Jennifer B. Kane

The Educational Consequences of Teen Childbearing

A huge literature shows that teen mothers face a variety of detriments across the life course, including truncated educational attainment. To what extent is this association causal? The estimated effects of teen motherhood on schooling vary widely, ranging from no discernible difference to 2.6 fewer years among teen mothers. The magnitude of educational consequences is therefore uncertain, despite voluminous policy and prevention efforts that rest on the assumption of a negative and presumably causal effect. This study adjudicates between two potential sources of inconsistency in the literature—methodological differences or cohort differences—by using a single, high-quality data source: namely, The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. We replicate analyses across four different statistical strategies: ordinary least squares regression; propensity score matching; and parametric and semiparametric maximum likelihood estimation. Results demonstrate educational consequences of teen childbearing, with estimated effects between 0.7 and 1.9 fewer years of schooling among teen mothers. We select our preferred estimate (0.7), derived from semiparametric maximum likelihood estimation, on the basis of weighing the strengths and limitations of each approach. Based on the range of estimated effects observed in our study, we speculate that variable statistical methods are the likely source of inconsistency in the past. We conclude by discussing implications for future research and policy, and recommend that future studies employ a similar multimethod approach to evaluate findings.

Optimal timing for elective egg freezing

OBJECTIVE To estimate the optimal age to pursue elective oocyte cryopreservation. DESIGN A decision-tree model was constructed to determine the success and cost-effectiveness of oocyte preservation versus no action when considered at ages 25-40 years, assuming an attempt at procreation 3, 5, or 7 years after initial decision. SETTING Not applicable. PATIENT(S) Hypothetical patients 25-40 years old presenting to discuss elective oocyte cryopreservation. INTERVENTION(S) Decision to cryopreserve oocytes from age 25 years to age 40 years versus taking no action. MAIN OUTCOME AND MEASURE(S) Probability of live birth after initial decision whether or not to cryopreserve oocytes. RESULT(S) Oocyte cryopreservation provided the greatest improvement in probability of live birth compared with no action (51.6% vs. 21.9%) when performed at age 37 years. The highest probability of live birth was seen when oocyte cryopreservation was performed at ages <34 years (>74%), although little benefit over no action was seen at ages 25-30 years (2.6%-7.1% increase). Oocyte cryopreservation was most cost-effective at age 37 years, at

Parents’ Marital Distress, Divorce, and Remarriage: Links With Daughters’ Early Family Formation Transitions

28,759 per each additional live birth in the oocyte cryopreservation group. When the probability of marriage was included, oocyte cryopreservation resulted in little improvement in live birth rates. CONCLUSION(S) Oocyte cryopreservation can be of great benefit to specific women and has the highest chance of success when performed at an earlier age. At age 37 years, oocyte cryopreservation has the largest benefit over no action and is most cost-effective.

An Integrative Model of Inter- and Intragenerational Preconception Processes Influencing Birthweight in the United States

The authors used data from the Add Health study to estimate the effects of parents’ marital status and relationship distress on daughters’ early family formation transitions. Outcomes included traditional transitions (marriage and marital births) and nontraditional transitions (cohabitation and nonmarital births). Relationship distress among continuously married parents was not related to any outcome. Offspring with single parents and remarried parents had an elevated risk of nonmarital births and nonmarital cohabitation. Offspring with remarried parents with a high-distress relationship had an elevated risk of early marriages and marital births. These results, combined with analyses of mediating variables, provide the strongest support for a modeling perspective, although some support also was found for a perspective based on escape from stress.

Neighborhood context and birth outcomes: Going beyond neighborhood disadvantage, incorporating affluence

Social inequalities in birthweight are an important population health concern as low birthweight is one mechanism through which inequalities are reproduced across generations. Yet, we do not understand what causes these social inequalities. This study draws together theoretic and empiric findings from disparate disciplines—sociology, economics, public health, and behavior genetics—to develop a new integrative intra- and intergenerational model of preconception processes influencing birthweight. This model is empirically tested using structural equation modeling and population-level data containing linked mother-daughter pairs from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY79) and the Children of the NLSY79 (N = 1,580 mother-daughter pairs). Results reveal that birthweight is shaped by preconception factors dating back to women’s early life environment as well as conditions dating back three generations, via integrative intra- and intergenerational processes. These processes reveal specific pathways through which social inequality can transmit from mothers to children via birthweight.

A Promising Approach to Future Biosocial Research on the Family: Considering the Role of Temporal Context

Highlights • Neighborhood affluence protects against the risk of poor birth outcome. • The protective effect of affluence holds for Whites, Blacks, Hispanics and Asians. • Mediation of these pathways by prenatal smoking varies by racial group. • The discourse on neighborhoods and birth outcomes should include affluence.

Intergenerational pathways linking maternal early life adversity to offspring birthweight

A central theme of this volume is the importance of context (and in particular, the family environment) for understanding the role of physiological influences in human behavior, health, and development. In this concluding chapter, we argue for the importance of greater attention to one contextual dimension, temporal context, whose significance is often overlooked. We discuss several examples of temporal context drawn from theoretical frameworks such as ecological perspective and life course theory, including duration of time within a proximal social environment or state, “critical” or sensitive periods of development, developmental period or stage, and historical time. We also discuss another type of temporal context, evolutionary time, which is implicated in studies within evolutionary psychology that focus on historical adaptations of family-related behaviors. Many chapters in this volume implicitly acknowledge the role of temporal context, but few explicitly discuss its importance or estimate its effects. Moreover, none discuss the potential benefit of incorporating temporal context into future biosocial research on the family. In this chapter, we expound upon this point, building the argument that future research on biosocial influences on the family can benefit from explicitly acknowledging and incorporating temporal context in both measurement and theoretical models.

Pathways of Health and Human Capital from Adolescence into Young Adulthood

Adverse birth outcomes can lead to problematic long-term outcomes for children, and are also known to transmit socioeconomic disadvantage across generations, thereby amplifying the importance of identifying their social determinants. However, the full set of factors causing adverse birth outcomes remains unknown. Drawing together theory describing intragenerational (life course) processes linking early life adversity to adult health, and intergenerational transmissions of inequality via birthweight, this study tests a chain of risk that originates within early adolescence, impacts young womens risky health behaviors in late adolescence/early adulthood and risky health behaviors during pregnancy, and ultimately decreases offsprings birthweight. We do so using structural equation models and prospective, population-level data on a racially and socioeconomically diverse cohort of young adults (National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health). Results (a) reveal four pathways that fully mediate the association between a young womans family-of-origin socioeconomic status in adolescence and her offsprings birthweight, and (b) identify a trigger effect-a place in the chain of risk where prevention efforts could be targeted, thereby breaking the chain of risk leading to poor offspring health at birth for vulnerable individuals.

Theoretical Insights into Preconception Social Conditions and Perinatal Health: The Role of Place and Social Relationships

Abstract:Social inequalities in health and human capital are core concerns of sociologists, but little research examines the developmental stage when such inequalities are likely to emerge—the transition to adulthood. With new data and innovative statistical methods, we conceptually develop, and empirically operationalize, pathways of physical health and human capital accumulation from adolescence into young adulthood, using an autoregressive cross-lagged structural equation model. Results reveal that pathways of health and human capital accumulate at differential rates across the transition to adulthood; evidence of cross-lagged effects lends support for both social causation and health selection hypotheses. We then apply this model to assess the presence of social inequality in metabolic syndrome—the leading risk factor of cardiovascular disease in the United States. Findings document social stratification of cardiovascular health that is robust to both observed and unobserved social and health selection mechanisms. We speculate that this social stratification will only increase as this cohort ages.

Ethnic enclaves and birth outcomes of immigrants from India in a diverse U.S. state

Recent efforts to explain the stark social and racial disparities in adverse birth outcomes that have persisted for decades in the U.S. have looked beyond prenatal factors, to explore preconception social conditions that may influence perinatal health via dysregulation of physiologic processes. The extant evidence supporting this link however remains limited, both due to a lack of data and theory. To address the latter, this manuscript generates a structured set of theoretical insights that further develop the link between two preconception social conditions—place and social relationships—and perinatal health. The insights propose the following. Place: necessarily encompasses all social contexts to which females are exposed from infancy through young adulthood; encompasses a variety of related exposures that, when possible, should be jointly considered; and may compound the effect of poverty—in childhood, adolescence, or young adulthood—on perinatal health. Social relationships: span relationships from early life through adulthood, and extend to intergenerational associations; often involve (or induce) major changes in the lives of individuals and should be examined with an emphasis on the developmental stage in which the change occurred; and can reflect a lack of social integration, or, social isolation. We also identify potential biological and social-structural mechanisms linking these preconception social conditions to perinatal health, and conclude by identifying promising directions for future research.