<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>This study investigates how women’s and men’s fertility history affect their health in later life and if this relationship varies across countries and cohorts. We use life history data and current health status of persons aged 50 and over from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) for 13 countries. Country-fixed effects regressions show that parenthood itself and the number of children have little impact on later life health, but fertility timing is important. Moreover, significant country and cohort differences show that the health implications of timing depend upon the socio-historic context.</p></abstract>

This study investigates how women’s and men’s fertility history affect their health in later life and if this relationship varies across countries and cohorts. We use life history data and current health status of persons aged 50 and over from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) for 13 countries. Country-fixed effects regressions show that parenthood itself and the number of children have little impact on later life health, but fertility timing is important. Moreover, significant country and cohort differences show that the health implications of timing depend upon the socio-historic context.

Parenthood and Later Life Health: An International Life Course Analysis of Parents and Childless Adults Aged 50 and Older

Swiss Journal of Sociology

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

This study investigates how women’s and men’s fertility history affect their health in later life and if this relationship varies across countries and cohorts....

Parenthood and Later Life Health: An International Life Course Analysis of Parents and Childless Adults Aged 50 and Older

Published Online: Jul 28, 2018

Page range: 327 - 356

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/sjs-2018-0015

Keywords
parenthood, health, life course, SHARELIFE, welfare state

© 2018 Nadine Reibling et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Parenthood and Later Life Health: An International Life Course Analysis of Parents and Childless Adults Aged 50 and Older

Published Online: Jul 28, 2018

Page range: 327 - 356

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/sjs-2018-0015

Keywordsparenthood, health, life course, SHARELIFE, welfare state

© 2018 Nadine Reibling et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
parenthood, health, life course, SHARELIFE, welfare state