to act as a source of support for older parents have increased the interest in long-term intergenerational step relationships. Applying a life-course perspective combined with Simmel’s theorizing on social dynamics, this exploratory study aims to investigate the preconditions for cohesion in long-term intergenerational step relationships. The study is based on interviews with 13 older parents, aged 66–79, who have raised both biological children and stepchildren. Retrospective life-course interviews were used to capture the development of step relationships over time. Interviews were analysed following the principles of analytical induction. The results reveal four central third-party relationships that are important for cohesion in intergenerational step relationships over time, involving: (1) the intimate partner; (2) the non-residential parent; (3) the bridge child; and (4) the stepchild-in-law. The findings have led to the conclusion that if we are to understand the unique conditions for cohesion in long-term intergenerational step relationships, we cannot simply compare biological parent–child dyads with step dyads, because the step relationship is essentially a mediated relationship.


2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Loretta G. Platts ◽  
Gopalakrishnan Netuveli ◽  
Elizabeth Webb ◽  
Marie Zins ◽  
Marcel Goldberg ◽  
...  

Objective: To investigate variations in quality of life at older ages, we take a life course perspective to analyse long-term effects of physical working conditions upon quality of life after retirement. In doing so, we study to what extent these associations are explained by individuals’ health at older ages. Method: We use administrative data and self-administered questionnaire responses from the French GAZEL cohort. Quality of life was assessed with CASP-19 in 2009 and related to three types of physical working conditions during previous working life: (1) ergonomic strain, (2) physical danger and (3) exposures to chemicals. Health was assessed in 2007 with the SF-36 Health Survey. Multiple regressions were calculated in retired men only, controlling for important confounders including social position. Results: In contrast to men, few women were exposed to strenuous and dangerous working conditions in this cohort and were not included in subsequent analyses. Negative effects on retired men's quality of life were found for the physical occupational exposures of ergonomic strain and physical danger, but not for chemical exposures. Effects were attenuated after the introduction of physical and mental health to the models, indicating an indirect effect of physical working conditions upon quality of life via health. Conclusion: Adverse physical working conditions have long-term consequences for health and quality of life at older ages. Improvements to physical working conditions may improve individuals’ quality of life over the long term.


2019 ◽  
pp. 088626051988852
Author(s):  
Henriikka Weir ◽  
Catherine Kaukinen ◽  
Alesha Cameron

Using data from all three waves of the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (PHDCN) longitudinal cohort study, this article examined the long-term effects of intimate partner violence (IPV) exposure during childhood and early adolescence on subsequent externalizing behaviors (i.e., delinquency, violence, and drug offenses). A propensity score matching (PSM) was employed to match a group of individuals reporting childhood/adolescence IPV exposure to those not exposed to IPV on key variables. Longitudinal latent class analyses (LLCA) were then utilized to estimate the longitudinal developmental trajectories of externalizing behaviors separately for the IPV- and non-IPV-exposed males and females and compared with each other. PSM revealed that there were small but significant differences in mean levels of externalizing behaviors between IPV-exposed and non-IPV-exposed youth at Waves 2 and 3. Furthermore, LLCA indicated that there were three distinct developmental trajectories of externalizing behaviors among the IPV-exposed males but four distinct developmental trajectories of externalizing behaviors among the IPV-exposed females, non-IPV-exposed males, and non-IPV-exposed females. Overall, the IPV-exposed males had the largest number of life-course-persistent offenders as well as adolescents who started their offending at a very early age but rapidly declined by the end of the study period. However, the non-IPV-exposed males’, albeit smaller, life-course-persistent group displayed by far the highest levels of externalizing behaviors of the entire sample. Females in the present study were largely similar to each other in the development of externalizing behaviors, regardless of IPV exposure. Policy implications are discussed.


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