How Do Coresidence and Relationship Quality Matter?

Midlife Parenthood and Wellbeing: How do Coresidence and Relationship Quality Matter? Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Zhe Zhang Graduate Program in Sociology The Ohio State University 2018 Dissertation Committee Professor Corinne Reczek, Advisor Professor Cynthia G. Colen Professor Kristi Williams 1 Copyrighted by Zhe Zhang 2018 2 Abstract Parenthood, one of the most important and long-lasting social roles, shapes almost every aspect of individual wellbeing across the life course. Yet, how the varying contexts of raising young children into adulthood matter for individual wellbeing across midlife remains understudied. This research gap warrants immediate attention given the drastic changes in parenthood for the past 50 years. Postponement in childbearing, increasing investment on children, and adult children’s delayed departure from parental household all contribute to reshaping the parenthood landscape at midlife (age 40 to 60). In addition, midlife is a life course stage when population health differences further diverge – changes in midlife parenthood may escalate such health differences further. Drawing on a life course perspective and prior literature on family and health, my dissertation addresses this research gap by answering the following question – how do various parenthood contexts matter for midlife adults’ mental and physical wellbeing? Using data from NLSY79 and appropriate quantitative methods, my three empirical chapters examine how two main aspects of parent-child ties – structure (e.g., coresidence) and content (e.g., relationship quality) are associated with adults’ mental and physical health across midlife. The first empirical chapter examines how children’s life course stage and parent- child coresidence at midlife matters for individuals’ psychological wellbeing, and further tests how this relationship differs for men and women. Results from OLS regression ii models suggest that mothers with only adult children in the household experienced higher levels of psychological distress than other midlife women, whereas coresidence with both minor and adult children might be conducive to mental wellbeing for both men and women at midlife. The second empirical chapter tests how three emerging mother-child coresidential biographies: the gone-for-good, the boomerangers, and the never-left, matter for mothers’ BMI trajectories. Results from growth curve modeling suggest that boomerangers’ mothers were at higher risk of gaining additional weight across midlife relative to mothers to the gone-for-good. In turn, mothers whose children never left the home experienced declining body weight over time relative to mothers whose children left “on time.” The last empirical chapter examined the association between intergenerational relationship quality and midlife mother’s mental wellbeing. Results from OLS regression models with lagged dependent variables suggest that midlife mothers in a collective ambivalent relationship with multiple adolescent and young adult children had more psychological distress than mothers in a uniformly close or a uniformly unclose relationship with all children. Mothers with at least one child reporting declining feelings toward mother also had worse mental health over time. Taken together, the findings elaborate that increasing parenting demands and responsibilities to adolescent and coming of age children may take a toll on midlife parents’, especially midlife mother’s health. This dissertation provides research evidence to policy makers in helping and caring for a broader population of American families. iii Acknowledgments The completion of this dissertation and the completion of this degree would not have been possible without the support and encouragement of my mentors, friends, and family. First, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my advisor and committee chair, Corinne Reczek, for her unstinted support and constant encouragement. Through our weekly meetings and countless exchanges of manuscripts, Corinne is critical in helping me cultivate confidence and competence as a social scientist. She is the epitome of a scholar and teacher, whose strong belief that research and mentorship go hand-in- hand is something I want to emulate in the future. I would also like to express my heartfelt gratitude to my committee members Cynthia Colen and Kristi Williams for their valuable feedback on my work. Cindy’s constant emphasis on the “big picture” has brought me back to the drawing boards many times, and always for the better. Kristi’s seminal work on family and health has been my go-to source for inspiration to produce timely scholarly research that helps improve the wellbeing of families and push for policy changes. Finally, I would like to express my sincere appreciation to all my committee members for their unbelievable support through the job market season. I would not have been able to “keep trucking” during this brutal time without their support. I would also like to thank my friends for their valuable friendship and support. I am particularly grateful to Li Zhang and Yanting Guo, who often remind me not to lose iv sight of the “big picture” in life and to develop a greater belief in myself. I would also like to extend my gratitude to Li Xiao for reminding me not to dwell on the occasional setbacks and to embrace the challenges. My thanks also go to Fiona Lin, who is only a phone call away when I need her support and advice. I have also been fortunate enough to receive support and encouragement from numerous fellow graduate students, additional faculty, and staff. Special thanks go to Alexandra Kissling, Lauren Gebhardt-Kram, Yue Qian, Siqi Han, Claudia Buchmann, John Casterline, Liana Sayer, Hui Zheng, Reanne Frank, Claire Kamp Dush, Hollie Nyseth Brehm, Susan Pennington, Mary McKay, Jacob Tarrence, Paola Echave, Jasmine Whiteside, Christopher Munn, Johnathan Dirlam, Bethany Boettner, Jill Morris, Amelia Qi Li, Jill Yavorsky, Anna Muraveva, Aimee Yoon, Laura DeMarco, Erica Phillips, Emma Bosley-Smith, Brandon Moore, Kait Smeraldo, and Guangyi Wang. I gratefully acknowledge the financial support from a number of sources including the Coca-Cola – Critical Difference for Women Graduate Studies Grants for Research on Women, Gender, and Gender Equity and the summer fellowship from the Institute of Population Research (IPR). I would also like to thank IPR for the cozy cubicle and all the lovely conversations that happened in the IPR kitchen. Finally, I would like to thank my parents, Huake Zhang and Qunni Chen, for being the relentless supporters of my pursuits. Their unconditional love and support are the true examples of how intergenerational support can serve as an important buffer against stress and improve the wellbeing of family members across the life course. v Vita 2011.................................................................B.A. Sociology, Susquehanna University 2013.................................................................M.A. Sociology, The Ohio State University Publications Qian, Yue, Claudia Buchmann, and Zhe Zhang. 2018. Gender differences in educational adaptation of immigrant-origin youth in the United States. Demographic Research, 38, 1155-1188. Zhang, Zhe. 2017. “Division of Housework in Transitional Urban China” in Chinese Sociological Review, 49(3), 263-291. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/21620555.2017.1295809 Reczek, Corinne and Zhe Zhang. 2016. “Parent-child Relationships and Parent Psychological Distress: How do Social Support, Strain, Dissatisfaction, and Equity Matter?” Research on Aging 38(7), 742-766. doi: 10.1177/0164027515602315 Fields of Study Major Field: Sociology vi Table of Contents Abstract ............................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgments.............................................................................................................. iv Vita ..................................................................................................................................... vi List of Tables ..................................................................................................................... ix List of Figures ..................................................................................................................... x Chapter 1. Introduction ....................................................................................................... 1 References ....................................................................................................................... 5 Chapter 2. Midlife Parental Context and Mental Health .................................................... 6 Background ..................................................................................................................... 8 Parenthood context and psychological wellbeing at midlife ...................................... 8 Methods......................................................................................................................... 15 Data ........................................................................................................................... 15 Measures ................................................................................................................... 16 Analytic Strategy .........................................................................................................

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