Arbeitspapier

Childbearing History, Later Life Health, and Mortality in Germany

Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel, we investigated the role of childbearing history in later life health and mortality, paying particular attention to possible differences by sex and region. Higher parity is associated with better self-rated health in Western German mothers and fathers aged 50+, but its relationship with Eastern German women's physical health and survival is negative. Early motherhood is paralleled by poorer physical health in West Germany, whereas late motherhood is associated with lower psychological well-being in East Germany. Moreover, among Western German women, having had a non-marital first birth is weakly correlated with lower physical health. Our findings support the notion of biosocial pathways playing an important role in shaping the fertility-health-nexus. Specifically, the Western German "male breadwinner" model of specialisation appears to have buffered the stresses associated with childrearing, whereas fertility off the "normative" life course track supposedly had adverse effects on women's health in West Germany.

Sprache
Englisch

Erschienen in
Series: SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research ; No. 305

Klassifikation
Wirtschaft
Thema
reproductive history
health
mortality
life course
SOEP
Fertilität
Lebensverlauf
Frauen
Gesundheit
Sterblichkeit
Deutschland

Ereignis
Geistige Schöpfung
(wer)
Hank, Karsten
Ereignis
Veröffentlichung
(wer)
Deutsches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung (DIW)
(wo)
Berlin
(wann)
2010

Handle
Letzte Aktualisierung
10.03.2025, 11:45 MEZ

Datenpartner

Dieses Objekt wird bereitgestellt von:
ZBW - Deutsche Zentralbibliothek für Wirtschaftswissenschaften - Leibniz-Informationszentrum Wirtschaft. Bei Fragen zum Objekt wenden Sie sich bitte an den Datenpartner.

Objekttyp

  • Arbeitspapier

Beteiligte

  • Hank, Karsten
  • Deutsches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung (DIW)

Entstanden

  • 2010

Ähnliche Objekte (12)