scholarly journals Trajectories of Unsecured Debt across the Life Course and Mental Health at Midlife

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-79 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amy Ruining Sun ◽  
Jason N. Houle
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Depressive Symptoms ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Debt Accumulation ◽  
Unsecured Debt ◽  
Trajectory Models ◽  
Low Levels ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Life Course ◽  
Substantial Heterogeneity

In this paper, we contribute to a growing literature on debt and mental health and ask whether patterns of unsecured debt accumulation and repayment over two decades are associated with depressive symptoms at age 50. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Youth 1979 Cohort and group trajectory models, we have three key findings. First, we find substantial heterogeneity in debt trajectories across the life course. Second, respondents who report consistently high debt levels across the life course or who cycle in and out of high debt report significantly more depressive symptoms than respondents who hold consistently low levels of debt. These findings hold for both absolute and relative (debt-to-income) debt. Third, we find that the association between debt and depressive symptoms is strongest among respondents with less than a college degree, but we find less evidence for heterogeneity by race in this cohort.

Parental Death and Mid-adulthood Depressive Symptoms: The Importance of Life Course Stage and Parent’s Gender

2021 ◽  
pp. 002214652110611
Author(s):  
Christina Kamis ◽  
Allison Stolte ◽  
Molly Copeland
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Depressive Symptoms ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Parental Death ◽  
Life Course Perspective ◽  
Parental Bereavement ◽  
Adult Health ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
Using Data

Traditional theories of grief suggest that individuals experience short-term increases in depressive symptoms following the death of a parent. However, growing evidence indicates that effects of parental bereavement may persist. Situating the short- and long-term effects of parental death within the life course perspective, we assess the combined influence of time since loss and life course stage at bereavement on mental health for maternal and paternal death. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (N = 11,877) to examine biological parental death from childhood to mid-adulthood, we find that those who experience recent maternal or paternal death have heightened depressive symptoms. Furthermore, those who experience maternal death in childhood or paternal death in young adulthood exhibit long-term consequences for mental health. Our findings underscore the theoretical importance of early life course stages and parent’s gender when determining whether depressive symptoms persist following parental bereavement.

scholarly journals Discrimination, Stress, and Health Across the Life Course

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 580-581
Author(s):  
Roland Thorpe ◽  
Carl Hill
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
Health Disparities ◽  
Depressive Symptoms ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Mortality Data ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Life Course ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Everyday Discrimination ◽  
African American Health

Abstract There is a paucity of research that seeks to understand why race disparities in health across the life course remain elusive. Two such explanations that have been garnering attention is stress and discrimination. This symposium contains papers seeking to address the impact of discrimination or stress on African American health or health disparities across the life course. First, Nguyen and colleagues examine 1) the associations between discrimination and objective and subjective social isolation and 2) how these associations vary by age in using data from the National Survey of American Life. Discrimination was positively associated with being subjectively isolated from friends only and family only. This relationship varied by age. Discrimination did not predict objective isolation. Second, Brown examines evidence of the black-white paradox in anxiety and depressive symptoms among older adults using data from 6,019 adults ages 52+ from the 2006 HRS. After adjusting for socioeconomic factors, everyday discrimination, chronic conditions, and chronic stress, there are no black-white differences in anxiety and depressive symptoms. Third, Cobb and colleagues investigate the joint consequences of multiple dimensions of perceived discrimination on mortality risk using mortality data from the 2006-2016 HRS. The authors report the number of attributed reasons for everyday discrimination is a particularly salient risk factor for mortality in later life. This collection of papers provides insights into how discrimination or stress impacts African American health or health disparities in middle to late life.

scholarly journals A Faith to Move Mountains? Childhood Abuse, Religious Change, and Mental Health at Midlife

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 461-461
Author(s):  
Laura Upenieks
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Childhood Abuse ◽  
Childhood Maltreatment ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The United States ◽  
Religious Attendance ◽  
Three Dimensions ◽  
Religious Importance ◽  
The Life Course

Abstract Of all the various forms of adversity experienced during childhood, childhood maltreatment (emotional and physical abuse) is shown to have the largest impacts on mental health and well-being. Yet we still have a limited understanding of why some victims of early maltreatment suffer immense mental health consequences later on in the life course, while others are able to cushion the blow of these early insults. Using two waves of data from the National Survey of Midlife Development in the United States (MIDUS), this study considers change in religiosity as a buffer across three dimensions for victims of childhood abuse: religious importance, attendance, and the specific act of seeking comfort through religion. Results suggest that increases in religious comfort during adulthood are positively associated with adult mental health for victims of abuse, while decreases in religious comfort over time were associated with worse mental health. Changes in religious attendance and religious importance were not significant associated with mental health for victims of abuse. Taken together, my results show that the stress-moderating effects of religion for victims of childhood maltreatment are contingent on the stability or increases or decreases in religiosity over the life course, which has been overlooked in previous work.

Older and Wiser? Age Moderates the Association Between Discrimination and Depressive Symptoms in American Indians and Alaska Natives

2021 ◽  
Vol 33 (7-8_suppl) ◽  
pp. 10S-17S
Author(s):  
Chad Danyluck ◽  
Irene V. Blair ◽  
Spero M. Manson ◽  
Mark L. Laudenslager ◽  
Stacie L. Daugherty ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Depressive Symptoms ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Racial Discrimination ◽  
Older Adult ◽  
American Indians ◽  
Age Differences ◽  
Alaska Natives ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Qualitative Work

Objectives: To examine age differences in the association between discrimination and depressive symptoms among urban American Indians and Alaska Natives (AI/AN). Methods: A sample of 303 urban AI/AN (18–78 years old) reported on lifetime and past-week experiences of racial discrimination and depressive symptoms. Depressive symptoms were regressed on racial discrimination, age, and their interaction, adjusting for demographic factors and other life stressors. Results: Lifetime and past-week discrimination were significantly associated with depressive symptoms, and these associations were stronger among younger than older adult AI/AN. Discussion: The results are consistent with prior reports in other populations, but this is the first such study to focus on AI/AN, and it highlights the importance of considering life course perspectives. Conclusions are limited by the cross-sectional nature of the data. Longitudinal and qualitative work is needed to understand why discrimination may have a stronger effect on mental health for younger than older AI/AN.

scholarly journals Theories of Personality

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cassandra M Brandes ◽  
Kathleen Wade Reardon ◽  
Jennifer L Tackett
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Academic Achievement ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Personality Traits ◽  
Interpersonal Relationships ◽  
Personality Development ◽  
Adult Individual ◽  
Foundational Research ◽  
The Life Course

The study of personality development has seen significant advances in the last two decades. For many years, youth and adult individual differences were studied from separate theoretical standpoints. However, more recent research has indicated that teenagers display personality traits in many of the same ways as adults. These personality traits are moderately stable throughout the life course, but there are important developmental shifts in their expression, structure, and maturation, especially in adolescence. This has resulted in an effort to study youth personality “in its own right” (Tackett, Kushner, De Fruyt, & Mervielde, 2013). Early personality associations with important lifelong outcomes including academic achievement, mental health, and interpersonal relationships further underscore the importance of studying traits in youth. Here we discuss current consensus and controversy on adolescent personality and highlight foundational research on the topic.

The Importance of School Attendance: Findings From the Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development on the Life-Course Effects of Truancy

2016 ◽  
Vol 63 (5) ◽  
pp. 592-612 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Rocque ◽  
Wesley G. Jennings ◽  
Alex R. Piquero ◽  
Turgut Ozkan ◽  
David P. Farrington
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Problem Drinking ◽  
School Attendance ◽  
Later Life ◽  
School Dropout ◽  
Life Outcomes ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Childhood Risk Factors ◽  
The Life Course ◽  
The Relationship

School dropout has been extensively studied in the literature as a correlate of negative life outcomes. A precursor to school dropout is truancy, the unexcused or illegitimate student absence from school. Few studies have examined the relationship between truancy and involvement in crime and adjustment more generally over the life-course. This study extends previous work by exploring whether truancy at age 12 to 14 is related to later life outcomes such as crime, aggression, and adjustment using data from the Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development. Results indicate that truancy has long-lasting associations with negative life outcomes, especially for non-violent crime and problem drinking. Importantly, these findings hold for certain outcomes controlling for a comprehensive host of environmental and individual childhood risk factors.

The Long-Term Impact of Childhood Disability on Mental Health Trajectories in Mid- to Late-Life

2021 ◽  
pp. 089826432110661
Author(s):  
Jessica S. West ◽  
Christina Kamis
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Depressive Symptoms ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Data File ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Childhood Disability ◽  
Aggregated Data ◽  
Growth Curve Models ◽  
Disability Status

Objectives We draw from the life course and stress process frameworks to examine how experiencing disability in early life influences mental health in adulthood. Methods Data come from the Health and Retirement Study Cross-Wave Childhood Health and Family Aggregated Data file (2008-2018, n = 15,289). Childhood disability status is a retrospective self-report of whether respondents were disabled for six months or more because of a health problem before the age of 16 ( n = 581). We used age-based growth curve models to construct trajectories of depressive symptoms by childhood disability status. Results Respondents who experienced childhood disability exhibit more depressive symptoms at age 50 compared to those who did not experience this stressor. However, there is no difference in the growth of depressive symptoms with age between these groups, suggesting maintained inequality over the late adulthood life course. Discussion Findings suggest that childhood disability has long-term implications for life course mental health.

Social Characteristics as Predictors of ADHD Labeling across the Life Course

2020 ◽  
pp. 215686932091653
Author(s):  
Melissa Thompson ◽  
Lindsey Wilkinson ◽  
Hyeyoung Woo
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Social Characteristics ◽  
Adult Health ◽  
Adhd Symptoms ◽  
Hyperactivity Disorder ◽  
National Longitudinal Study ◽  
The Social ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Life Course ◽  
First Time

Although originally considered to be a disorder of childhood, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is increasingly being diagnosed for the first time in adulthood. Yet we know little about the social characteristics (race, gender, and social class) of those first labeled in adulthood, how these differ from those first labeled in childhood/adolescence, and whether the ADHD label is applied proportionately across social groups given ADHD symptomology. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health, the current research considers how typifications of ADHD affect application of the ADHD label in childhood/adolescence and in adulthood. Results indicate that even after controlling for ADHD symptoms, social characteristics are important predictors of the ADHD label in childhood/adolescence but are less influential in predicting ADHD labeling in adulthood. Additionally, results indicate the importance of race in moderating the association between childhood ADHD symptoms and application of the ADHD label throughout the life course.

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