Non-standard family histories and wellbeing at older ages
Arpino, Bruno (Universitat Pompeu Fabra)
Gumà, Jordi (Universitat Pompeu Fabra)
Julià, Albert (Universitat de Barcelona)
Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Centre d'Estudis Sociològics sobre la Vida Quotidiana i el Treball

Date:	2023
Abstract:	The life course approach emphasizes that health and wellbeing at older ages are influenced by experiences occurred in the previous stages of life. We contribute to the literature by focusing on the role of the non-standardness of family histories and argue that individuals who experienced non-standard trajectories have been exposed to social sanctions throughout their life course with negative long-term consequences on wellbeing. In our study, non-standardness of family histories is the extent an individual's family history differs from those of the others within reference groups, defined combining birth cohort, gender and country of residence. Family histories between age of 15 and 49 are analyzed using Sequence Analysis, thus accounting for events related to fertility and union formation (marriage and cohabitation) and dissolution, and their timing. Dissimilarities between family sequences are measured using optimal matching and are standardized within the reference groups. We use retrospective data from the seventh wave of the Survey of Health Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) and estimate linear regression models to assess the association between non-standardness of family histories and older people's life satisfaction. Quality of life and depressive symptoms are examined in additional analyses. A negative association is found between non-standardness of family histories and wellbeing, which is stronger for lower educated individuals and in Southern European countries. Results are consistent with the idea that uncommon family behaviors may have a long-term negative effect on wellbeing. Individual resources and a more tolerant societal context can reduce or eliminate the negative consequences of engaging in non-standard family behaviors.
Rights:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, la comunicació pública de l'obra i la creació d'obres derivades, fins i tot amb finalitats comercials, sempre i quan es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Subject:	Fertility histories ; Older people ; Partnership histories ; SHARE ; Wellbeing
Published in:	Social science & medicine (1982), Vol. 338 (2023) , ISSN 1873-5347

DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2023.116350

10 p, 1.6 MB

The record appears in these collections:
Research literature > UAB research groups literature > Research Centres and Groups (research output) > Social and Legal Sciences > Centre for Demographic Studies (CED-CERCA)
Articles > Research articles
Articles > Published articles