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Mental health consequences of unintended childlessness and unplanned births: Gender differences and life course dynamics

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  • Maximova, Katerina
  • Quesnel-Vallée, Amélie

Abstract

The discordance between fertility intentions and outcomes may be associated with mental health in the general population. This requires data directly linking individuals' fertility intentions with their outcomes. This study brings together two streams of research on fertility and psychological distress to examine whether unintended childlessness and unplanned births are associated with psychological distress, compared with intended childlessness and planned births. We also examine whether unintended childlessness and unplanned births are differently associated with distress at two stages of the individuals' life course: in early and late 30s. As women are more directly affected by the decline in fertility with age and the experience of motherhood is more central to women's identity, we also examined gender differences in these associations. Thus, we examined the association between four possible fertility events (planned and unplanned births, intended and unintended childlessness) and psychological distress of men and women, at two different stages over the life course (early and late 30s). We used longitudinal data from the US National Longitudinal Study of Youth 1979 (NÂ =Â 2524) to link individuals' fertility intentions and outcomes to evaluate the association of depressive symptoms (CES-D) with four possible fertility events occurring in two-year intervals, for men and women separately. Contrary to our first hypothesis, unintended childlessness and unplanned births were not associated with psychological distress for women. Among men, only unplanned births in their early 30s were associated with increases in psychological distress. We did not find support for our second hypothesis that unintended childlessness and unplanned births have a different association with psychological distress for men and women and as a function of the stage of life. These findings are discussed in the context of previous literature in this area.

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  • Maximova, Katerina & Quesnel-Vallée, Amélie, 2009. "Mental health consequences of unintended childlessness and unplanned births: Gender differences and life course dynamics," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 68(5), pages 850-857, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:68:y:2009:i:5:p:850-857
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    Cited by:

    1. Natalie Nitsche & Sarah R. Hayford, 2020. "Preferences, Partners, and Parenthood: Linking Early Fertility Desires, Marriage Timing, and Achieved Fertility," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 57(6), pages 1975-2001, December.
    2. Katherine M. Johnson & Arthur L. Greil & Karina M. Shreffler & Julia McQuillan, 2018. "Fertility and Infertility: Toward an Integrative Research Agenda," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 37(5), pages 641-666, October.
    3. Karina Shreffler & Stacy Tiemeyer & Cassandra Dorius & Tiffany Spierling & Arthur Greil & Julia McQuillan, 2016. "Infertility and fertility intentions, desires, and outcomes among US women," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 35(39), pages 1149-1168.
    4. Shen, Yuying, 2014. "Community building and mental health in mid-life and older life: Evidence from China," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 209-216.
    5. Tosi, Marco & van den Broek, Thijs, 2020. "Gray divorce and mental health in the United Kingdom," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 256(C).
    6. Caroline Hartnett, 2014. "White-Hispanic differences in meeting lifetime fertility intentions in the U.S," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 30(43), pages 1245-1276.
    7. Wang, Qing & Tapia Granados, José A., 2019. "Economic growth and mental health in 21st century China," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 220(C), pages 387-395.
    8. Natalie Nitsche & Sarah Hayford, 2018. "Preferences, Partners, and Parenthood: Linking Early Fertility Desires, Union Formation Timing, and Achieved Fertility," VID Working Papers 1810, Vienna Institute of Demography (VID) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna.
    9. Alison Gemmill, 2019. "From Some to None? Fertility Expectation Dynamics of Permanently Childless Women," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 56(1), pages 129-149, February.

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