Life Course Transitions and Depressive Symptoms among Women in Midlife

Abstract

This study examined the relationship between three midlife transitions and depressive symptoms among 952 women 50 to 59 years of age. Using longitudinal data from women interviewed for the 1992 and 2000 Health and Retirement Study, the study described changes in marital status, change to a parental caregiving role, and changes in perceived health across the eight years. Further, it examined the impact of these changes on mental health. The findings indicate that becoming widowed, becoming a caregiver, and perceiving health declines significantly increased depressive symptoms in the year 2000, even when controlling for pre-transition levels of depressive symptoms. The findings are consistent with the lifecourse perspective that individual development occurs in context and across the lifespan. The findings confirm and add to current midlife research literature.

Mental and Physical Health Consequences of Spousal Health Shocks Among Older Adults

“…Additionally, due to small sample sizes of the health shocks, we cannot examine conditions separately or by cohort. Third, while social support and caregiving have been shown to be associated with health (Hahn et al, 2011;Turner et al, 2004), the RAND HRS data do not include these measures. Therefore, we are unable to determine whether these factors influence the association between spousal health and health of the partner.…”

Depressive Symptoms Following the Diagnosis of Major Chronic Illness

“…Specifically, we used the recoded version of the HRS data set, which was constructed by the RAND Center for the Study of Aging (RAND HRS Data 2011). The RAND data set is commonly used by researchers (e.g., Aneshensel et al 2011;Turner, Killian, and Cain 2004), as it facilitates reliable, cleaned, and recoded constructions of parsimonious variables from the HRS's complex and deep survey. Additionally, the RAND data set included imputed values constructed for variables used in this analysis.…”

Women of the 1950s and the “Normative” Life Course: The Implications of Childlessness, Fertility Timing, and Marital Status for Psychological Well-Being in Late Midlife

“…"Off-time," teen births have received the most attention, but less is known about normative and later births and their potential implications later in the life course (Rindfuss et al, 1988). Research on midlife well-being, on the other hand, has focused primarily on midlife transitions (e.g., Marks, Lambert, & Choi, 2002;Turner, Killian, & Cain, 2004) with less attention to longer term effects of earlier life paths.…”