Michael J. Shanahan

Poverty, Parenting, and Children's Mental Health.

Poor children experience greater psychological distress than do nonpoor children. However, evidence for the relationship between poverty and childrens distress is limited by the use of measures of poverty at a single point in time, by a failure to examine race or ethnic differences, and by a lack of concern with explanations for povertys effects. Using data from the 1986 Children of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) data set, we explored the relationships among current poverty, length of time spent in poverty, maternal parenting behaviors, and childrens mental health. Persistent poverty significantly predicts childrens internalizing symptoms above and beyond the effect of current poverty, whereas only current poverty predicts externalizing symptoms. Mothers weak emotional responsiveness and frequent use of physical punishment explain the effect of current poverty on mental health, but not the effect of persistent poverty. The relationships among poverty, parenting behaviors, and childrens mental health do not vary by race/ethnicity. These findings support theoretical developments calling for greater emphasis on family processes in studies of childrens poverty. They also argue for greater attention to trajectories of socioeconomic status in analyses of the effects of status on mental health.

Trajectories of Poverty and Children's Mental Health

Using data from three waves of the Children of the National Longitudinal Surveys of Youth data set (1986, 1988, 1990), we examine the dynamic relationship between childrens family histories of poverty and their developmental trajectories of mental health. Children who were poor in 1986 or who had prior histories of poverty had higher levels of depression and antisocial behavior in that year. Furthermore, subsequent poverty histories were also related to childrens mental health trajectories. The number of years that children were poor between 1986 and 1990 correlates significantly with changes in childrens antisocial behavior during those years. Finally, rates of increase in antisocial behavior were substantially higher for children with histories of persistent poverty during those years than for transiently poor or nonpoor children. These results demonstrate the accelerating behavioral disadvantages faced by persistently poor children.

Socioeconomic status and depression over the life course

Numerous studies document lower levels of depression among adults with higher education, but little is known about the way in which the association varies over the life course. Do depression levels diverge or converge across educational strata with age? This study investigates how the association between education and depression changes with age and tests the extent to which these changes are accountedfor by physical health problems, widowed status, employment status, coping resources, household income, and financial strain. Data for this investigation come from the Work, Family, and Well-Being Study, 1990, a nationally representative sample of 2,031 adults aged 18 to 90 interviewed by telephone. Findings indicate that the association between depression and education strengthens with increasing age. Physical health problems among adults with lower education account for most of the diverging gap in depression. These results show that an integration of insights from the stress paradigm and the life course perspective can lead to a fuller understanding of socioeconomic inequality and its influence on psychologicalfunctioning.

Mutual Influences in Parent and Adolescent Psychological Distress.

Using a cross-lagged effect model with 3 waves of panel data, this study exmined mutual influences in parent and adolescent psychological distress reported independently by respondents in each of 4 parent-child dyads: mothers-sons, mothers-daughters, fathers-sons, and fathers-daughters. Results showed that parent and adolescent distress were reciporcally related across time, even after earlier emotional status was statistically controlled. These mutual influences in distress, however, were gender specific, with the strongest cross-lagged associations occurring between mothers and sons and fathers and daughters. Moreover, boys were more susceptible to parental distress during early adolescence, girls during early to mid-adolescence. Incremental fit comparisons for alternative models suggest that a sons distress may have more negative consequences for mothers than the reverse. Finally, mutual influences in psychological distress for fathers and daughters were more pronounced for girls who were experiencing the onset of menarche and for girls who recently experienced a school transition

When war comes to men's lives: life-course patterns in family, work, and health.

Men generally come to military service at a time of youth. However, the Second World War expanded the period of service eligibility from age 18 to the late 30s. Each year of delay in entry promised a smaller return from military service (economic and job benefits) and a greater risk of life disruption and related costs. Using longitudinal data from the Stanford-Terman sample, the authors examine whether social disruptions resulting from late service entry increased the risk of adverse change in adult health. Apart from preservice factors, the authors found that the late-mobilized men were at greatest risk of negative trajectories on physical health. Work-life disadvantages account in part for this health effect. Pathways that link stress and physical decline are discussed in relation to social disruption.

Dynamic Patterns of Time Use in Adolescence

Patterns of time use are tangible representations of individual identity and the meaning of age groups in the life course. How do young people allocate their time to multiple domains of involvement, including the school, workplace, family, and peer group? Drawing on longitudinal data from the Youth Development Study (N = 1,010), a person-centered analytic strategy was used to describe configurations of time use through the high school years. Over half of the students were engaged in many domains, although a substantial percentage of students focused their time on one or two domains outside the school. Students who were highly engaged in multiple domains tended to remain so across grade levels, whereas students focused on one or two domains frequently changed their commitments. Plans for school, grade point average, future orientations that emphasize marriage and good citizenship, and gender significantly predicted time-use patterns. These findings elucidate connections among school, work, and other contexts through the high school years.

History and Agency in Men's Lives: Pathways to Achievement in Cohort Perspective

People make planful decisions about school and work, but structures of opportunity both constrain and enable pathways to achievement. What is the role of planful competence in times of social change? Drawing on data from the Stanford-Terman sample, the authors examine the role of history and adolescent planfulness in the attainment of men who were born between 1904 and 1917. Men born between 1904 and 1910 avoided the labor markets of the Great Depression by extending their higher education; adolescent planfulness was of little consequence for their adult educational attainment, since they stayed in school irrespective of their planfulness. However, men born between 1911 and 1917 faced viable options between school and work, especially in the postwar economy; for these men, adolescent planfulness was a strong, positive predictor of educational attainment. These findings are compared with insights from the 1962 Occupational Changes in a Generation data set, a nationally representative sample.

Systolic Blood Pressure, Socioeconomic Status, and Biobehavioral Risk Factors in a Nationally Representative US Young Adult Sample

In the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, a US longitudinal study of >15 000 young adults, we examined the extent to which socioeconomic status is linked to systolic blood pressure (SBP) and whether biobehavioral risk factors mediate the association. More than 62% of the participants had SBP >120 mm Hg and 12% had SBP >140 mm Hg. More than 66% were classified as at least overweight (body mass index >25 kg/m2), with >36% meeting criteria for at least class I obesity (body mass index >30 kg/m2). Multivariate models showed that higher household income and being married were independently associated with lower SBP. Higher body mass index, greater waist circumference, smoking, and higher alcohol intake were each independently associated with higher SBP. Meditational analyses suggested that higher education level was associated with lower SBP by way of lower body mass, smaller waist circumference, and lower resting heart rate. When these indirect effects were accounted for, education was not significantly associated with SBP. In contrast, household income remained associated with SBP even with control for all of the covariates. Results reinforce current public health concerns about rates of obesity and high blood pressure among young adults and suggest that disparities in education level and household income may play an important role in the observed decrements in health. Identifying modifiable mechanisms that link socioeconomic status to SBP using data from a large representative sample may improve risk stratification and guide the development of effective interventions.

Environmental Contingencies and Genetic Propensities : Social Capital, Educational Continuation, and Dopamine Receptor Gene DRD2

Studies of gene‐environment interplay typically focus on one environmental factor at a time, resulting in a constrained view of social context. The concept of environmental contingency is introduced as a corrective. Drawing on the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health and qualitative comparative analysis, the authors focus on an example involving social capital, a gene associated with a dopamine receptor (DRD2), and educational continuation beyond secondary school. For boys, (1) DRD2 risk is associated with a decreased likelihood of school continuation; (2) one configuration of social capital—high parental socioeconomic status, high parental involvement in school, and a high‐quality school—compensates for this negative relationship, consistent with environmental contingency; but (3) boys with DRD2 risk are less commonly observed in settings that are rich in social capital.

Adolescent Work Experience and Depressive Affect

Using longitudinal data from a panel of youth followed from the 9th to the 10th grade, we examine how facets of adolescents work influence depressive affects. The results support the hypothesis that work experiences contribute to depressed mood among adolescents. The findings also indicate that workers are more emotionally independent of their parents than non-working adolescents.