IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/don/donwpa/039.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Family trajectories and health: A life course perspective

Author

Listed:
  • Nicola Barban

Abstract

In this paper, I investigate the role of family trajectory, i.e. the whole sequence of family events during the life course of early adults in shaping their health outcomes. I jointly consider union formation and childbearing, since the two life domains are highly connected and their intersections may have an effect on health outcomes. Data come from Wave I and Wave IV of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health). The paper is divided in two parts. First, I focus on transitions and investigate if changes in timing (when events happen), quantum (what and how many transitions) and sequencing (in what order), have an effect on the health of young women. In the second part, I classify life course trajectories into six groups representing different ideal-types of family trajectories and I explore the association of these trajectories with health outcomes. Results suggest that family trajectories play an important role on different health outcomes. Controlling for selection and background characteristics, precocious and "non-normative" transitions are associated with lower self-reported health and higher propensity of smoking and drinking.

Suggested Citation

  • Nicola Barban, 2011. "Family trajectories and health: A life course perspective," Working Papers 039, "Carlo F. Dondena" Centre for Research on Social Dynamics (DONDENA), Università Commerciale Luigi Bocconi.
    • Handle: RePEc:don:donwpa:039
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: ftp://ftp.dondena.unibocconi.it/WorkingPapers/Dondena_WP039.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. repec:mpr:mprres:5511 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Laurent Lesnard, 2006. "Optimal Matching and Social Sciences," Working Papers 2006-01, Center for Research in Economics and Statistics.
    3. Robert G. Wood & Brian Goesling & Sarah Avellar, "undated". "The Effects of Marriage on Health: A Synthesis of Recent Research Evidence," Mathematica Policy Research Reports d69bf47785bc4154a4e184aa5, Mathematica Policy Research.
    4. repec:mpr:mprres:5512 is not listed on IDEAS
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Bruno Arpino & Jordi Gumà & Albert JuliÃ, 2021. "Deviations From Standard Family Histories and Subjective Wellbeing at Older Ages," Econometrics Working Papers Archive 2021_16, Universita' degli Studi di Firenze, Dipartimento di Statistica, Informatica, Applicazioni "G. Parenti".
    2. Sara Kalucza & Sergi Vidal & Karina Nilsson, 2021. "Intergenerational persistence of family formation trajectories among teenage-mothers and -fathers in Sweden," Journal of Population Research, Springer, vol. 38(3), pages 259-282, September.
    3. Luca Maria Pesando & Nicola Barban & Maria Sironi & Frank F. Furstenberg, 2021. "A Sequence‐Analysis Approach to the Study of the Transition to Adulthood in Low‐ and Middle‐Income Countries," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 47(3), pages 719-747, September.
    4. Laurie F. DeRose & Andrés Salazar-Arango & Paúl Corcuera García & Montserrat Gas-Aixendri & Reynaldo Rivera, 2017. "Maternal union instability and childhood mortality risk in the Global South, 2010–14," Population Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 71(2), pages 211-228, May.
    5. Jesper Rözer & Anne-Rigt Poortman & Gerald Mollenhorst, 2017. "The timing of parenthood and its effect on social contact and support," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 36(62), pages 1889-1916.
    6. N. Barban & X. de Luna & E. Lundholm & I. Svensson & F. C. Billari, 2020. "Causal Effects of the Timing of Life-course Events: Age at Retirement and Subsequent Health," Sociological Methods & Research, , vol. 49(1), pages 216-249, February.
    7. Michaël Boissonneault, 2021. "Period measures of life course complexity," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 44(47), pages 1133-1148.
    8. Serah Shin & Hyungsoo Kim, 2018. "Health Trajectories of Older Americans and Medical Expenses: Evidence from the Health and Retirement Study Data Over the 18 Year Period," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 39(1), pages 19-33, March.
    9. Martin O’Flaherty & Janeen Baxter & Michele Haynes & Gavin Turrell, 2016. "The Family Life Course and Health: Partnership, Fertility Histories, and Later-Life Physical Health Trajectories in Australia," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 53(3), pages 777-804, June.
    10. Katherine Keenan & Emily Grundy, 2019. "Fertility History and Physical and Mental Health Changes in European Older Adults," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 35(3), pages 459-485, July.
    11. David Pelletier & Simona Bignami-Van Assche & Anaïs Simard-Gendron, 2020. "Measuring Life Course Complexity with Dynamic Sequence Analysis," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 152(3), pages 1127-1151, December.
    12. Sara Zella, 2017. "Marital Status Transitions and Self-Reported Health among Canadians: A Life Course Perspective," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 12(2), pages 303-325, June.
    13. Maria Sironi & Nicola Barban & Roberto Impiacciatore, 2013. "The Role of Parental Social Class in the Transition to Adulthood: A Sequence Analysis Approach in Italy and the United States," Working Papers 059, "Carlo F. Dondena" Centre for Research on Social Dynamics (DONDENA), Università Commerciale Luigi Bocconi.
    14. Anne Roeters & Jornt J. Mandemakers & Marieke Voorpostel, 2016. "Parenthood and Well-Being: The Moderating Role of Leisure and Paid Work," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 32(3), pages 381-401, August.
    15. Tom Kleinepier & Helga de Valk, 2016. "Ethnic differences in family trajectories of young adult women in the Netherlands: Timing and sequencing of events," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 35(24), pages 671-710.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. G. Miller & Yuriy Pylypchuk, 2014. "Marital Status, Spousal Characteristics, and the Use of Preventive Care," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 35(3), pages 323-338, September.
    2. Kai Hong & Peter A. Savelyev & Kegon T. K. Tan, 2020. "Understanding the Mechanisms Linking College Education with Longevity," Journal of Human Capital, University of Chicago Press, vol. 14(3), pages 371-400.
    3. Averett, Susan L. & Sikora, Asia & Argys, Laura M., 2008. "For better or worse: Relationship status and body mass index," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 6(3), pages 330-349, December.
    4. Arnstein Aassve & Francesco C. Billari & Raffaella Piccarreta, 2007. "Strings of Adulthood: A Sequence Analysis of Young British Women’s Work-Family Trajectories," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 23(3), pages 369-388, October.
    5. H. Corrales-Herrero & B. Rodr z-Prado, 2012. "Characterizing Spanish labour pathways of young people with vocational lower-secondary education," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(29), pages 3777-3792, October.
    6. Pietro Lovaglio & Mario Mezzanzanica, 2013. "Classification of longitudinal career paths," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 47(2), pages 989-1008, February.
    7. repec:pri:crcwel:wp10-03-ff is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Okka Zimmermann & Nicole Hameister, 2019. "Stable cohabitational unions increase quality of life: Retrospective analysis of partnership histories also reveals gender differences," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 40(24), pages 657-692.
    9. Susan Averett & Laura Argys & Julia Sorkin, 2013. "In sickness and in health: an examination of relationship status and health using data from the Canadian National Public Health Survey," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 11(4), pages 599-633, December.
    10. Luca Maria Pesando & Nicola Barban & Maria Sironi & Frank F. Furstenberg, 2021. "A Sequence‐Analysis Approach to the Study of the Transition to Adulthood in Low‐ and Middle‐Income Countries," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 47(3), pages 719-747, September.
    11. repec:pri:crcwel:wp10-02-ff is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Hegde, Shantaram P. & Mishra, Dev R., 2019. "Married CEOs and corporate social responsibility," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 226-246.
    13. Laurent Lesnard & Thibaut Saint Pol, 2009. "Patterns of Workweek Schedules in France," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 93(1), pages 171-176, August.
    14. Rong Fu & Haruko Noguchi, 2018. "Does the positive relationship between health and marriage reflect protection or selection? Evidence from middle-aged and elderly Japanese," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 16(4), pages 1003-1016, December.
    15. Qianhan Lin, 2013. "Lost in Transformation? The Employment Trajectories of China’s Cultural Revolution Cohort," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 646(1), pages 172-193, March.
    16. Bünnings, Christian & Hafner, Lucas & Reif, Simon & Tauchmann, Harald, 2021. "In sickness and in health? Health shocks and relationship breakdown: Empirical evidence from Germany," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 190(C), pages 164-190.
    17. Wilson, Sven E., 2012. "Marriage, gender and obesity in later life," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 10(4), pages 431-453.
    18. Yuriy Pylypchuk & James B. Kirby, 2017. "The role of marriage in explaining racial and ethnic disparities in access to health care for men in the US," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 15(3), pages 807-832, September.
    19. Joan Gil Trasfí, 2016. "Is marriage protecting your health in recession times?," UB School of Economics Working Papers 2016/343, University of Barcelona School of Economics.
    20. Herrmann & Kim van der Putten, 2014. "Uraveling start-up processes with the help of sequence analyses," Innovation Studies Utrecht (ISU) working paper series 14-02, Utrecht University, Department of Innovation Studies, revised Jun 2014.
    21. Thomas King, 2013. "A framework for analysing social sequences," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 47(1), pages 167-191, January.
    22. Helena Corrales Herrero & Beatriz Rodríguez Prado, 2011. "El empleo a tiempo parcial entre los jóvenes: Puente o trampa," Investigaciones de Economía de la Educación volume 6, in: Antonio Caparrós Ruiz (ed.), Investigaciones de Economía de la Educación 6, edition 1, volume 6, chapter 42, pages 677-692, Asociación de Economía de la Educación.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    sequence analysis; life course analysis; health outcomes; transition to adulthood;
    All these keywords.

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:don:donwpa:039. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Amy Johnson (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.dondena.unibocconi.it/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.