Longitudinal and Life Course Studies (E-Journal)
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A lifetime of experience: modeling the labour market and family histories of older adults in Britain
Get PDFIn the context of the life course, it is difficult to understand outcomes and relationships among older adults independent of the experiences that precede them. In this paper, we use a latent class approach to model interdependent labour market and family experiences from late adolescence to retirement age among a group of older adults in Britain. We also assess how these experiences are related to economic resources and health at age 65. The data come from the retrospective life history files of the British Household Panel Survey and our sample included older adults born between 1927 and 1940. A two-stage latent class model facilitates assessment of the most likely combinations of work and family roles at particular ages across the life course, and the pathways that link these experiences over time, incorporating the effects of gender and birth cohort. Model fit indices and theoretical considerations suggested that five latent life paths broadly characterized the work and family experiences of older adults in this sample. They were distinguished by gender, labour market and family care activities, marital status and the presence of children in the household. We noted better economic resource and mental health outcomes among the latent life pathways describing predominantly male experiences, but also note the heterogeneity of women’s experiences and their implications for economic and health outcomes at retirement age. We discuss the applicability of the latent class approach for modeling work and family histories for future research
The role of respondent characteristics in tracking on longitudinal surveys: evidence from the UK Millennium Cohort Study
Get PDFLongitudinal surveys typically devote considerable resources to tracking procedures designed to minimise attrition through failure to locate sample member who move. Although these tracking procedures are often very successful, there is relatively little methodological evidence about the relative success, and cost-effectiveness, of different tracking procedures (Couper and Ofstedal, 2009). This paper extends the existing literature by exploring the relative effectiveness of office tracking and field tracking and by examining the role of respondent characteristics as a determinant of tracking success rates. These issues are explored using the Millennium Cohort Study, a large-scale birth cohort study in the UK. The existing research on tracking procedures has been based on household panel surveys, but in the context of a birth cohort study with relatively high mobility rates among the study population and longer intervals between waves, the effectiveness of office tracking procedures is particularly important. Our main finding, that respondent characteristics are associated with the overall tracking success rate but do not have a significant association with office tracking success, implies that survey practitioners should consider ways of improving their tracking procedures certain groups of respondents
Social-biological transitions: how does the social become biological?
Get PDFThe present discussion paper sets forward a model within the life course perspective of how the social becomes biological. The model is intended to provide a framework for thinking about such questions as how does social class get into the molecules, cells and tissues of the body to produce social class differences in life expectancy and cause of death? A categorisation of social exposures and biological processes is suggested; and some principles governing their inter-relations proposed. The paper ends by suggesting two public health applications of this approach
Does a stepped approach using mixed-mode data collection reduce attrition problems in a longitudinal mental health study?
Get PDFAccording to epidemiological standards for longitudinal studies, any appropriate attempt should be made to reach a high response rate. This also concerns re-contacting respondents in follow-up waves. In the Netherlands Study of Depression and Anxiety (NESDA), respondents, who refused to visit the study site for a follow-up interview and would have been lost in a single step approach, were offered an interview at their home (in a second step) or an interview by telephone (in a third step). The stepped approach intended to increase response rates, but as a by-product, the switching of the interview response setting introduced effects due to the three different modes for obtaining data. This study aimed to evaluate the benefits and detriments of the introduction of a stepped approach using mixed-mode data collection. The attained attrition in the stepped approach was compared to the attrition rate that would have been achieved if the design had remained in a single mode. Logistic regression models were used to study if the attrition was related to patient characteristics, i.e. the attrition was selective. Propensity score matching was used to study if similar respondents reacted differently to different modes. The stepped approach using mixed-mode collection reduced the attrition from 22% to 13%, while the selectivity of the attrition was reduced on almost all socio-demographic variables, although the selectivity increased in variables that reflect the respondents’ mental health. Propensity score matching demonstrated no evidence of mode effects. Although the introduction of the stepped approach using mixed mode data collection did not completely solve the problem of attrition, we conclude that adding different modes was worthwhile
Siblings and child development
Get PDFHaving many siblings, or none, may impair, or improve, a child’s development compared to being part of a two-child family. Any effect may vary for different aspects of development. This note describes, cross-sectionally, the observed association between child development at ages 3 to 7 years and the number of co-resident siblings, at three sweeps of the UK Millennium Cohort Study. Indicators of cognitive development (verbal and non-verbal), are taken from surveys at ages 3, 5 and 7 years. Behavioural problems are reported at the three surveys on the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. We analyze its five sub-scales separately, and also the Total Difficulties score. For each of 26 outcomes, we estimate the risk of falling into the most problematic 10% of the child population, depending on the number of siblings at each survey, controlling for the child’s gender and the level of the mother’s education. In this descriptive exercise, maternal education stands in for a host of possible social covariates; and allows for the least educated mothers having larger families. Children with two or more siblings generally showed increased odds of adverse outcomes, especially in cognition at age 3. This is in line with the hypothesis of resource dilution, but only-children tend, for some outcomes, to score worse than those in two-child families. The odds ratios (ORs) for boys were, except one, unfavourable, of similar magnitude to estimates for larger families. The disadvantages associated with low maternal education were generally greater. These explorations lay the ground for longitudinal modelling of causal pathways
Work and family over the life-course. A typology of French long-lasting couples using optimal matching
Get PDFDecisions regarding the division of labour are part of a dynamic process of negotiation between partners and thus develop throughout the life cycle, in relation to family events such as successive childbirths.This article investigates the degree of interaction between work and family of both partners in the long run over the life course. Using an innovative methodology, optimal matching analysis, and data from the French Family and Employers Survey (2004-05), it defines a typology of work-family strategies for about 950 long-lasting couples observed from 3 years before couple formation to 18 years later, and identifies related key life-course stages. Finally, it analyses the factors leading to the various trajectories, and assesses whether preferences or opportunities and constraints greatly influence couples’ profiles. Results bring to light a wide variety of work-family patterns, where the number of children and the woman’s employment trajectory are the key determinants of these couple profiles. In spite of the trend towards equal opportunities, only women adapt their work patterns, except in the most “work-oriented couples”. They use several strategies, by adjusting sequence and timing of births. In line with the standard human capital approach, partners’ initial relative endowments influence couples’ histories. A more traditional division of work is observed among less educated men and women, while women with greater human capital are more likely to remain employed through the transition to parenthood, whatever their partner’s level of education
Childhood friendships and the clustering of adverse circumstances in adulthood - a longitudinal study of a Stockholm cohort
Get PDFFriendships constitute a central feature of childhood, yet little is known about the developmental significance extending beyond childhood and adolescence. The aim of the present study was therefore to investigate the association between childhood friendships and adult outcomes. Since many outcomes in adulthood go hand in hand, the outcome pattern as a whole was targeted. Based on a longitudinal data material consisting of more than 14,000 individuals born in Stockholm in 1953, a cluster analysis of adult circumstances (1992-2007) was first conducted. Second, the association between three indicators of childhood friendships (1966) and the outcome profiles was analysed by means of multinomial regression analysis. The results indicated that children who lacked leisure time friends and a best friend in the school class had increased risks of ending up in the more adverse clusters as adults, whereas the opposite association was found for those who reported being solitary. The effect of childhood friendships was rather consistent across both single and multiple problems, suggesting that the disadvantages of being without friends in childhood do not accumulate over the life course to any large extent. Generally, the results were the same for males and females. It is concluded that childhood friendships are important for adverse circumstances in adulthood, for both genders. As far as the long-lasting effects of children's friendships involve varying access to social support, school-based interventions should compensate for the scarcity of support following the lack of childhood friends