Constructing Parenthood as a Chronic and Cumulative Stressor: Duration of Parenthood and Body Mass Trajectories

• In Event: Implications of Critical Events/Periods Across the Life Course

Abstract

This study examines how parenthood, conceptualized as a chronic and cumulative stressor, shapes body mass trajectories among midlife parents in the United States. While prior research has documented associations between parenthood and weight gain, existing work predominantly measures parenthood through static markers — such as parity, age at first birth (AFB), or residential transitions — rather than as an ongoing, time-varying process of parenting involvement. This project tries to address that gap by drawing on stress theory and the gender system theory to argue that the persistent demands of parenting accumulate across the life course and are unequally distributed by gender and socioeconomic status. Therefore, I expect a different pattern when the body mass trajectory is analyzed using duration of parenthood as the time axis, rather than the chronological age of parents. I aim to answer the following research questions. First, how do mothers' and fathers' body mass trajectories change over the duration of parenthood, compared to the chronological age? Do these patterns differ across groups of different AFB? Second, to what extent does perceived stress mediate the relationship between parenting involvement and midlife weight gain, and does this mediation vary by gender? To address these questions, I develop hypotheses specifying gendered pathways linking parenting work, stress, and body mass. I outline an analytical strategy using the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) and its Child Development Supplement (CDS), leveraging its panel structure to model within-person change. This project advances sociological understanding of health inequality by demonstrating how socially organized caregiving responsibilities — rather than biological or demographic attributes of fertility alone — are translated into differential health outcomes over the life course.

Author

• Xiaoyi Cui, The Ohio State University