Reproductive Patterns and Women's Later Life Health

• Other Authors: Spence, Naomi J. (authoraut)
• Format: Others
• Language: English; English
• Published: Florida State University
• Subjects: Sociology
• Online Access: http://purl.flvc.org/fsu/fd/FSU_migr_etd-1610

Fertility is central to the life experiences of women. As such, it has consequences for all aspects of their lives. Driven largely by contemporary trends in the timing of childbearing and family size, researchers have begun asking questions about the long-term consequences of women's reproductive patterns. This dissertation seeks to further our understanding of the relationship between women's reproductive patterns and later well-being by systematically investigating these relationships and possible mechanisms driving it. Using data collected over 35 years beginning in 1967 on a nationally representative cohort of mature women in the United States, I examine the relationship between non-normative reproductive patterns measured as 1) childlessness, 2) off-time childbearing by parity, 3) late childbearing, and 4) premarital childbearing and mortality, self-rated health, and depression. This dissertation has three main findings. First, the effects of non-normative childbearing are different across health outcomes, although some overlap does exist. Second, more extreme deviations from normative reproductive patterns have negative consequences for later life indirectly through social, economic, and health statuses. In particular, an early initiation of childbearing coupled with high parity is associated with an elevated mortality risk and worse self-rated health through the mechanism of lower educational attainment. Mothers who delay childbearing until at least the later twenties and achieve high parity tend to be more depressed and have worse self-rated health, but these effects are mediated by other health outcomes. Finally, I find that extending childbearing into the last decade of the reproductive period can be detrimental for the well-being of mothers in terms of their self-ratings of health. However, this is also accounted for by late life health, depression in particular. The findings of this dissertation highlight the need to consider multiple dimensions of reproductive patterns because of the demonstrated differences in their effects on later well-being, as well as multiple dimensions of life course correlates and consequences of reproductive patterns and health because of the demonstrated differences in the mediation of relationships of non-normative reproductive patterns and indicators of well-being. === A Dissertation Submitted to the Department of Sociology in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. === Fall Semester, 2006. === August 18, 2006. === Fertility, Mortality Health, Reproductive patterns, Life course === Includes bibliographical references. === Isaac Eberstein, Professor Directing Dissertation; Rebecca Miles, Outside Committee Member; Donald Lloyd, Committee Member; Elwood Carlson, Committee Member; Karin Brewster, Committee Member.