Effects of Adult Offspring Emotional Distress on Maternal Health in Midlife: A Social Foreground Perspective

• In Event: Medical Sociology Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (90 minute): Table 8. The Life Course and Health II

Abstract

Over the past decade, sharp rises in depression, anxiety, and loneliness among adolescents and young adults have culminated in a mental health crisis. Coupled with an increasingly difficult transition to adulthood, these trends are likely to have far-reaching effects for young people’s futures. While prior work has offered much insight into the effects of both poor mental health and difficulty transitioning to stable adult roles for future life chances, far less is known about what these challenges mean in the context of linked lives. Drawing on a life course framework, this study examines how young adults’ mental health challenges affect their mothers’ health. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (NLSY79) and accompanying NLSY79 Child and Young Adult Survey, results suggest that higher levels of emotional distress among adult offspring negatively impact mothers’ mental wellbeing and subjective health in midlife. In particular, mothers with depressed adult offspring experience steeper declines in their own mental health across midlife. These results suggest that the consequences of the mental health crisis may extend beyond the lives of young people to that of their parents. Thus, policies and programs aimed at addressing the mental health crisis are not only important for the wellbeing of young people, but that of their parents as well.

Authors

• Laura Sills, University at Buffalo (SUNY)

• Rachel Zhang, University of Tampa

• Ashley B Barr, University at Buffalo

• Christopher Richard Dennison, University at Buffalo

• Kristen Schultz Lee, University at Buffalo

• Chandler Fairbanks, University at Buffalo

• Sophia Olsinski, University at Buffalo

• Elizabeth O'Boyle

• Gavin Glaser

• Arivana Russell