IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/jfamec/v33y2012i4p421-435.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Younger Age at First Childbirth Predicts Mothers’ Lower Economic and Psychological Well-Being Later in Life

Author

Listed:
  • Bettina Casad
  • Amy Marcus-Newhall
  • Brandon Nakawaki
  • Alian Kasabian
  • Judith LeMaster

Abstract

Age at first childbirth affects mothers’ economic and psychological well-being later in life. Using a gender and power framework, two studies examined the associations among age at first childbirth, employment status, perceived choice, and race/ethnicity as predictors of economic and psychological well-being in a sample of middle class, married mothers (Study 1) and a nationally representative sample of married mothers (Study 2). Results indicated younger age at first childbirth is associated with less choice; lower educational attainment; lower SES; greater household labor; greater perceived chore discrepancy; lower self-esteem; less life, work, and relationship satisfaction; but is unrelated to depression or work stress. There were differences by employment status and minimal differences by race/ethnicity. The findings suggest that negative economic and psychological outcomes later in life are related to having one’s first child at a younger age. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2012

Suggested Citation

  • Bettina Casad & Amy Marcus-Newhall & Brandon Nakawaki & Alian Kasabian & Judith LeMaster, 2012. "Younger Age at First Childbirth Predicts Mothers’ Lower Economic and Psychological Well-Being Later in Life," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 33(4), pages 421-435, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jfamec:v:33:y:2012:i:4:p:421-435
    DOI: 10.1007/s10834-012-9289-0
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s10834-012-9289-0
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10834-012-9289-0?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Karina Shreffler & Amy Pirretti & Robert Drago, 2010. "Work–Family Conflict and Fertility Intentions: Does Gender Matter?," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 31(2), pages 228-240, June.
    2. Nancy Jianakoplos & Alexandra Bernasek, 2008. "Family Financial Risk Taking When the Wife Earns More," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 29(2), pages 289-306, June.
    3. Sheila Mammen & Daniel Lass & Sharon Seiling, 2009. "Labor Force Supply Decisions of Rural Low-Income Mothers," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 30(1), pages 67-79, March.
    4. José Molina & Víctor Montuenga, 2009. "The Motherhood Wage Penalty in Spain," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 30(3), pages 237-251, September.
    5. Deborah J. Anderson & Melissa Binder & Kate Krause, 2002. "The Motherhood Wage Penalty: Which Mothers Pay It and Why?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(2), pages 354-358, May.
    6. Stephanie Seguino, 2007. "PlusCa Change? evidence on global trends in gender norms and stereotypes," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(2), pages 1-28.
    7. Kaushik Basu, 2006. "Gender and Say: a Model of Household Behaviour with Endogenously Determined Balance of Power," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 116(511), pages 558-580, April.
    8. Mirowsky, John & Ross, Catherine E., 2002. "Depression, parenthood, and age at first birth," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 54(8), pages 1281-1298, April.
    9. Julie Press & Jay Fagan, 2006. "Spousal Childcare Involvement and Perceived Support for Paid Work," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 27(2), pages 354-374, June.
    10. Katarina Boye, 2009. "Relatively Different? How do Gender Differences in Well-Being Depend on Paid and Unpaid Work in Europe?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 93(3), pages 509-525, September.
    11. Van de Velde, Sarah & Bracke, Piet & Levecque, Katia, 2010. "Gender differences in depression in 23 European countries. Cross-national variation in the gender gap in depression," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 71(2), pages 305-313, July.
    12. Michelle M. Livermore & Rebecca S. Powers, 2006. "Employment of Unwed Mothers: The Role of Government and Social Support," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 27(3), pages 479-494, September.
    13. Anne H. Gauthier & Timothy M. Smeeding & Frank F. Furstenberg, 2004. "Are Parents Investing Less Time in Children? Trends in Selected Industrialized Countries," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 30(4), pages 647-672, December.
    14. Shanta Pandey & Jeoung-hee Kim, 2008. "Path to Poverty Alleviation: Marriage or Postsecondary Education?," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 29(1), pages 166-184, March.
    15. R. Kelly Raley & T. Elizabeth Durden & Elizabeth Wildsmith, 2004. "Understanding Mexican‐American Marriage Patterns Using a Life‐Course Approach," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 85(4), pages 872-890, December.
    16. Jean Wallace, 2008. "Parenthood and Commitment to the Legal Profession: Are Mothers Less Committed than Fathers?," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 29(3), pages 478-495, September.
    17. Shaw, Mary & Lawlor, Debbie A. & Najman, Jake M., 2006. "Teenage children of teenage mothers: Psychological, behavioural and health outcomes from an Australian prospective longitudinal study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 62(10), pages 2526-2539, May.
    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. Heather H. Kelley & Ashley B. LeBaron & E. Jeffrey Hill, 2021. "Family Matters: Decade Review from Journal of Family and Economic Issues," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 42(1), pages 20-33, July.
    2. Robert Cherry & Chun Wang, 2015. "Labor Market Conditions and US Teen Birth Rates, 2001–2009," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 36(3), pages 408-420, September.
    3. Elizabeth Horner, 2014. "Continued Pursuit of Happily Ever After: Low Barriers to Divorce and Happiness," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 35(2), pages 228-240, June.
    4. Olga Sorokina, 2013. "Parental Credit Constraints and Children’s College Education," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 34(2), pages 157-171, June.
    5. María Davia & Nuria Legazpe, 2014. "Determinants of Employment Decisions After the First Child Birth in Spain," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 35(2), pages 214-227, June.
    6. P. Wesley Routon, 2018. "The Probability of Teenage Parenthood: Parental Predictions and Their Accuracy," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 39(4), pages 647-661, December.

    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. Daphne Pedersen & Gabe Kilzer, 2014. "Work-to-Family Conflict and the Maternal Gatekeeping of Dual-Earner Mothers with Young Children," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 35(2), pages 251-262, June.
    2. José Molina & Víctor Montuenga, 2009. "The Motherhood Wage Penalty in Spain," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 30(3), pages 237-251, September.
    3. Sheree Gibb & David Fergusson & L. Horwood & Joseph Boden, 2014. "The Effects of Parenthood on Workforce Participation and Income for Men and Women," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 35(1), pages 14-26, March.
    4. Karsten Marshall Elseth Rieck & Kjetil Telle, 2012. "Sick leave before, during and after pregnancy," Discussion Papers 690, Statistics Norway, Research Department.
    5. Shireen Kanji, 2011. "Labor Force Participation, Regional Location, and Economic Well-Being of Single Mothers in Russia," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 32(1), pages 62-72, March.
    6. Günseli Berik & Ebru Kongar, 2011. "Time Use of Mothers and Fathers in Hard Times and Better Times: the U.S. Business Cycle of 2003-2010," Working Paper Series, Department of Economics, University of Utah 2011_16, University of Utah, Department of Economics.
    7. Tansel Yilmazer & Angela Lyons, 2010. "Marriage and the Allocation of Assets in Women’s Defined Contribution Plans," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 31(2), pages 121-137, June.
    8. Molina, José Alberto & Montuenga, Víctor M., 2008. "The Motherhood Wage Penalty in a Mediterranean Country: The Case of Spain," IZA Discussion Papers 3574, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    9. Kathleen Malone & Susan Stewart & Jan Wilson & Peter Korsching, 2010. "Perceptions of Financial Well-Being among American Women in Diverse Families," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 31(1), pages 63-81, March.
    10. Soliz Cuevas, Erika Tatiana, 2022. "Penalidad salarial por maternidad: Análisis del efecto de los hijos sobre los ingresos laborales de las mujeres bolivianas del área urbana," Documentos de trabajo 2/2022, Instituto de Investigaciones Socio-Económicas (IISEC), Universidad Católica Boliviana.
    11. Vanessa Hunn & Claudia Heath, 2011. "Path Analysis of Welfare Use: Depression as a Mediating Factor," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 32(2), pages 341-355, June.
    12. Luis Gamboa & Blanca Zuluaga, 2013. "Is There a Motherhood Penalty? Decomposing the Family Wage Gap in Colombia," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 34(4), pages 421-434, December.
    13. Cadsby, C. Bram & Servátka, Maroš & Song, Fei, 2013. "How competitive are female professionals? A tale of identity conflict," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 284-303.
    14. Jan Bavel & Martin Klesment, 2017. "Educational Pairings, Motherhood, and Women’s Relative Earnings in Europe," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 54(6), pages 2331-2349, December.
    15. Ainhoa Herrarte & Paloma Urcelay, 2022. "The Wage Penalty for Motherhood in Spain (2009-2017): The Role of the Male Partner’s Job Characteristic," Hacienda Pública Española / Review of Public Economics, IEF, vol. 241(2), pages 27-57, June.
    16. George Hondroyiannis, 2010. "Fertility Determinants and Economic Uncertainty: An Assessment Using European Panel Data," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 31(1), pages 33-50, March.
    17. Yu, Haiyue & Cao, Jin & Kang, Shulong, 2019. "Fertility cost, intergenerational labor division, and female employment," BOFIT Discussion Papers 14/2019, Bank of Finland Institute for Emerging Economies (BOFIT).
    18. Aydogan Ulker, 2009. "Wealth Holdings and Portfolio Allocation of the Elderly: The Role of Marital History," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 30(1), pages 90-108, March.
    19. Michelle Livermore & Rebecca Powers & Belinda Davis & Younghee Lim, 2011. "Failing to Make Ends Meet: Dubious Financial Success Among Employed Former Welfare to Work Program Participants," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 32(1), pages 73-83, March.
    20. Tom Buchanan & Adian McFarlane & Anupam Das, 2018. "Educational Attainment and the Gender Gap in Childcare in Canada: A Decomposition Analysis," Margin: The Journal of Applied Economic Research, National Council of Applied Economic Research, vol. 12(4), pages 458-476, November.

    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:kap:jfamec:v:33:y:2012:i:4:p:421-435. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    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.