@article {11487, title = {Black-White Differences in the Link Between Offspring College Attainment and Parents{\textquoteright} Depressive Symptom Trajectories.}, journal = {Research on Aging}, volume = {44}, year = {2022}, pages = {123-135}, abstract = {

This study examines whether the relationship between children{\textquoteright}s college attainment and their parents{\textquoteright} mental health differs for Black and White parents as they age. Data come from the U.S. Health and Retirement Study (HRS) and multilevel growth curve models are used to assess parents{\textquoteright} depressive symptom trajectories. Results indicated that parents over age 50 whose children all completed college had significantly lower initial levels of depressive symptoms than those with no college-educated children. The initial benefit was stronger for Blacks than Whites. Results stratified further by parents{\textquoteright} education show that Black parents at nearly all levels of schooling experienced stronger returns to their mental health from children{\textquoteright}s college completion compared to White parents, for whom only those with a high school education showed an inverse association between offspring education and depression symptoms. The findings underscore how offspring education is a potential resource for reducing disparities in health across families.

}, keywords = {intergenerational relationships, life course, Mental Health, race}, issn = {1552-7573}, doi = {10.1177/0164027521997999}, author = {Jenjira J Yahirun and Connor M Sheehan and Krysia N Mossakowski} } @article {9939, title = {Depression in Later Life: The Role of Adult Children{\textquoteright}s College Education for Older Parents{\textquoteright} Mental Health in the United States.}, journal = {Journals of Gerontology, Series B: Psychological Sciences \& Social Sciences}, year = {2020}, abstract = {

Objectives: Research on the socioeconomic gradient in mental health links disadvantaged family background with subsequent symptoms of depression, demonstrating the "downstream" effect of parental resources on children{\textquoteright}s mental health. This study takes a different approach by evaluating the "upstream" influence of adult children{\textquoteright}s educational attainment on parents{\textquoteright} depressive symptoms.

Methods: Using longitudinal data from the U.S. Health and Retirement Study (N=106,517 person-years), we examine whether children{\textquoteright}s college attainment influences their parents{\textquoteright} mental health in later life and whether this association increases with parental age. We also assess whether the link between children{\textquoteright}s college completion and parents{\textquoteright} depression differs by parents{\textquoteright} own education.

Results: Parents with children who completed college have significantly lower levels of depressive symptoms than parents without college-educated children, although the gap between parents narrows with age. In addition, at baseline, parents with less than a high school education were more positively affected by their children{\textquoteright}s college completion than parents who themselves had a college education, a finding which lends support to theories of resource substitution.

Discussion: Offspring education is an overlooked resource that can contribute to mental health disparities among older adults in a country with unequal access to college educations.

}, keywords = {Adult children, Depressive symptoms, Education}, issn = {1758-5368}, doi = {10.1093/geronb/gby135}, author = {Jenjira J Yahirun and Connor M Sheehan and Krysia N Mossakowski} } @article {article, title = {The Education of Multiple Family Members and the Life-Course Pathways to Cognitive Impairment}, journal = {The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences}, year = {2020}, type = {Journal}, abstract = {Objectives: This paper asks how the educational attainments of multiple family members, including parents and offspring, are associated with the cognitive health of older adults in the United States. Methods: We use panel data from the U.S. Health and Retirement Study (2000-2012) to examine how the education of an individual, their parent(s), and their offspring are associated with the prevalence of moderate/severe cognitive impairment and the onset of cognitive impairment among older adults using logistic regression and discrete-time event history analysis, respectively. Results: We found that when combined, only the education of the individual is inversely associated with cognitive impairment at baseline. However, both the educational attainments of an individual and their offspring are negatively associated with the risk of becoming cognitively impaired, among individuals who were not already cognitively impaired. Conversely, parental education was not predictive of being cognitively impaired or the onset of impairment. Furthermore, we found that respondent gender did not moderate the relationship between a family member{\textquoteright}s education and respondent cognitive health. Discussion: This study adds to current research by asking how resources from earlier and subsequent generations matter for older adults{\textquoteright} cognitive health. Although we found little evidence that parental education matters at this life stage, results suggest that offspring education has a salient positive effect on later-lifer cognitive health. This finding underscores an overlooked source of health disparities - offspring resources - and highlights how a family perspective remains a powerful tool for understanding health inequalities in later life.}, keywords = {Cognitive health; Health and Retirement Study; Intergenerational relationships}, doi = {10.1093/geronb/gbaa039}, author = {Jenjira J Yahirun and Vasireddy, Sindhu and Mark D Hayward} } @article {9515, title = {Step-grandparenthood in the United States.}, journal = {Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences \& Social Sciences}, volume = {73}, year = {2018}, month = {08/2018}, abstract = {

Objectives: This study provides new information about the demography of step-grandparenthood in the United States. Specifically, we examine the prevalence of step-grandparenthood across birth cohorts and for socioeconomic and racial/ethnic groups. We also examine lifetime exposure to the step-grandparent role.

Methods: Using data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics and the Health and Retirement Study, we use percentages to provide first estimates of step-grandparenthood and to describe demographic and socioeconomic variation in who is a step-grandparent. We use life tables to estimate the exposure to step-grandparenthood.

Results: The share of step-grandparents is increasing across birth cohorts. However, individuals without a college education and non-Whites are more likely to become step-grandparents. Exposure to the step-grandparent role accounts for approximately 15\% of total grandparent years at age 65 for women and men.

Discussion: A growing body of research finds that grandparents are increasingly instrumental in the lives of younger generations. However, the majority of this work assumes that these ties are biological, with little attention paid to the role of family complexity across three generations. Understanding the demographics of step-grandparenthood sheds light on the family experiences of an overlooked, but growing segment of the older adult population in the United States.

}, keywords = {Adult children, Family Roles/Relationships, Grandparents}, issn = {1758-5368}, doi = {10.1093/geronb/gbx164}, author = {Jenjira J Yahirun and Sung S Park and Judith A Seltzer} } @article {7875, title = {Coresidence and Geographic Proximity of Mothers and Adult Children in Stepfamilies}, journal = {Journal of Marriage and Family}, volume = {75}, year = {2013}, note = {Times Cited: 0}, pages = {1164-1180}, publisher = {75}, abstract = {Children who live with or near a parent provide more care and receive more help from parents than geographically distant children. Stepfamily ties may be weaker than ties between biological kin, but little is known about the geographic proximity of step- versus biological kin. The authors used data from the Health and Retirement Study (N = 13,239 mothers and 45,675 biological and stepchildren) to show that stepchildren and stepmothers are less likely to live together, less likely to live nearby, and less likely to move closer than biological children and mothers. When mothers have only stepchildren, they are less likely to have a coresident child or a child nearby than mothers with both step- and biological children. Coresidence and geographic proximity are lower in stepfamilies formed after divorce than after widowhood. The findings are consistent with a legacy of conflict and strain and the likely competing needs of biological and stepmothers.}, keywords = {Adult children, Demographics, Other}, author = {Judith A Seltzer and Jenjira J Yahirun and Suzanne M. Bianchi} } @article {5904, title = {Co-residence and Geographic Proximity of Mothers and Adult Children in Intact and Step Families}, year = {2011}, institution = {UCLA}, keywords = {Adult children, Demographics, Other}, author = {Judith A Seltzer and Suzanne M. Bianchi and Kathleen McGarry and Jenjira J Yahirun} }