Relations entre cycle de vie familiale et santé aux âges élevés
Conférence de l’UIESP
Invitée : Emily Grundy, professeur à la London School of
Economics
Discutant : Laurent Toulemon (Ined).
Résumé/Abstract :
Pathways from family life courses to later life health
Emily Grundy (LSE)
Partnership and parenthood represent major domains of most people’s lives (to some extent linked with socio-economic status) with substantial short and long-term implications. For example, research on the older population of England has shown that having no or fewer children is associated with a lower level of social contact overall and a reduced chance of receiving help if needed and a large body of research has shown associations between marital status, (and marital histories) and health and mortality risks. Previous studies have also shown that timing of parenthood and parity are associated with mortality risks and health in later life, with the childless and parents of large families, as well as those embarking on parenthood at any early age, having worse risks and outcomes than others - although associations vary somewhat by context. Understanding associations between these aspects of the life course and later life health is important because of substantial changes in the family trajectories of cohorts born at different points over the twentieth century, however it is also extremely challenging for a range of methodological reasons.
This presentation will include results from a range of studies Emily Grundy has undertaken (with collaborators) addressing this topic including recent work from a study of pathways linking fertility histories and later life health. Methodological aspects considered will include consideration of derivation, use and validity of measures of allostatic load (intended as indicators of accumulated stress indicated through biomarker measures) and path analysis in order to see how far associations between fertility histories and health may be mediated by wealth, social support and health related behaviours.
This research has been undertaken as part of the UK ESRC funded National Centre for Research Methods project: Pathways: biosocial influences on health.