Childbearing history, later-life health, and mortality in Germany

Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel, we investigated the role of childbearing history in later-life health and mortality, paying particular attention to possible differences by sex and region. Higher parity is associated with better self-rated health in West German mothers and fathers ag...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Population studies 2010-11, Vol.64 (3), p.275-291
Main Author: Hank, Karsten
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Age
Age Factors
Aged
Aging
Birth
Children
Confidence Intervals
Data analysis
Federal Republic of Germany
Female
Female fertility
Fertility
Gender equality
German Socio-Economic Panel
Germany
Health
Health outcomes
Health Status
Health Status Indicators
Humans
life course
Linear Models
Logistic Models
Marital Status
Men
Mental Health
Middle Aged
Mortality
Mortality - trends
Mortality Rates
Mothers
Odds Ratio
Parturition
Physical health
Poverty - statistics & numerical data
Pregnancy
Psychometrics
reproductive history
Sex Differences
Social conditions & trends
Socioeconomic Factors
Well Being
Women
Womens health
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel, we investigated the role of childbearing history in later-life health and mortality, paying particular attention to possible differences by sex and region. Higher parity is associated with better self-rated health in West German mothers and fathers aged 50+, but its relationship with East German women's physical health and survival is negative. Early motherhood is paralleled by poorer physical health in West Germany, whereas late motherhood is associated with lower psychological well-being in Eastern Germany. Moreover, among West German women, having had a non-marital first birth is weakly correlated with poorer physical health. Our findings support the notion of biosocial pathways playing an important role in shaping the fertility-health nexus. Specifically, the West German 'male-breadwinner' model of specialization appears to have buffered the stresses associated with childrearing, whereas fertility off the 'normative' life-course track appears to have had adverse effects on women's health in West Germany.
ISSN:0032-4728
1477-4747
DOI:10.1080/00324728.2010.506243