TY - JOUR T1 - Black-White Differences in the Link Between Offspring College Attainment and Parents' Depressive Symptom Trajectories. JF - Research on Aging Y1 - 2022 A1 - Jenjira J Yahirun A1 - Connor M Sheehan A1 - Krysia N Mossakowski KW - intergenerational relationships KW - life course KW - Mental Health KW - race AB -

This study examines whether the relationship between children's college attainment and their parents' 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' 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' education show that Black parents at nearly all levels of schooling experienced stronger returns to their mental health from children'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.

VL - 44 IS - 2 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Multiple Reasons for Perceived Everyday Discrimination and All-Cause Mortality Risk Among Older Black Adults. JF - The Journals of Gerontology: Series A Y1 - 2022 A1 - Ryon J. Cobb A1 - Connor M Sheehan A1 - Louie, Patricia A1 - Christy L Erving KW - Aging KW - Black Americans KW - Discrimination KW - Mortality AB -

BACKGROUND: The present study assessed whether reporting multiple reasons for perceived everyday discrimination was associated with an increased risk for all-cause mortality risk among older Black adults.

METHODS: This study utilized data from a subsample of older Black adults from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), a nationally representative panel study of older adults in the United States. Our measure of multiple reasons for perceived everyday discrimination was based on self-reports from the 2006/2008 HRS waves. Respondents' vital status was obtained from the National Death Index and reports from key household informants (spanning 2006-2019). Cox proportional hazard models, which accounted for covariates linked to mortality, were used to estimate the risk of all-cause mortality.

RESULTS: During the observation period, 563 deaths occurred. Twenty percent of Black adults attributed perceived everyday discrimination to three or more sources. In demographic adjusted models, attributing perceived everyday discrimination to three or more sources was a statistically significant predictor of all-cause mortality risk (hazard ratio= 1.45; 95%, confidence interval=1.12 - 1.87). The association remained significant (hazard ratio=1.49, 95%, confidence interval=1.15 - 1.93) after further adjustments for health, behavioral, and economic characteristics.

CONCLUSION: Examining how multiple reasons for perceived everyday discrimination relate to all-cause mortality risk has considerable utility in clarifying the unique contributions of perceived discrimination to mortality risk among older Black adults. Our findings suggest that multiple reasons for perceived everyday discrimination are a particularly salient risk factor for mortality among older Black adults.

VL - 77 IS - 2 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Increasing Education-Based Disparities in Healthy Life Expectancy Among U.S. Non-Hispanic Whites, 2000-2010. JF - The Journals of Gerontology, Series B Y1 - 2021 A1 - Cantu, Phillip A A1 - Connor M Sheehan A1 - Sasson, Isaac A1 - Mark D Hayward KW - Disability KW - Education KW - Healthy life expectancy KW - Mortality AB -

OBJECTIVES: To examine changes in Healthy Life Expectancy (HLE) against the backdrop of rising mortality among less-educated white Americans during the first decade of the twenty-first century.

METHODS: This study documented changes in HLE by education among U.S. non-Hispanic whites, using data from the U.S. Multiple Cause of Death public-use files, the Integrated Public Use Microdata Sample (IPUMS) of the 2000 Census and the 2010 American Community Survey, and the Health and Retirement Study (HRS). Changes in HLE were decomposed into contributions from: (i) change in age-specific mortality rates; and (ii) change in disability prevalence, measured via Activities of Daily Living (ADL) and Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL).

RESULTS: Between 2000 and 2010, HLE significantly decreased for white men and women with less than 12 years of schooling. In contrast, HLE increased among college-educated white men and women. Declines or stagnation in HLE among less-educated whites reflected increases in disability prevalence over the study period, whereas improvements among the college educated reflected decreases in both age-specific mortality rates and disability prevalence at older ages.

DISCUSSION: Differences in HLE between education groups increased among non-Hispanic whites from 2000 to 2010. In fact, education-based differences in HLE were larger than differences in total life expectancy. Thus, the lives of less-educated whites were not only shorter, on average, compared with their college-educated counterparts, but they were also more burdened with disability.

VL - 76 IS - 2 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Depression in Later Life: The Role of Adult Children's College Education for Older Parents' Mental Health in the United States. JF - Journals of Gerontology, Series B: Psychological Sciences & Social Sciences Y1 - 2020 A1 - Jenjira J Yahirun A1 - Connor M Sheehan A1 - Krysia N Mossakowski KW - Adult children KW - Depressive symptoms KW - Education AB -

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's mental health. This study takes a different approach by evaluating the "upstream" influence of adult children's educational attainment on parents' depressive symptoms.

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

U1 - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30412237?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Cohort Trends in the Gender Distribution of Household Tasks in the United States and the Implications for Understanding Disability JF - Journal of Aging and Health Y1 - 2019 A1 - Connor M Sheehan A1 - Benjamin W Domingue A1 - Eileen M. Crimmins KW - Cohort Studies KW - Disabilities KW - Gender Differences KW - Household KW - Women and Minorities AB - Objectives: Measures of disability depend on health and social roles in a given environment. Yet, social roles can change over time as they have by gender. We document how engagement in Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADLs) is shifting by gender and birth cohort among older adults, and the challenges these shifts can create for population-level estimates of disability. Method: We used the Health and Retirement Study (N = 25,047) and multinomial logistic regression models with an interaction term between gender and birth cohort to predict limitation and nonperformance relative to no difficulty conducting IADLs. Results: Nonperformance of IADLs have significantly decreased among younger cohorts. Women in younger cohorts were more likely to use a map, whereas men in younger cohorts were more likely to prepare meals and shop. Discussion: Failing to account for gender and cohort changes in IADL, performance may lead to systematic bias in estimates of population-level disability. JO - J Aging Health ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Gendered Expectations Distort Male-Female Differences in Instrumental Activities of Daily Living in Later Adulthood JF - JOURNALS OF GERONTOLOGY SERIES B-PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES Y1 - 2019 A1 - Connor M Sheehan A1 - Elliot M Tucker-Drob KW - Disability KW - gender KW - Independent Living KW - Measurement AB - Objectives: The ability of older adults to live independently is often assessed with a battery of questions known as Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADLs). Many of these questions query the difficulty conducting household activities that have been predominantly conducted by women (e.g., the ability to prepare a meal), especially for cohorts now in old age. Although previous research has documented gender differences in IADL limitations, it has not been documented whether IADLs equivalently measure the same latent construct for men and women. Methods: We apply psychometric tests of measurement invariance to data from the 1998 Health and Retirement Study. We then estimate corrected models that account for violations of measurement invariance across genders. Results: We find that IADLs do not equivalently measure same latent construct for men and women. We find that men are more likely not to do the IADL activities for reasons unrelated to health limitations, which may reflect gendered expectations regarding household activities. Accounting for this we still find that women report greater health-related IADL limitations than men. Discussion: Researchers should be cautious making gender comparisons for IADLs without attending to the gender-specific measurement properties of many of the items of which the IADL is comprised. VL - 74 ER -