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Abstract
Work and family roles entail divergent responsibilities, which can be a source of conflict especially in young adulthood – the so-called “rush-hour” of life. Combining these multiple social roles can result in an accumulation of stress but also be a valuable resource for mental health. The aim of this study is to investigate combined employment, parenthood and partnership trajectories of men and women during early adulthood, and to analyse the relationship of these multiple roles with depressive symptoms at older age.We used harmonised data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) and the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) with retrospective information on employment, partnerships and parenthood histories between age 25 and 40 for 18,816 men and 24,686 women (n = 43,502). We applied sequence analysis and clustering to group trajectories into four clusters for women and three clusters for men. We then used multilevel models to analyse the links between combined employment and family roles and later mental health in different historical labour market contexts (indicated by female employment rates).Women and men who did not combine work and family roles between age 25 and 40 report higher levels of depression than those who combined work and family. Results differ by gender and labour market context, with stronger differences between women in countries with higher female employment rates.Overall, combining multiple roles in early adulthood is associated with decreased rather than increased risk for depressive symptoms in older Europeans.
Highlights
In light of ageing populations in most parts of the world, maintaining mental functioning at older age is one of the main public health chal lenges for societies
We investigated the links between work-family clusters and mental health later in life and whether this link is moderated by historical la bour market contexts
Contrary to theories of role strain (Goode, 1960), our results show that men and women with multiple social roles have fewer depressive symptoms than other groups, suggesting that the accumu lated resources associated with both stable work and family might outweigh the negative consequences of potential conflict between roles for mental health later in life
Summary
In light of ageing populations in most parts of the world, maintaining mental functioning at older age is one of the main public health chal lenges for societies. The most salient social roles over the life course are employment, partnership and parenthood: While paid work can serve as an important source for in come and wealth, social support and identity, stressful working condi tions, episodes of unemployment or job insecurity can have a long lasting, negative impact on one’s mental health (Tausig, 2013; Thoits, 2011). Living with a partner and starting a family are associ ated with better social support and increased satisfaction and create increased demands on time and energy that have been shown to affect mental health and well-being later in life (Evenson & Simon, 2005; Nelson, Kushlev, English, Dunn, & Lyubomirsky, 2013). It is important to investigate the interplay of different social roles and the association between certain combinations of work and family situation and to look at the combined effect of all three on mental health in later life. In conservative countries, where the male breadwinner model is dominant, combining family with work might have a different effect on mental health than in Northern countries or Eastern European countries with their longer history of female employment
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