Gender differences in the link between childhood socioeconomic conditions and heart attack risk in adulthood

A growing body of evidence shows that childhood socioeconomic status (SES) is predictive of disease risk in later life, with those from the most disadvantaged backgrounds more likely to experience poor adult-health outcomes. Most of these studies, however are based on middle-aged male populations and pay insufficient attention to the pathways between childhood risks and specific adult disorders. This article examines gender differences in the link between childhood SES and heart attack risk trajectories and the mechanisms by which early environments affect future disease risk. By using methods that model both latent and path-specific influences, we identify heterogeneity in early life conditions and human, social, and health capital in adulthood that contribute to diverse heart attack risk trajectories between and among men and women as they age into their 60s and 70s. We find that key risk factors for heart attack operate differently for men and women. For men, childhood SES does not differentiate those at low, increasing, and high risk for heart attack. In contrast, women who grew up without a father and/or under adverse economic conditions are the most likely to experience elevated risk for heart attack, even after we adjust for the unequal distribution of working and living conditions, social relationships, access to health care, and adult lifestyle behaviors that influence health outcomes.     

Childhood disadvantages and the timing of the onset of natural menopause in Latin America and the Caribbean

The aim of this study is to investigate the association of early life factors with the timing of the onset of natural menopause in Costa Rica and Puerto Rico. We use Cox proportional hazard models to estimate the risk of the onset of menopause. Our results suggest that socioeconomic disadvantages, as expressed by difficulties attending school due to economic hardships or parents never living together, increase the risk of the onset of natural menopause among Puerto Rican women. Among Costa Rican women, early life nutrition, estimated using anthropometric measures, is related to the timing of the onset of natural menopause.     

Life with and without heart disease among women and men over 50

This article uses a demographic approach and data from the Health and Retirement Survey, a nationally representative sample of the U.S. population, to investigate sex differences in the length of life lived with heart disease and after a heart attack for persons in the United States age 50 and older. On average, women live longer than men with heart disease. At age 50 women can expect to live 7.9 years and men 6.7 years with heart disease. The average woman experiences heart disease onset three years older and heart attacks 4.4 years older than men.     

Bias in Age at Marriage in Family Reconstitutions: Evidence from French-Canadian Data

Age-at-marriage estimates from family reconstitutions may be biased downward when they are based only on marriages of people who continue to live in their parish of birth, because when the probability of migrating rises with age, younger people are selected in preference to older ones. Micro-simulations show that the bias can have dramatic effects. In this paper French-Canadian data are used to investigate the importance of the bias and to verify empirically the micro-simulation results. Although a high proportion of people moved between birth and marriage, the bias had virtually no effect, given the specific characteristics of the migrations. If one cannot avoid discussing the timing of migration before marriage, when measuring age at first marriage using only data on “stayers”, it is just possible that in most settings, it is the same for those who lived in their parish of birth, and those who had moved.     

Labor market structure and fertility differences among Puerto Rican women: The effects of economic and social policies on opportunity costs

The oft-observed inverse relationship between economic activity in the formal or informal sector and levels of fertility is attributed to the opportunity costs of reproduction. The economic and social policies that initiate and maintain the substantial flow of federal transfer payments to the Puerto Rican population is likely to reduce the opportunity costs among women participating in the informal economy; therefore, informal labor market participants will have fertility levels more like women who have never worked than like women active in the formal labor market. Using data from the 1982 Puerto Rican Fertility and Family Planning Assessment, this paper compares fertility differentials among ever-married women who have never worked, who have ever worked in the informal economy, and who have only worked in the formal economy. Contrary to expectations, the fertility levels of informal labor market participants are more like those of formal labor market participants; economic activity in either sector is associated with bearing fewer children. Federal transfer payments do not appear to reduce the opportunity costs of reproduction among women employed in the informal economy. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 1989 meeting of the Population Association of America.     

Intergenerational Profiles of Socioeconomic (Dis)advantage and Obesity During the Transition to Adulthood

Investigations of socioeconomic status (SES) and health during the transition to adulthood in the United States are complicated by the later and more varied transitions in residence, employment, schooling, and social roles compared with previous generations. Parental SES is an important influence during adolescence but cannot sufficiently capture the SES of the independent young adult. Typical, single SES indicators based on income or education likely misclassify the SES of young adults who have not yet completed their education or other training, or who have entered the labor force early with ultimately lower status attainment. We use a latent class analysis (LCA) framework to characterize five intergenerational SES groups, combining multidimensional SES information from two time points—that is, adolescent (parental) and young adult (self) SES data. Associations of these groups with obesity, a high-risk health outcome in young adults, revealed nuanced relationships not seen using traditional intergenerational SES measures. In males, for example, a middle-class upbringing in adolescence and continued material advantage into adulthood was associated with nearly as high obesity as a working poor upbringing and early, detrimental transitions. This intergenerational typology of early SES exposure facilitates understanding of SES and health during young adulthood.     

Poverty and Problem Behaviors across the Early Life Course: The Role of Sensitive Period Exposure

Research routinely finds that children exposed to poverty exhibit more problem behaviors than their nonexposed counterparts. This research, however, lacks developmental specificity with regard to timing and the pathways by which poverty exposures manifest across the early life course. I utilized 15 years of prospective data from the Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development to assess how poverty exposures and financial strains at different ages (0–1, 2–5, and 15) were related to problem behaviors during early childhood (ages 2–5), late childhood (ages 5–12), and adolescence (age 15). Results show that poverty exposures during infancy and to a lesser extent early childhood were robust predictors of problem behaviors in early childhood, late childhood, and adolescence because they were linked to more problem behaviors at younger ages, which persisted over time. These associations partially operated through financial strain. Poverty during adolescence was mostly unrelated to problem behaviors during adolescence after taking into account exposures at younger ages. Overall, this study provided initial evidence that poverty exposure during infancy may have lasting implications for problem behaviors across the early life course.     

Longitudinal determinants of mobility: new evidence for Indigenous children and their carers

In this paper, I used data from Wave 1 and Wave 2 of the Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Children (LSIC) to look at the factors associated with the probability of an Indigenous child and their carer changing usual residence over a (roughly) one-year timespan. A number of new insights emerge from the analysis. First, those carers of Indigenous children who changed usual residence in the year leading up to Wave 1 of the LSIC were more likely to change usual residence again in the year (or so) that followed. Second, the older the carer, the lower the probability of moving, reflecting the lifecourse patterns of mobility. Third, those who lived in mixed Indigenous and non-Indigenous households had higher levels of mobility than those who lived in Indigenous-only households. The fourth main insight was that the characteristics of one’s dwelling seem to be more important factors in explaining population movement than the characteristics of the area in which one lives. Arguably, the most important insight from the paper is the ability of longitudinal data like the LSIC to provide answers to important policy questions.     

Extended family households among children in the United States: Differences by race/ethnicity and socio-economic status

This study uses nationally representative longitudinal data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, to examine the prevalence and predictors of extended family households among children in the United States and to explore variation by race/ethnicity and socio-economic status (SES). Findings suggest that extended family households are a common living arrangement for children, with 35?per cent of youth experiencing this family structure before age 18. Racial/ethnic and SES differences are substantial: 57?per cent of Black and 35?per cent of Hispanic children ever live in an extended family, compared with 20?per cent of White children. Further, 47?per cent of children whose parents did not finish high school spend time in an extended family, relative to 17?per cent of children whose parents earned a bachelor's degree or higher. Models of predictors show that transitions into extended families are largely a response to social and economic needs.     

Older Women on the U.S.-México Border: Exploring the Health of Hispanics and Non-Hispanic Whites

ABSTRACT

Research on ethnicity and socioeconomic status (SES) suggests that Hispanics are more likely than non-Hispanic Whites to experience poverty and low levels of education, which may relate to poorer health status. This study used a health survey to examine income, education, ethnicity, birthplace, and age on self-reported health factors of women age 60 and older on the U.S.-México border. Results show that income, age, and education were significantly associated with several health factors (Physical Health, Emotional Health, General Health, Energy Level, and Activity Potential). Older women with lower SES, regardless of ethnicity, reported poorer health than younger-old women with higher SES.     

Cumulative Childhood Adversity,Educational Attainment,and Active Life Expectancy Among U.S. Adults

Studies of the early-life origins of adult physical functioning and mortality have found that childhood health and socioeconomic context are important predictors, often irrespective of adult experiences. However, these studies have generally assessed functioning and mortality as distinct processes and used cross-sectional prevalence estimates that neglect the interplay of disability incidence, recovery, and mortality. Here, we examine whether early-life disadvantages both shorten lives and increase the number and fraction of years lived with functional impairment. We also examine the degree to which educational attainment mediates and moderates the health consequences of early-life disadvantages. Using the 1998–2008 Health and Retirement Study, we examine these questions for non-Hispanic whites and blacks aged 50–100 years using multistate life tables. Within levels of educational attainment, adults from disadvantaged childhoods lived fewer total and active years, and spent a greater portion of life impaired compared with adults from advantaged childhoods. Higher levels of education did not ameliorate the health consequences of disadvantaged childhoods. However, because education had a larger impact on health than did childhood socioeconomic context, adults from disadvantaged childhoods who achieved high education levels often had total and active life expectancies that were similar to or better than those of adults from advantaged childhoods who achieved low education levels.     

The transition to parenthood in Puerto Rico: Occupational status and the timing of first births

This study examines the relationship between occupational status and fertility timing during a period of rapid development in Puerto Rico. Our fundamental hypothesis is that women with higher status occupations face greater opportunity costs than those with less valued jobs and therefore will be more likely to postpone parenthood until later ages than women without such high costs. We test this hypothesis using event history techniques with data from the 1982 Puerto Rico Fertility and Family Planning Assessment, an island-wide survey of women between the ages of 15 and 49. The analysis examines the effects of occupational status on the timing of first births, and finds strong support for the basic hypothesis, especially regarding the post-ponement of teen births. After the teen years, the effects are less pronounced. Overall, it appears that employment opportunities have played an important role in childbearing decisions in Puerto Rico.An earlier version of this paper was presented at the annual meeting of the Population Association of America, Denver, Colorado, 30 April–2 May 1992.     

Older women on the U.S.-Mexico border: exploring the health of Hispanics and non-Hispanics Whites

Research on ethnicity and socioeconomic status (SES) suggests that Hispanics are more likely than non-Hispanic Whites to experience poverty and low levels of education, which may relate to poorer health status. This study used a health survey to examine income, education, ethnicity, birthplace, and age on self-reported health factors of women age 60 and older on the U.S.-Mexico border. Results show that income, age, and education were significantly associated with several health factors (Physical Health, Emotional Health, General Health, Energy Level, and Activity Potential). Older women with lower SES, regardless of ethnicity, reported poorer health than younger-old women with higher SES.     

Sleep Behaviors in Older African American Females Reporting Nonmalignant Chronic Pain: Understanding the Psychosocial Implications of General Sleep Disturbance

This study examined factors that influence sleep quality in older African American women (N = 181) reporting chronic pain. Participants completed a series of questions assessing demographic and behavioral characteristics, health status, pain intensity, and sleep disturbance. Findings indicated that younger participants and those experiencing poorer physical functioning reported more difficulty sleeping due to pain. Similarly, participants who reported being awakened from sleep due to pain were younger and experienced greater pain intensity. Understanding the relationship between sleep and pain in this group of women may be useful in promoting effective disease management and sleep awareness among patients, caregivers, and healthcare professionals.     

Education of adult children and mortality of their elderly parents in Taiwan

In societies in which families are highly integrated, the education of family members may be linked to survival. Such may be the case in Taiwan, where there are large gaps in levels of education across generations and high levels of resource transfers between family members. This study employs 14 years of longitudinal data from Taiwan to examine the combined effects of the education of older adults and their adult children on the mortality outcomes of older adults. We use nested Gompertz hazard models to evaluate the importance of the education of an older adult and his or her highest-educated child after controlling for socioeconomic, demographic, and health characteristics at baseline. To gain further insight, we fit additional models based on the sample stratified by whether older adults report serious diseases at baseline. The results indicate that the educational levels of both older adults and children are associated with older adult mortality, but children's education appears more important when we examine the mortality of only those older adults who already report a serious disease. This finding suggests that there may be different roles for education in the onset versus the progression of a health problem that may lead to death.     

Age at Arrival and Life Chances Among Childhood Immigrants

This study examines the causal relationship between childhood immigrants’ age at arrival and their life chances as adults. I analyze panel data on siblings from Norwegian administrative registries, which enables me to disentangle the effect of age at arrival on adult socioeconomic outcomes from all fixed family-level conditions and endowments shared by siblings. Results from sibling fixed-effects models reveal a progressively stronger adverse influence of immigration at later stages of childhood on completed education, employment, adult earnings, occupational attainment, and social welfare assistance. The persistence of these relationships within families indicates that experiences related to the timing of childhood immigration have causal effects on later-life outcomes. These age-at-arrival effects are considerably stronger among children who arrive from geographically distant and economically less-developed origin regions than among children originating from developed countries. The age-at-arrival effects vary less by parental education and child gender. On the whole, the findings indicate that childhood immigration after an early-life formative period tends to constrain later human capital formation and economic opportunities over the life course.     

The effect of divorce on intergenerational transfers: New evidence

This paper draws on new data on intergenerational transfers of time and money that were collected in the Panel Study of Income Dynamics. We use these data to examine the effects of divorce on these transfers. We find that the timing of divorce is critical. Fathers and mothers involved in late divorces have similar levels of transfers with their adult children, while divorce during a child’s childhood years increases transfers with mothers and sharply lowers them with fathers. Somewhat surprisingly, we find no evidence that divorced fathers who paid child support are more likely to be involved in intergenerational transfers than those who did not pay child support.     

The Relationship Between Socioeconomic Factors,Wellbeing, and Homosexuality in the Theatrical Profession

This article relates to the theory suggesting that there is a prevalence of male homosexuality within the theatrical profession that can be explained through male performers becoming homosexual due to their low socioeconomic position. In a questionnaire-based study, the socioeconomic status (SES) is measured of 121 homosexual performers who considered themselves to have been heterosexual at the time of joining the profession, and results are compared with a control group of 121 heterosexual male performers. The experimental group was chosen in this way due to the suggestion of the hypothesis that the change in sexual orientation occurs after the man begins performing professionally. Results were not significant and little difference was noted in any of the parameters of SES, including annual earnings and home ownership. However, a marginal though insignificant increase in SES was noted in the experimental group of homosexual men. Consequently, existing theories for homosexuality and possible reasons for the high prevalence within the performing profession are discussed; the notions of adult performing and creativity being extensions of childhood gender atypical behavior are considered and possible links between sexual orientation and these traits. Elements of genetic heritability of homosexuality are likewise implicated.     

Family configuration and adolescent sexual attitudes and behavior

Several measures of family configuration, derived from the number, age, and sex of siblings and the number of parents, were related to adolescent sexual attitudes and behavior in a sample of 836 high school-aged teenagers from two Western states. Zero-order correlations showed that sexual intercourseexperience was less common among adolescents who lived with both parents and also among those who had younger siblings. Similarly, the zero-order correlations showed least permissiveattitudes among adolescents who had more siblings, especially younger siblings, and among those who lived with both parents. Controlling for adolescents' age, sex, race, religion, church attendance, and parents' educational attainment, however, essentially eliminated the relationships between family configuration variables and sexual attitudes and behavior. Only parents' marital structure, reflecting whether adolescents lived with both original parents or not, continued to be weakly related to adolescents' sexual attitudes and behvior.     

Domestic Harm and Neglect Among Lesbian,Gay, and Bisexual Older Adults

This study examined harm, hurt, and neglect by caregivers as well as self-neglect and physical and mental health status among 113 lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) older adults aged 60–88 years, who attended community-based social and recreation programs or groups in the United States. Reporting on their experiences with caregivers, 22.1% of the participants experienced at least one type of harm, including physical, emotional, verbal, sexual, financial, and neglectful; additionally, 25.7% of the participants reported they knew LGB older adults who experienced at least one type of harm from his or her caregiver. With regard to self-neglect, 62.8% reported experiencing it; those indicating positive psychological health reported fewer experiences with self-neglect.