Changing Family Trajectories and Their Impact on Men’s and Women’s Mental Health. The Case of 1958 and 1970 British Cohorts

Roberta R. Rutigliano , University of the Basque COuntry- Bilbao
Anna Barbuscia, University of Oxford
Danilo Bolano, Bocconi University
Maria Sironi, University College London

Over the past century, individuals’ family trajectories have become more complex, dramatically changing their prevalence, timing, and complexity. Extensive literature has documented how family trajectories have changed over time, however, very few studies have analyzed the impact of these trajectories on different health outcomes. No study has checked whether more diverse family formation trajectories are associated with different levels of mid-life mental health outcomes. In the current study, we aim to fill this gap. Using data from the British Cohort Study, and adopting a holistic approach, we implement sequence analysis to identify changes in family trajectories over time. Thus, we analyze the impact on mental health of family trajectories separately for men and women born in 1958 and 1970, respectively. In line with previous literature, we find more diverse family trajectories in the most recent cohort with the emergence of new types of unions (e.g., cohabitation), the decline of single motherhood, and the spread of childlessness for men. In the multivariate analysis, we find that family trajectories negatively impacted men’s mental health only in 1970, with singlehood and childlessness being the most detrimental trajectories. We find a negative impact of family trajectories for women in both cohorts. mainly driven by nontraditional trajectories.

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 Presented in Session 71. Mental and Cognitive Health