Longitudinal and Life Course Studies (E-Journal)
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Vulnerability, scar, or reciprocal risk? Temporal ordering of self-esteem and depressive symptoms over 25 years
Full text linkThree models have been proposed to explain the temporal interrelation between self-esteem and symptoms of depression: vulnerability (self-esteem predicts future depressive symptoms), scar (depressive symptoms predict future self-esteem), and reciprocal risk (self-esteem and depressive symptoms predict each other in the future). This study tested these three models over 25 years in a sample of high school seniors surveyed six times from age 18 to 43 (n = 978) and in a separate sample of university graduates surveyed five times from age 23 to 30 (n = 589). In both samples, autoregressive cross-lagged modeling results were that self-esteem and symptoms of depression prospectively predicted each other at every measurement occasion. Additionally, the cross-lagged association from self-esteem to symptoms of depression and the corresponding link from depressive symptoms to future self-esteem were equally strong. These results provide support for the reciprocal risk model
A dialogue between research, politics, administration and the general public: an interview with Paul Bradshaw, Rainer Bromme, John Bynner, Manfred Egner, Harvey Goldstein and Alexander Renner
Full text linkThe interrelations between research, politics, administration and the general public are highly complex. In longitudinal research it might be especially necessary to focus on this relationship in more detail, as scientifically profound analyses regarding the development, processes, and transitions in life courses often require large, representative, carefully drawn, diligently tracked, and surveyed samples of participants. Therefore, longitudinal research needs persistent engagement of researchers, substantial and reliable funding, and a long-term commitment of participants. This paper is structured as an interview with experts from different areas and aims to contribute to the process of further fostering the discussion of the interplay between research, politics, administration and the general public
Temporal trends in energy and macronutrient distribution in meals eaten by children from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children
Full text linkCross-sectional studies have reported associations between frequency of eating, snacking, breakfast skipping, night-eating and obesity. However, there have been few investigations of longitudinal trends in time-of-day of energy and macronutrient intake. We investigated trends in time-of-day of energy and macronutrient intake in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children. Diet was assessed using 3d estimated diaries at ages 10 and 13 years. Diaries were divided into seven time slots: breakfast, mid-morning, lunch, mid-afternoon, dinner, late evening and extras. Trends in energy and macronutrient intake at different eating occasions between ages 10 and 13 years were assessed using linear mixed models after adjustment for age, maternal employment and child’s BMI. Lunch and dinner were found to contribute the greatest proportion of energy and macronutrient intake in both girls and boys at both ages. However, there was a shift in time-of-day of energy and macronutrient intake for both sexes, with greater proportions of intake between meals (mid-morning, late evening, extras) and lower proportion of intake at main meals (breakfast, dinner) at age 13 years compared to 10 years. Factors contributing to changes in energy and nutrient distribution warrant investigation and the implications of such changes in time-of-day of energy and nutrient intake on long-term health remains to be examined
Order or chaos? Understanding career mobility using categorical clustering and information theory
No full textWe examine the careers of a nationally representative US cohort of young adults using sequence analysis and information-theoretic techniques to describe these careers’ structure and how this structure might inform differences in wage mobility. We operationalise the career as a sequence of industry-occupation pairs observed quarterly. We investigate how the content of these pairs and their organisation over time relate to future mobility. We perform the analysis across three different mobility groups, one of which is characterised by persistent low-wage work. Contrary to what one might expect, low-wage work is not typified by a lack of structure, even in many of the careers in which the worker is weakly attached to the labour market. Using clustering techniques customised to this problem, we build a typology of careers within three groups of workers defined by their wage mobility. We find significant variation within, as well as similarity across the three groups, enhancing our understanding of careers with different levels of mobility
The Swiss Household Panel Study: Observing social change since 1999
Full text linkCollecting data on households and individuals since 1999, the Swiss Household Panel (SHP) is an ongoing, unique, large-scale, nationally representative, longitudinal study in Switzerland (N=7,383 households and N=12,119 persons interviewed in 2014). The data of the SHP provide a rich source of information to study social change in Switzerland over a significant period on a wide variety of topics. The SHP aims to provide both continuity and innovation in measurement and data collection, with the combination of retrospective and prospective longitudinal data in the most recent refreshment sample as one notable example of such an innovation. This paper provides an overview of the SHP – focusing on its origin, aims, design, content, data collection and adjustments, possibilities for cross-national comparisons, data use and accomplishments
Moving home in the early years: what happens to children in the UK?
Full text linkChildren’s early years are a time when many families move home. Does residential mobility affect children’s wellbeing at age five in terms of cognitive and behavioural development? The question arises as moving home is sometimes portrayed as a stressful life event adversely affecting child development, particularly if frequent. Other studies suggest a more mixed role for home moves, which may reflect good or bad changes in family circumstances. This paper first presents evidence from the first five years of the UK Millennium Cohort Study about who moved, how often and why. We find that many British families at this point in the life cycle move to improve the housing of a growing family. We then investigate the relationship between the number of moves and child outcomes. Generally, moving displays an adverse association with our three indicators of child development at age five. However the adverse association is statistically explained by changes in family structure, employment status, insecure housing tenure, and other controls for family vulnerabilities. Moving is better seen as sometimes a response to other family stressors. Differentiating moves in terms of their destination we find that moving into the 30% poorest areas, as well as ‘failing’ to move out of them, shows some adverse outcomes for children. After allowing for other associations with family disadvantage, also apparent in other studies of the Millennium Cohort, we find a small but significant disadvantage to living in low-income areas as well as moving within them
Understanding older adults’ labour market trajectories: a comparative gendered life course perspective
Full text linkThe recent push to keep older adults in the labour force glosses over who is likely to follow what kind of employment trajectory and why. In this paper, we broaden understandings of later-life labour market involvement by applying a comparative gendered life course perspective. Our data come from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe and the Health and Retirement Study (US), two representative panel studies of individuals aged 50-plus. Using a unique modeling strategy, we examine employment biographies for older women and men from four nations with diverse policy regimes (Germany, Italy, Sweden, and the US), along with their links to family experiences and earlier attachment to the labour force. We find that, in every nation, women prevail in groups representing a weak(er) attachment to the labour market and men in groups signifying a strong(er) attachment. However, this pattern is much stronger for Germany and Italy than for Sweden and the US. Similarly, both family experiences and prior employment matter more for later-life labour market involvement in Germany and Italy. Our findings demonstrate that older adults’ employment trajectories are gendered; moreover, there is evidence that they are influenced by policies related not only to paid work but also to caregiving, and by those affecting not only current decisions but also those made earlier in the life course
Heterogeneity in Chronic Disease Outcomes among Women and Men in Midlife: Examining the Role of Stability and Change in Childhood Economic Hardship
Full text linkIn this study, we advance existing research on the long-term effects of childhood disadvantage on health in adulthood by examining how the timing and duration of childhood economic hardship differentiates between those at low and high risk of chronic disease onset in midlife for women and men, across four different health outcomes. The study uses prospective data on childhood and adulthood from the US Panel Study of Income Dynamics. Discrete time hazard models are estimated using logistic regression to determine how experiences of childhood economic hardship affect the risk of disease onset in midlife differently for men and women. Results indicate that, in general, childhood economic context results in an increased risk of multiple diseases for women but not for men. Specifically, women who experienced long-term economic hardship in childhood, or began life in poverty but moved out of poverty in childhood, were more likely to experience the onset of diabetes, arthritis, and cardiovascular diseases in midlife, net of other factors, such as adult resources. The impact of childhood economic hardship on disease onset also varied by age for women but not for men, and this relationship was also dependent on the health outcome examined. This study draws attention to the importance of conceptualizing and measuring childhood disadvantage as dynamic, and reveals that the process of cumulative disadvantage may be different for women and men
