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Archives of Women's Mental Health Apr 2020Researchers agree that early marriage (EM) and adolescent pregnancy (AP) can form severe risks for women's somatic, mental, and reproductive health, as well as on...
Researchers agree that early marriage (EM) and adolescent pregnancy (AP) can form severe risks for women's somatic, mental, and reproductive health, as well as on educational and social status. Yet, less is known about factors that may moderate or mediate these associations. This study examined, first, retrospectively the impacts of EM and AP on self-reported mental and somatic health among multicultural group of women living in Eastern Anatolia, Turkey. Second task was to analyze whether and how the partner violence would mediate and/or moderate between EM and AP and mental health problems. The participants were 1569 women (16-72 years of age), who reported their age of being married, first pregnancy, and demographic characteristics. They described their mental health status through General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28: depressive, anxiety, social dysfunction, and somatization symptoms) and symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD; DSM-5). Women's reports of somatic illnesses were classified according to WHO-ICD-10. The revised conflict tactics scale, short form was used as a proxy to partner violence. Women who gave birth at 13-19 years of age reported more anxiety and somatization symptoms than later delivered, and those married younger than 25 showed a higher level of depressive symptoms than later married. Both AP and EM formed a heightened risk for somatic illnesses. The partner violence functioned as a moderator; AP was associated with especially high levels of depressive and anxiety symptoms among women exposed to sexual coercion in their marriage. Non-significant mediation analysis indicates that partner violence did not explain the severe impacts of the AP and EM on women's mental health. Yet, the AP and EM were associated with heightened level of partner violence. Adolescent pregnancy forms a comprehensive mental health risk, and both AP and EM were risks for somatic illnesses, such as cardiovascular problems. The mental health risk of AP further intensified if women experienced sexual coercion in their partnership. Our fundamental work is to abolish these patriarchal phenomena.
Topics: Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Female; Humans; Marriage; Mental Disorders; Middle Aged; Pregnancy; Pregnancy in Adolescence; Retrospective Studies; Risk Factors; Sex Offenses; Spouse Abuse; Surveys and Questionnaires; Turkey; Women's Health; Young Adult
PubMed: 30955087
DOI: 10.1007/s00737-019-00960-w -
Tidsskrift For Den Norske Laegeforening... Dec 2023
Topics: Humans; Family; Marriage
PubMed: 38088291
DOI: 10.4045/tidsskr.23.0733 -
Annual Review of Psychology Jan 2021The ways that couples form and manage their intimate relationships at higher and lower levels of socioeconomic status (SES) have been diverging steadily over the past... (Review)
Review
The ways that couples form and manage their intimate relationships at higher and lower levels of socioeconomic status (SES) have been diverging steadily over the past several decades. At higher SES levels, couples postpone marriage and childbirth to invest in education and careers, but they eventually marry at high rates and have relatively low risk for divorce. At lower SES levels, couples are more likely to cohabit and give birth prior to marriage and less likely to marry at all. This review examines how SES comes to be associated with the formation, development, and dissolution of intimate relationships. Overall, research has highlighted how a couple's socioeconomic context facilitates some choices and constrains others, resulting in different capacities for relationship maintenance and different adaptive mating strategies for more and less advantaged couples. A generalizable relationship science requires research that acknowledges these differences and one that recruits, describes, and attends to socioeconomic diversity across couples.
Topics: Divorce; Educational Status; Female; Humans; Interpersonal Relations; Male; Marriage; Sexual Behavior; Sexual Partners; Social Class; Spouses
PubMed: 32886585
DOI: 10.1146/annurev-psych-051920-013658 -
Proceedings of the National Academy of... Aug 2022Marital attachment plays an important role in maintaining intimate personal relationships and sustaining psychological well-being. Mate-selection theories suggest that...
Marital attachment plays an important role in maintaining intimate personal relationships and sustaining psychological well-being. Mate-selection theories suggest that people are more likely to marry someone with a similar personality and social status, yet evidence for the association between personality-based couple similarity measures and marital satisfaction has been inconsistent. A more direct and useful approach for understanding fundamental processes underlying marital satisfaction is to probe similarity of dynamic brain responses to maritally and socially relevant communicative cues, which may better reflect how married couples process information in real time and make sense of their mates and themselves. Here, we investigate shared neural representations based on intersubject synchronization (ISS) of brain responses during free viewing of marital life-related, and nonmarital, object-related movies. Compared to randomly selected pairs of couples, married couples showed significantly higher levels of ISS during viewing of marital movies and ISS between married couples predicted higher levels of marital satisfaction. ISS in the default mode network emerged as a strong predictor of marital satisfaction and canonical correlation analysis revealed a specific relation between ISS in this network and shared communication and egalitarian components of martial satisfaction. Our findings demonstrate that brain similarities that reflect real-time mental responses to subjective perceptions, thoughts, and feelings about interpersonal and social interactions are strong predictors of marital satisfaction, reflecting shared values and beliefs. Our study advances foundational knowledge of the neurobiological basis of human pair bonding.
Topics: Brain; Communication; Humans; Interpersonal Relations; Marriage; Personal Satisfaction; Personality; Spouses
PubMed: 35981139
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2202515119 -
Journal of Aging and Health Oct 2022We introduce a "childbearing biography" approach to show how multiple childbearing characteristics cluster in ways significant for midlife health.
OBJECTIVES
We introduce a "childbearing biography" approach to show how multiple childbearing characteristics cluster in ways significant for midlife health.
METHODS
We analyze the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (NLSY79; = 3992) using mixed-mode Latent Class Analysis with eight childbearing variables (e.g., age at first birth, parity, birth spacing, and mistimed births) to identify how childbearing biographies are associated with midlife health, adjusting for key covariates-including socioeconomic status (SES) and relationship history.
RESULTS
We identify six childbearing biographies: (1) early compressed, (2) staggered, (3) extended high parity, (4) later, (5) married planned, and (6) childfree. Childbearing biographies are strongly associated with physical health but not mental health, with differences primarily explained by SES.
DISCUSSION
Different childbearing biographies are related to physical health inequalities above what is demonstrated by the typical use of one or two childbearing measures, providing a new perspective into the growing health gap among aging midlife women.
Topics: Adolescent; Female; Humans; Longitudinal Studies; Marriage; Pregnancy; Social Class; Women's Health
PubMed: 35114843
DOI: 10.1177/08982643211070136 -
The Journal of Adolescent Health :... Mar 2022
Topics: Child; Family; Fertility; Humans; Marriage
PubMed: 35184824
DOI: 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2021.12.008 -
Salud Colectiva Apr 2023This study sought to estimate the prevalence and distribution of newborns to mothers under age 18 in Ecuador and the association between perinatal indicators and...
This study sought to estimate the prevalence and distribution of newborns to mothers under age 18 in Ecuador and the association between perinatal indicators and maternal marital status. Newborn records obtained from Ecuador's Instituto Nacional de Estadísticas y Censos (INEC) between 2015 and 2020 were used to assess the joint association between maternal age groups (10-15, 16-17, 18-19, and 20-24 years) and marital status (married, common-law, and single) with low birthweight, preterm birth, and inadequate prenatal care. The prevalence of newborns to mothers under age 18 was 9.3% overall, but declined over the study period, drastically among married mothers. The association between marital status and perinatal indicators depended on maternal age. The more favorable outcomes observed among married mothers aged 20-24 years (compared to their single counterparts) weaken or disappear among mothers under age 18. Mothers in stable unions exhibited outcomes in between those of married and single mothers.
Topics: Child; Female; Humans; Infant, Newborn; Pregnancy; Ecuador; Marriage; Maternal Age; Mothers; Premature Birth; Adolescent; Young Adult
PubMed: 37311140
DOI: 10.18294/sc.2023.4325 -
Lakartidningen Dec 2022The group of people who undergo infertility treatments is multifaceted and affected in different psychological aspects. In general, individuals cope relatively well with...
The group of people who undergo infertility treatments is multifaceted and affected in different psychological aspects. In general, individuals cope relatively well with this life situation. Risk for decreased quality-of-life is associated with miscarriages and/or long time to pregnancy. Women often report more signs of anxiety and depression during the period of treatment compared to men. Psychological support is needed to be able to handle strains caused by treatment and/or childlessness per se; such as marital strains, impaired mental well-being, and negative consequences on sexuality. Psychological support is also wanted for those who will have to adjust to continued childlessness.
Topics: Male; Pregnancy; Female; Humans; Infertility; Anxiety; Marriage; Mental Health; Quality of Life; Stress, Psychological; Depression; Adaptation, Psychological
PubMed: 36519704
DOI: No ID Found -
International Journal of Environmental... Apr 2022Loneliness has been recognised as a major public health concern in older adults in developed nations, with little focus on low- and middle-income countries such as...
BACKGROUND
Loneliness has been recognised as a major public health concern in older adults in developed nations, with little focus on low- and middle-income countries such as India. While the protective nature of social relationships on loneliness has been explored in the context of marriage, typically these benefits are examined in individual spouses rather than within the marital dyad.
METHODS
A sample of 398 opposite-sex married Indian couples (mean age 54.8 years) was obtained from the pilot wave of the Longitudinal Aging Study in India (LASI) conducted in 2010. These cross-sectional data were analysed using the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model, with one's own and one's partner's cognitive function, functional limitations, depressive symptoms, employment status and contact with friends included as predictors of loneliness.
RESULTS
There were no gender differences in the pattern of associations. Depression was positively associated with loneliness with actor and partner effects being significant. One's partner being employed was associated with less loneliness.
CONCLUSIONS
The sample showed low levels of depression, loneliness, and reduced functionality; however, depression still predicted one's own and one's partner's loneliness. Future work using longitudinal data could examine the role of employment in loneliness, particularly within the context of gender roles.
Topics: Aged; Cross-Sectional Studies; Humans; Interpersonal Relations; Loneliness; Marriage; Middle Aged; Spouses
PubMed: 35564697
DOI: 10.3390/ijerph19095302 -
Journal of Aging and Health Jan 2022To investigate whether the association between non-spousal support and mortality risk differs by marital status.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate whether the association between non-spousal support and mortality risk differs by marital status.
METHODS
Using data from the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project (N = 2460), we estimate a series of logistic regression models to assess how non-spousal support moderates the relationship between marital status and mortality across a 5-year period.
RESULTS
Never married respondents who had minimal perceived access to non-spousal support had a greater probability of death compared to married respondents with similar levels of non-spousal support. The disparity in mortality risk between these two groups disappeared when non-spousal support was high.
DISCUSSION
Although family and friends play an important role in mortality risk in later life, these findings suggest that never married older adults exhibit a heightened dependence on support from non-spousal sources. Future research and policies should explore ways in which never married older adults can be integrated into a supportive social environment.
Topics: Aged; Aging; Humans; Marital Status; Marriage; Single Person; Social Support
PubMed: 34114491
DOI: 10.1177/08982643211025381