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The Family Life Course and Health: Partnership, Fertility Histories, and Later-Life Physical Health Trajectories in Australia

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  • Martin O’Flaherty

    (The University of Queensland
    The University of Queensland)

  • Janeen Baxter

    (The University of Queensland)

  • Michele Haynes

    (The University of Queensland)

  • Gavin Turrell

    (Queensland University of Technology)

Abstract

Life course perspectives suggest that later-life health reflects long-term social patterns over an individual’s life: in particular, the occurrence and timing of key roles and transitions. Such social patterns have been demonstrated empirically for multiple aspects of fertility and partnership histories, including timing of births and marriage, parity, and the presence and timing of a marital disruption. Most previous studies have, however, addressed particular aspects of fertility or partnership histories singly. We build on this research by examining how a holistic classification of family life course trajectories from ages 18 to 50, incorporating both fertility and partnership histories, is linked to later-life physical health for a sample of Australian residents. Our results indicate that long-term family life course trajectories are strongly linked to later-life health for men but only minimally for women. For men, family trajectories characterized by early family formation, no family formation, an early marital disruption, or high fertility are associated with poorer physical health. Among women, only those who experienced both a disrupted marital history and a high level of fertility were found to be in poorer health.

Suggested Citation

  • Martin O’Flaherty & Janeen Baxter & Michele Haynes & Gavin Turrell, 2016. "The Family Life Course and Health: Partnership, Fertility Histories, and Later-Life Physical Health Trajectories in Australia," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 53(3), pages 777-804, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:demogr:v:53:y:2016:i:3:d:10.1007_s13524-016-0478-6
    DOI: 10.1007/s13524-016-0478-6
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    2. Kaiyun Xue & Yafeng Nie & Yue Wang & Zhen Hu, 2022. "Number of Births and Later-Life Depression in Older Adults: Evidence from China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(18), pages 1-13, September.
    3. Miika Mäki & Anna Erika Hägglund & Anna Rotkirch & Sangita Kulathinal & Mikko Myrskylä, 2022. "Stable marital histories predict happiness and health across educational groups," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2022-035, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.
    4. Maria Sironi & George B. Ploubidis & Emily M. Grundy, 2020. "Fertility History and Biomarkers Using Prospective Data: Evidence From the 1958 National Child Development Study," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 57(2), pages 529-558, April.
    5. Sara Kalucza & Sergi Vidal & Karina Nilsson, 2021. "Intergenerational persistence of family formation trajectories among teenage-mothers and -fathers in Sweden," Journal of Population Research, Springer, vol. 38(3), pages 259-282, September.
    6. Zhu, Yajing & Steele, Fiona & Moustaki, Irini, 2020. "A multilevel structural equation model for the interrelationships between multiple latent dimensions of childhood socio‐economic circumstances, partnership transitions and mid‐life health," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 103104, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    7. Yajing Zhu & Fiona Steele & Irini Moustaki, 2020. "A multilevel structural equation model for the interrelationships between multiple latent dimensions of childhood socio‐economic circumstances, partnership transitions and mid‐life health," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 183(3), pages 1029-1050, June.
    8. Maria Sironi, 2019. "Fertility histories and chronic conditions later in life in Europe," European Journal of Ageing, Springer, vol. 16(3), pages 259-272, September.
    9. Bruno Arpino & Jordi Gumà & Albert Julià, 2018. "Early-life conditions and health at older ages: The mediating role of educational attainment, family and employment trajectories," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(4), pages 1-17, April.
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