Childbearing Biographies and Midlife Women's Health.

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

We introduce a "childbearing biography" approach to show how multiple childbearing characteristics cluster in ways significant for midlife health.

Methods

We analyze the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (NLSY79; N = 3992) using mixed-mode Latent Class Analysis with eight childbearing variables (e.g., age at first birth, parity, birth spacing, and mistimed births) to identify how childbearing biographies are associated with midlife health, adjusting for key covariates-including socioeconomic status (SES) and relationship history.

Results

We identify six childbearing biographies: (1) early compressed, (2) staggered, (3) extended high parity, (4) later, (5) married planned, and (6) childfree. Childbearing biographies are strongly associated wi

SUBMITTER: Thomeer MB 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9346094 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature