Stressful Family Contexts and Health in Divorced and Married Mothers

Using prospective data over 25 years from a sample of 416 women, the first objective of the current study was to investigate the biopsychosocial process over the second-half of the life course comparing mothers with diferent marital histories. The second objective was to investigate this biopsychosocial process for 296 maried mothers focusing on their marital quality over middle years. The results suggested that, compared to being married, divorcing in early-midlife launched an adverse biopsychosocial process for women leading to physical pain, physical limitations, and depressive symptoms over their mid-later years, largely through early-midlife financial stress, regardless of later recoupling. However, subsequent financial stress did not influence divorced mothers’ later-life health problems, suggesting their development of resilience. For consistently married mothers, both marital stress and financial stress uniquely influenced all three health problems throughout their mid-later years. For all mothers, these health problems progressed over mid-later years, as indicated through their stabilities and mutual influences, and these health problems also selected mothers into further escalating financial and marital stress over their mid-later years. Elucidating differential short- and long-term health influences of marital and financial stressors for divorced and married mothers provides a potentially useful information for targeted early preventive intervention efforts and policy formation. Such interventions can promote and develop resiliency factors, thereby aiding middle-aged mothers to prevent from adverse biopsychosocial processes.

Cardiovascular disease in people born to unmarried mothers in two historical periods: The Helsinki Birth Cohort Study 1934–1944

Aims:Socio-economic conditions in early life are important contributors to cardiovascular disease – the leading cause of mortality globally – in later life. We studied coronary heart disease (CHD) and stroke in adulthood among people born out of wedlock in two historical periods: before and during World War II in Finland. Methods: We compared offspring born out of wedlock before (1934–1939) and during (1940–1944) World War II with the offspring of married mothers in the Helsinki Birth Cohort Study. The war affected the position of unmarried mothers in society. We followed the study subjects from 1971 to 2014 and identified deaths and hospital admissions from CHD and stroke. Data were analysed using a Cox regression, adjusting for other childhood and adulthood socio-economic circumstances. Results: The rate of out-of-wedlock births was 240/4052 (5.9%) before World War II and 397/9197 (4.3%) during World War II. Among those born before World War II, out-of-wedlock birth was associated with an increased risk of stroke (hazard ratio (HR)=1.44; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.00–2.07) and CHD (HR=1.37; 95% CI 1.02–1.86). Among those born out of wedlock during World War II, the risks of stroke (HR=0.89; 95% CI 0.58–1.36) and CHD (HR=0.70; 95% CI 0.48=1.03) were similar to those observed for the offspring of married mothers. The p-values for interaction of unmarried×World War II were ( p=0.015) for stroke and ( p=0.003) for CHD. Conclusions: In a society in which marriage is normative, being born out of wedlock is an important predictor of lifelong health disadvantage. However, this may change rapidly when societal circumstances change, such as during a war.

Are States Created Equal? Moving to a State With More Expensive Childcare Reduces Mothers' Odds of Employment

Married mothers who relocate are less likely to be employed after an interstate move than married childless women and nonmobile mothers. Here, we ask whether moving to a state with more expensive childcare is associated with lower odds of maternal employment among mothers who had been employed prior to relocation. We use hierarchical binomial logistic regression models, combining data from the 2015 American Community Survey five-year sample and state-level childcare costs to assess married mothers' employment following an interstate move, controlling for states' economic conditions. We show that employment odds for married mothers were about 42% lower than those for childless married women in the year following a move. Married mothers who moved to more expensive childcare states had odds of employment that were 18% lower than those of married mothers who moved to less expensive childcare states, showing that childcare accessibility shapes mothers' employment decisions even among those with stronger labor force attachment. Moving back to respondents' or their spouses' state of birth and moving to states with more favorable economic conditions improved odds of employment as well. Overall, we show that moving to states with fewer childcare barriers is associated with higher levels of maternal employment, partly mitigating the negative labor market effects of interstate migration.

The Missing Concept of Cohabitation of the Couples of the Opposite-Sex in de facto Unions in the Czech Civil Code

The paper deals with couples in de facto unions, especially the ones formed by a man and a woman. It seeks to define cohabitation and differentiate the rights and duties of cohabitees from the ones connected with the status relations between both the opposite-sex couples (marriage) and the same-sex couples (registered partnership). As there are seldom any kinds of agreements between cohabitees, special attention is devoted to the relevant legal rules in all the Books of the Czech Civil Code and their applicability to cohabitees during their relationship and after the break-up or upon the death of one of them. It is stressed that there is no difference between children born out of wedlock and within marriage. Once parenthood is legally established, there is no discrimination of non-married mothers and non-married fathers towards the children. And besides, there are special provisions that protect the weaker party: property claims of the non-married mother from the child´s father for a reasonable time and within adequate limits.

Subsidising Formal Childcare Versus Grandmothers' Time: Which Policy is More Effective?

This article quantifies the relative effectiveness of childcare subsidies and subsidies on grandmothers’ time on married mothers’ employment and fertility rates, paying special attention to heterogeneous effects. A heterogeneous agent model, populated by married households who make decisions related to labour supply and fertility, and the Spanish economy are used as a benchmark for calibration. The results indicate that childcare subsidies conditional on employment are more effective than subsidies on grandmothers’ time to foster the participation of married mothers in the labour force. However, they induce women to work fewer hours, unless after-school hours are also subsidised. This overtime subsidy is also necessary for the fertility rate to increase, but it implies a significant adjustment in tax rates to maintain the same fiscal balance. If the aim is simply to raise the employment rate of mothers of children aged 2 years or younger, then subsidising childcare costs only is more effective because the fiscal effort is lower. Regarding the heterogeneous effects, in all the policies studied, the growth in female employment is mainly accounted for by the behaviour of women without tertiary education while that of fertility is accounted for by women with tertiary education. Considerations related to inequality and distributional effects of these policies would also seem to favour childcare subsidies versus subsidies on grandmothers’ time.

Differences between Israeli Jewish and Arabs mothers in parental self-efficacy: A cultural perspective

Parental self-efficacy (PSE) is a key to the child-parent relationship. It reflects parents’ self-perception of their ability to perform parenting tasks successfully and a high level of parental self-efficacy is associated with positive child outcomes. The literature on cultural differences regarding PSE is scant. This study applied a cultural perspective and examined differences between Arab and Jewish mothers with regard to PSE and associated factors such as marital satisfaction, social support, wellbeing and stress. Based on a sample of 170 married mothers in Israel, it revealed that Arab mothers experienced a higher degree of PSE, marital satisfaction and wellbeing, as well as lower stress, than Jewish mothers. PSE among Arab mothers was predicted by marital satisfaction and stress. Among Jewish mothers, PSE was predicted by stress and wellbeing as well as financial indicators. The paper discusses the findings from a cultural perspective, focusing on the experience of parenting in an Arab, collective, traditional and patriarchic society compared to parenting in a Jewish, individualistic, liberal society. The study concludes that it is important to consider the cultural context of parenting to the sense of parental efficacy and to understand the cultural norms and values of individuals whose parenting capacity comes under assessment. Based on the findings it was suggested that family therapy or spousal therapy may provide benefit to Arab mothers who report a low level of PSE. For Jewish mothers, alleviating financial hardship and providing material help could provide similar benefits, in addition to lowering the mother’s level of stress. Limitations of the study as well as future studies directions were also discussed.

Marching to the Ballot Box: Sex and Voting in the 2020 Election Cycle

With the 2020 election marking the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment, our attention has been keenly focused on women voters. Media coverage of women voters portrayed them as swing voters and focused on a small subgroup of women (white, married, mothers). I argue that women’s and men’s voting behavior in 2020 was highly similar to past elections and does not support the claims that women or a subgroup of women are swing voters. I illustrate the diversity of women’s voting behavior through analyzing the intersection of gender with race, ethnicity, education, marital status, and parental status. Even though women were not swing voters, women still play an important role in electoral politics, representing the majority of members in both the Democratic and Republican Parties and holding stronger attachments to these parties than men.

Association of work-family experience with mid- and late-life memory decline in US women

ObjectiveTo test the hypothesis that life course patterns of employment, marriage, and childrearing influence later-life rate of memory decline among women, we examined the relationship of work-family experiences between ages 16 and 50 years and memory decline after age 55 years among US women.MethodsParticipants were women ages ≥55 years in the Health and Retirement Study. Participants reported employment, marital, and parenthood statuses between ages 16 and 50 years. Sequence analysis was used to group women with similar work-family life histories; we identified 5 profiles characterized by similar timing and transitions of combined work, marital, and parenthood statuses. Memory performance was assessed biennially from 1995 to 2016. We estimated associations between work-family profiles and later-life memory decline with linear mixed-effects models adjusted for practice effects, baseline age, race/ethnicity, birth region, childhood socioeconomic status, and educational attainment.ResultsThere were 6,189 study participants (n = 488 working nonmothers, n = 4,326 working married mothers, n = 530 working single mothers, n = 319 nonworking single mothers, n = 526 nonworking married mothers). Mean baseline age was 57.2 years; average follow-up was 12.3 years. Between ages 55 and 60, memory scores were similar across work-family profiles. After age 60, average rate of memory decline was more than 50% greater among women whose work-family profiles did not include working for pay after childbearing, compared with those who were working mothers.ConclusionsWomen who worked for pay in early adulthood and midlife experienced slower rates of later-life memory decline, regardless of marital and parenthood status, suggesting participation in the paid labor force may protect against later-life memory decline.

Old-Age Trajectories of Life Satisfaction. Do Singlehood and Childlessness Hurt More When People Get Older?

This paper analyses trajectories of life satisfaction among elderly people in various family situations and tests whether the disadvantage related to being single or childless increases (as predicted by cumulative (dis)advantage hypothesis) or reduces (consistently with age-as-leveler hypothesis) when people get older. The results show that the disadvantage of never married mothers grows with age, whereas the disadvantage of divorced people reduces with age. The study suggests that, in general, the increasing probability of ageing without close kin does not put at risk life satisfaction of elderly people.

Perceptions of Closeness in Adult Parent–Child Dyads: Asymmetry in the Context of Family Complexity

Objectives Multi-actor data show that parents’ and adult children’s evaluations of their relation do not necessarily match. We studied disagreement in parent- and child-reported closeness, comparing parent–child dyads involving separated parents, non-separated parents, and stepparents to shed new light on today’s diverse landscape of adult parent–child relations. Method Using data from the Parents and Children in the Netherlands (OKiN) survey, we analyzed closeness in parent–child dyads (N = 4,602) comparing (step)parents’ and their adult children’s (aged 25–45) reports. To distinguish directional disagreement (i.e., differences in child- and parent-reported means) from nondirectional disagreement (i.e., the association between child- and parent-reported measures), while accounting for absolute levels of closeness, we estimated log-linear models. Results All types of parents tend to report higher levels of closeness than their children. Whereas parental overreport is more prevalent among biological father–child dyads than among biological mother–child dyads, we found no differences between biological dyads and stepdyads. The association between children’s and parents’ reports is higher among dyads involving stepmothers or married mothers than among those involving separated mothers and (step)fathers. Discussion The intergenerational stake (i.e., parental overreport) is not unique to biological parent–child relations. Instead, patterns of disagreement seem most strongly stratified by gender.