While the risk factors for infertility are well-established, research on factors associated with voluntary childlessness is limited and mainly focused on adulthood factors. Thus, we examined the ...associations between factors in childhood and young adulthood and different types of childlessness.
The analysis included 4653 women from the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health from 1996 to 2021. Childlessness was categorised as: voluntary, due to infertility issues, or due to other reasons. The associations between factors in childhood and young adulthood and childlessness were assessed using multinomial logistic regression models.
In their 40s, 4.8 % of women were voluntarily childless, 6.7 % were childless due to infertility issues, and 7.8 % were childless due to other reasons. Regardless of types of childlessness, being childless was associated with poorer self-rated health during childhood and having been unpartnered and obese in young adulthood. Ex-smokers in young adulthood had lower odds of childlessness. Childhood physical abuse was associated with childlessness due to infertility issues and other reasons. Voluntary childlessness and childlessness due to infertility issues were associated with having identified as non-exclusively heterosexual in early adulthood. Lower social support in early adulthood was associated with voluntary childlessness and childlessness due to other reasons.
The direction of the associations could not be determined and using self-reported data may introduce recall bias.
Factors in childhood and young adulthood were associated with different types of childlessness, highlighting the importance of adopting a life course perspective when studying childlessness.
•Longitudinal data were used to examine factors associated with childlessness.•Several factors in childhood and young adulthood were associated with different types of childlessness.•Our results highlighted the importance of adopting a life course perspective when studying childlessness.
Abstract Objective This study examines the association between political identity and young adults' fertility desires from 1989 to 2019. Background Understanding the factors that shape fertility ...preferences is important because these preferences are the critical bridge between social forces and fertility. Identity is a theorized, but understudied, predictor of fertility desires. The increasing salience of political identity suggests that the association between political identity and fertility desires has strengthened over time. Method Data come from the 1989–2019 waves of Monitoring the Future, a nationally representative study of 12th graders ( N = 67,557). Regression models examined how political identity (measured by Republican or Democrat preference) predicts the desired number of children, measured both continuously and categorically. Results Regardless of the period, Republicans desired more children than Democrats—a difference that grew over time, from 0.07 in 1989–1993 to 0.29 in 2014–2019. Differences in religiosity and attitudes toward gender and childbearing explained pre‐2004 partisan gaps. From 2004 and onward, these factors attenuated, but did not fully explain, Republican–Democrat gaps. In later periods, relative to Democrats, Republicans still wanted more children on average, had a higher probability of wanting four or more children in 2004–2013 and a lower probability of eschewing parenthood in 2014–2019. Conclusion Political identity has become increasingly salient for fertility desires, suggesting that identity might shape fertility intentions and future fertility behavior.
Mobile dating is more common with an increasing number of smartphone applications coming to market that aim to facilitate dating. In the current study, we investigated how dating app use and ...motivations related to demographic identity variables (i.e. gender and sexual orientation) and personality-based variables among young adults. Nearly half of the sample used dating apps regularly, with Tinder being the most popular. Non-users were more likely to be heterosexual, high in dating anxiety, and low in sexual permissiveness than dating app users. Among app users, dating app motivations, that is, relational goal motivations (love, casual sex), intrapersonal goal motivations (self-worth validation, ease of communication), and entertainment goal motivations (thrill of excitement, trendiness), were meaningfully related to identity features, for example, sexual permissiveness was related to the casual sex motive. Our study underlines that users’ identity drives their motivations for and engagement in mobile dating. However, more research is needed to study how sexual orientation influences mobile dating.
While much research has documented stark racial gaps in total net worth, few studies have examined the development of racial gaps across different types of assets using longitudinal data. Drawing on ...data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (1997), we study the emergence of Black-White and Hispanic-White wealth gaps across different types of assets and debt among a recent cohort of young adults. We find that the gaps in net worth, financial assets, home equity, and debt all increase over time. The racial gaps in financial assets widen at a rate that exceeds the corresponding gaps in other components of net worth. Indeed, a decomposition analysis reveals that financial assets contribute more than home equity to exacerbating net worth disparities. Our findings underscore the unique role that financial assets play in expanding racial wealth gaps in young adulthood.
While public awareness about young people’s mental health has been on the rise, the context in which it is studied has many gaps. Adolescent mental health is often studied within the context of ...family relationships but the same is not true for young adults over 18 years old. Drawing on interviews with young adults who have mental illness and their parents, I found that the parent-child relationship is a relevant context in which ideas about what mental illness is are constructed. Through the conscious presentation of self within the unique expectations of this relationship and the feedback from parents or children, young adults construct definitions of mental illness which guide their ideas of self and actions in the relationship. By considering this specific relationship and life stage, I hope to contribute to a more specific understanding of the social construction of mental illness and to highlight its practical implications in the lives and relationships of young adults.
Adolescence and young adulthood are periods of continued biological and psychosocial maturation. Thus, there may be deleterious effects of consuming large quantities of alcohol on neural development ...and associated cognition during this time. The purpose of this mini review is to highlight neuroimaging research that has specifically examined the effects of binge and heavy drinking on adolescent and young adult brain structure and function.
We review cross-sectional and longitudinal studies of young binge and heavy drinkers that have examined brain structure (e.g., gray and white matter volume, cortical thickness, white matter microstructure) and investigated brain response using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).
Binge and heavy-drinking adolescents and young adults have systematically thinner and lower volume in prefrontal cortex and cerebellar regions, and attenuated white matter development. They also show elevated brain activity in fronto-parietal regions during working memory, verbal learning, and inhibitory control tasks. In response to alcohol cues, relative to controls or light-drinking individuals, binge and heavy drinkers show increased neural response mainly in mesocorticolimbic regions, including the striatum, anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), hippocampus, and amygdala. Mixed findings are present in risky decision-making tasks, which could be due to large variation in task design and analysis.
These findings suggest altered neural structure and activity in binge and heavy-drinking youth may be related to the neurotoxic effects of consuming alcohol in large quantities during a highly plastic neurodevelopmental period, which could result in neural reorganization, and increased risk for developing an alcohol use disorder (AUD).
Abstract Although family scholars have long relied on longitudinal data, electronic methods of data collection like web‐ and app‐based surveys have greatly increased the amount of data with many ...repeated measures at short intervals, sometimes called intensive longitudinal data. The authors provide a conceptual overview of this type of data, paying particular attention to the appropriate frequency for the intervals, and discuss some of the unique contributions to Life Course Theory that can be generated with such data. They illustrate two analytic techniques that especially benefit from an intensive longitudinal design—sequence analysis and between‐within regression—by applying these methods to intensive longitudinal data from the Relationship Dynamics and Social Life Study that represent a “micro life course” of pregnancy risk (partnering, pregnancy desire, sex, and contraception) during the transition to adulthood. Their sequence analysis shows that singlehood, hormonal contraception, or partnered abstinence dominated most young women's micro‐life courses. Black/African‐American young women's micro life courses were similarly dominated by singlehood but were even more frequently dominated by partnered abstinence than their non‐Black/African‐American peers'. However, Black/African‐American women's micro life courses were less stable, potentially explaining their higher undesired pregnancy rates. A between‐within regression model shows that Black/African‐American coital contraceptors were less likely than their non‐Black/African‐American peers to use withdrawal (rather than condoms). They conclude by suggesting some potential ways that intensive longitudinal data capturing micro‐life courses can contribute to important outstanding research questions in family research.
Investigate short-term personality development during the post-graduation transition.
Prior research indicates that long-term personality development matters for employment outcomes. However, this ...evidence is primarily limited to multi-year longitudinal studies. This research switches the focus to personality changes during a shorter, impactful life transition.
We examined how short-term personality development during the 14-month post-graduation transition relates to early career outcomes among two diverse samples of graduates from universities (N = 816) and community colleges (N = 567). We used latent growth curve models to examine associations between career outcomes measured 14 months after graduation with initial personality levels and personality changes.
Results revealed that mean-level changes in personality were small and mostly negative. Moreover, individual differences in personality changes were not associated with career outcomes. However, initial levels of conscientiousness, emotional stability, and extraversion positively related to both subjective and objective career success. Initial levels of agreeableness were also positively related to subjective (but not objective) success.
Findings indicate that individual differences in personality trait levels at graduation are stronger predictors of early career success compared to short-term personality changes during the post-graduation transition. Taken together, these results help define the time sequence through which personality changes relate to career outcomes.
To test the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID) pandemic on the emotions, behavior, and wellness behaviors of first-year college students.
A total of 675 first-year university students ...completed a full assessment of behavioral and emotional functioning at the beginning of the spring semester 2020. Of these, 576 completed the same assessment at the end of the spring semester, 600 completed at least 1 item from a COVID-related survey after the onset of COVID pandemic, and 485 completed nightly surveys of mood and wellness behaviors on a regular basis before and after the onset of the COVID crisis.
Externalizing problems (mean = -0.19, 95% CI = -0.06 to 0.33, p = .004) and attention problems (mean = -0.60, 95% CI = -0.40 to 0.80, p < .001) increased after the onset of COVID, but not internalizing symptoms (mean = 0.18, 95% CI = -0.1 to 0.38, p = .06). Students who were enrolled in a campus wellness program were less affected by COVID in terms of internalizing symptoms (β = 0.40, SE = 0.21, p = .055) and attention problems (β = 0.59, SE = 0.21, p = .005) than those who were not in the wellness program. Nightly surveys of both mood (β = -0.10, SE = 0.03, p = .003) and daily wellness behaviors (β = -0.06, SE = 0.03, p = .036), but not stress (β = 0.02, SE = 0.03, p = .58), were negatively affected by the COVID crisis. The overall magnitude of these COVID-related changes were modest but persistent across the rest of the semester and different from patterns observed in a prior year.
COVID and associated educational/governmental mitigation strategies had a modest but persistent impact on mood and wellness behaviors of first-year university students. Colleges should prepare to address the continued mental health impacts of the pandemic.
•Neuroticism was associated with higher risk of developing depression in 6 months.•Agreeableness was associated with lower risk of developing depression in 6 months.•Social media was associated with ...developing depression for all personality traits.•Interventions should target those with high neuroticism and low agreeableness.•Interventions should target reducing social media regardless of personality type.
While longitudinal studies demonstrate associations between social media use and development of depression, it is not clear whether these associations differ among people with various personality characteristics.
Data were obtained from a national sample of 978 individuals ages 18-30. Measures used included the Patient Health Questionnaire assessing depression, the 10-item Big Five Inventory assessing personality, and self-reported use of the top 10 social media platforms. Logistic regression determined associations between each personality characteristic (openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism), social media use, and development of depression over 6 months.
In multivariable analyses that adjusted for all covariates, compared to people with low agreeableness, those with high agreeableness had 49% lower odds for developing depression (OR=0.51, 95% CI=0.33, 0.80). Compared to people with low neuroticism, those with high neuroticism had more than double the odds for developing depression (OR=2.46, 95% CI=1.57, 3.87). For each personality characteristic, increased social media use was significantly associated with developing depression. Interaction terms showed that associations between social media use and developing depression did not vary according to any of the personality characteristics.
Because we assessed young adults ages 18-30, inferences cannot be made to other age groups.
The fact that agreeableness and neuroticism were associated with different risks for developing depression may help practitioners target high-risk populations. Because social media use was strongly associated with development of depression for all personality characteristics, it may be useful for interventions to target reduction of social media use overall regardless of personality type.
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