Parenthood,Life Course Expectations,and Mental Health

Abstract

Although past research indicates that giving birth at a young age and prior to marriage negatively affects mental health, little is known about the role of individual expectations in shaping these associations. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979, the authors consider how individual expectations for the sequencing of marriage and parenthood and the timing of first births shape mental health outcomes associated with premarital childbearing and age at first birth, and they investigate variation in the role of expectations across gender and race/ethnicity. Results indicate that expecting children before marriage ameliorates the negative mental health consequences of premarital first births and that subsequently deviating from expected birth timing, either early or late, results in increased distress at all birth ages. In both cases, however, the degree and manner in which expectations matter differ by gender and race/ethnicity. Expectations for premarital childbearing matter only for African Americans’ mental health, and although later-than-expected births are associated with decreased mental health for all groups, earlier-than-expected births are associated only with decreased mental health for women, Hispanics, and non-Hispanic whites.