Teenage Mothers Have Poorer Health Later in Life

Ivanhoe Newswire
Thursday, September 14, 2006; 12:00 AM

(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- New research indicates partnership and parenting histories directly influence our health later in life.

In a study funded by the U.K.'s Economic and Social Research Council, researchers looked at three separate databases of women born from 1911 onwards in Great Britain and the United States. Their objective was to determine what long-term health implications a person's partnership and parenting experiences have later in life. They aimed to determine an association independent of other early-life and socio-economic influences.

Findings revealed childless women, mothers of five or more children, teenage mothers, and mothers who have children within 18 months of each other all have a higher risk of early death or poor health later in life. Further regarding teenage motherhood, the study reveals poorer mental health at age 53 for women who have children before age 21. This holds true regardless of their socio-economic circumstances in childhood, according to Professor Emily Grundy of the Centre for Population Studies of the School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in London.

On the opposing side of the motherhood timescale, this study revealed that women who have children after 40 generally experience better health later in life. Researchers suggest this finding could point to the fact that women choosing to bring children up at this age as opposed to earlier in life are already likely to be in good health and feeling fit.

Regarding partnership and later life health, this study confirms other research indicating that men experience more health gains from marriage than do women. Researchers believe self-rating may be responsible for this finding. While married women tend to report poorer health than their unmarried counterparts do, statistics point to higher mortality rates among unmarried women.

Researchers conclude, "Our findings have important implications for projections of the health status of the older population as well as contributing to our understanding of life course influences on health."

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SOURCE: Social Science and Medicine, 61:217-228