Depression in Later Life: The Role of Adult Children's College Education for Older Parents' Mental Health in the United States.

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

Research on the socioeconomic gradient in mental health links disadvantaged family background with subsequent symptoms of depression, demonstrating the "downstream" effect of parental resources on children's mental health. This study takes a different approach by evaluating the "upstream" influence of adult children's educational attainment on parents' depressive symptoms.

Methods

Using longitudinal data from the U.S. Health and Retirement Study (N = 106,517 person-years), we examine whether children's college attainment influences their parents' mental health in later life and whether this association increases with parental age. We also assess whether the link between children's college completion and parents' depression differs by parents' own education.

Res

SUBMITTER: Yahirun JJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7530494 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature