Advanced Search

Journal Navigation

Journal Home

Subscriptions

Archive

Contact Us

Table of Contents

Click here to sign up for SAGE Journal Email Alerts today!

Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
Research on Aging
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
0164027508322575v1
30/6/722    most recent
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to Saved Citations
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Request Reprints
Right arrow Add to My Marked Citations
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Right arrow Citing Articles via Scopus
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Spence, N. J.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati  
What's this?

The Long-Term Consequences of Childbearing

Physical and Psychological Well-Being of Mothers in Later Life

Naomi J. Spence

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, spencen{at}email.unc.edu

Growing evidence points to relationships between patterns of childbearing and health outcomes for mothers; yet a need remains to clarify these relationships over the long term and to understand the underlying mechanisms. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Mature Women (N = 1,608), the author found that the long-term consequences of childbearing vary by health outcome. Early childbearing is associated with higher risk of activities of daily living limitations at ages 65 to 83, though effects appear stronger among White than Black mothers until socioeconomic status (SES) is controlled. Early childbearing is also associated with greater levels of depressive symptomatology, though this association is mediated by SES and health. Late childbearing is associated with more depressive symptoms net of early life and current SES, child proximity and support, and physical health. Finally, no significant effects of high parity are found. These findings emphasize the need to better understand the mechanisms linking childbearing histories to later physical and psychological well-being.

Key Words: fertility • disability • depression • life course • weathering hypothesis

This version was published on November 1, 2008

Research on Aging, Vol. 30, No. 6, 722-751 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/0164027508322575
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati    What's this?