IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/eurpop/v35y2019i1d10.1007_s10680-018-9469-1.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Parity and Mortality: An Examination of Different Explanatory Mechanisms Using Data on Biological and Adoptive Parents

Author

Listed:
  • Kieron Barclay

    (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research
    London School of Economics and Political Science
    Stockholm University)

  • Martin Kolk

    (Stockholm University
    Stockholm University
    Institute for Futures Studies)

Abstract

A growing literature has demonstrated a relationship between parity and mortality, but the explanation for that relationship remains unclear. This study aims to pick apart physiological and social explanations for the parity–mortality relationship by examining the mortality of parents who adopt children, but who have no biological children, in comparison with the mortality of parents with biological children. Using Swedish register data, we study post-reproductive mortality amongst women and men from cohorts born between 1915 and 1960, over ages 45–97. Our results show the relative risks of mortality for adoptive parents are always lower than those of parents with biological children. Mortality amongst adoptive parents is lower for those who adopt more than one child, while for parents with biological children we observe a U-shaped relationship, where parity-two parents have the lowest mortality. Our discussion considers the relative importance of physiological and social depletion effects, and selection processes.

Suggested Citation

  • Kieron Barclay & Martin Kolk, 2019. "Parity and Mortality: An Examination of Different Explanatory Mechanisms Using Data on Biological and Adoptive Parents," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 35(1), pages 63-85, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:eurpop:v:35:y:2019:i:1:d:10.1007_s10680-018-9469-1
    DOI: 10.1007/s10680-018-9469-1
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10680-018-9469-1
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10680-018-9469-1?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. Esther Friedman & Robert Mare, 2014. "The Schooling of Offspring and the Survival of Parents," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 51(4), pages 1271-1293, August.
    2. Gunnar Andersson & Marit Rønsen & Lisbeth B. Knudsen & Trude Lappegård & Gerda Neyer & Kari Skrede & Kathrin Teschner & Andres Vikat, 2009. "Cohort fertility patterns in the Nordic countries," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 20(14), pages 313-352.
    3. Grundy, Emily & Tomassini, Cecilia, 2005. "Fertility history and health in later life: a record linkage study in England and Wales," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 61(1), pages 217-228, July.
    4. Lee Lillard & Constantijn Panis, 1996. "Marital status and mortality: The role of health," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 33(3), pages 313-327, August.
    5. Umberson, Debra, 1992. "Gender, marital status and the social control of health behavior," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 34(8), pages 907-917, April.
    6. Manor, Orly & Eisenbach, Zvi & Israeli, Avi & Friedlander, Yechiel, 2000. "Mortality differentials among women: the Israel Longitudinal Mortality Study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 51(8), pages 1175-1188, October.
    7. Jenny Torssander, 2013. "From Child to Parent? The Significance of Children’s Education for Their Parents’ Longevity," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 50(2), pages 637-659, April.
    8. Kieron Barclay & Mikko Myrskylä, 2016. "Advanced Maternal Age and Offspring Outcomes: Reproductive Aging and Counterbalancing Period Trends," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 42(1), pages 69-94, March.
    9. Robin S. Högnäs & David J. Roelfs & Eran Shor & Christa Moore & Thomas Reece, 2017. "J-Curve? A Meta-Analysis and Meta-Regression of Parity and Parental Mortality," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 36(2), pages 273-308, April.
    10. Grundy, Emily & Kravdal, Øystein, 2010. "Fertility history and cause-specific mortality: A register-based analysis of complete cohorts of Norwegian women and men," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 70(11), pages 1847-1857, June.
    11. Barclay, Kieron & Keenan, Katherine & Grundy, Emily & Kolk, Martin & Myrskylä, Mikko, 2016. "Reproductive history and post-reproductive mortality: A sibling comparison analysis using Swedish register data," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 155(C), pages 82-92.
    12. Zachary Zimmer & Heidi A. Hanson & Ken R. Smith, 2016. "Offspring Socioeconomic Status and Parent Mortality Within a Historical Population," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 53(5), pages 1583-1603, October.
    13. Barclay, Kieron & Keenan, Katherine & Grundy, Emily & Kolk, Martin & Myrskylä, Mikko, 2016. "Reproductive history and post-reproductive mortality: a sibling comparison analysis using Swedish register data," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 65602, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    14. George Alter & Martin Dribe & Frans Poppel, 2007. "Widowhood, family size, and post-reproductive Mortality: a comparative Analysis of three populations in Nineteenth-Century Europe," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 44(4), pages 785-806, November.
    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. Pilar Zueras & Roberta Rutigliano & Sergi Trias-Llimós, 2020. "Marital status, living arrangements, and mortality in middle and older age in Europe," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 65(5), pages 627-636, June.
    2. Alexander M. Danzer & Lennard Zyska, 2023. "Pensions and Fertility: Microeconomic Evidence," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 15(2), pages 126-165, May.
    3. Pilar Zueras & Roberta Rutigliano & Sergi Trias-Llimós, 0. "Marital status, living arrangements, and mortality in middle and older age in Europe," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 0, pages 1-10.
    4. Ellwardt, Lea & Hank, Karsten & Mendes de Leon, Carlos F., 2021. "Grandparenthood and risk of mortality: Findings from the Health and Retirement Study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 268(C).
    5. Hal Caswell, 2020. "The formal demography of kinship II: Multistate models, parity, and sibship," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 42(38), pages 1097-1146.

    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. Robin S. Högnäs & David J. Roelfs & Eran Shor & Christa Moore & Thomas Reece, 2017. "J-Curve? A Meta-Analysis and Meta-Regression of Parity and Parental Mortality," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 36(2), pages 273-308, April.
    2. Maria Sironi & George B. Ploubidis & Emily M. Grundy, 2020. "Fertility History and Biomarkers Using Prospective Data: Evidence From the 1958 National Child Development Study," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 57(2), pages 529-558, April.
    3. Kieron J. Barclay & Martin Kolk, 2019. "The influence of health in early adulthood on male fertility," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2019-020, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.
    4. Kaiyun Xue & Yafeng Nie & Yue Wang & Zhen Hu, 2022. "Number of Births and Later-Life Depression in Older Adults: Evidence from China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(18), pages 1-13, September.
    5. 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.
    6. Cristina Giudici & Silvia Polettini & Alessandra Rose & Nicolas Brouard, 2019. "Which Aspects of Elderly Living Conditions are Important to Predict Mortality? The Complex Role of Family Ties at Home and in Institutions," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 142(3), pages 1255-1283, April.
    7. 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".
    8. Wilson, Chris M. & Oswald, Andrew J., 2005. "How Does Marriage Affect Physical and Psychological Health? A Survey of the Longitudinal Evidence," Economic Research Papers 269622, University of Warwick - Department of Economics.
    9. Jiang, Nan & Kaushal, Neeraj, 2020. "How children's education affects caregiving: Evidence from parent’s last years of life," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 38(C).
    10. Kieron Barclay & Martin Kolk, 2020. "The Influence of Health in Early Adulthood on Male Fertility," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 46(4), pages 757-785, December.
    11. 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.
    12. Espinosa, Javier & Evans, William N., 2008. "Heightened mortality after the death of a spouse: Marriage protection or marriage selection?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(5), pages 1326-1342, September.
    13. Nan Jiang, 2019. "Adult Children’s Education and Later-Life Health of Parents in China: The Intergenerational Effects of Human Capital Investment," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 145(1), pages 257-278, August.
    14. Arpino, Bruno & Gumà, Jordi & Julià, Albert, 2023. "Non-standard family histories and wellbeing at older ages," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 338(C).
    15. Joseph Wolfe & Shawn Bauldry & Melissa Hardy & Eliza Pavalko, 2018. "Multigenerational socioeconomic attainments and mortality among older men: An adjacent generations approach," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 39(26), pages 719-752.
    16. Eran Shor & David Roelfs & Misty Curreli & Lynn Clemow & Matthew Burg & Joseph Schwartz, 2012. "Widowhood and Mortality: A Meta-Analysis and Meta-Regression," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 49(2), pages 575-606, May.
    17. Lisa Becker & Sarah Negash & Nadja Kartschmit & Alexander Kluttig & Rafael Mikolajczyk, 2021. "Association between Parenthood and Health Behaviour in Later Life—Results from the Population-Based CARLA Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(1), pages 1-12, December.
    18. Sirois, Catherine, 2020. "The strain of sons' incarceration on mothers’ health," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 264(C).
    19. Lundborg, Petter & Majlesi, Kaveh, 2018. "Intergenerational transmission of human capital: Is it a one-way street?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 206-220.
    20. Ribar, David C., 2004. "What Do Social Scientists Know About the Benefits of Marriage? A Review of Quantitative Methodologies," IZA Discussion Papers 998, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

    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:spr:eurpop:v:35:y:2019:i:1:d:10.1007_s10680-018-9469-1. 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.