General rightsCopyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights.• Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research. • You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal ? Take down policyIf you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim.

Study Objectives To document trends in self-reported sleep duration for the noninstitutionalized U.S. civilian population from 2004 to 2017 and examine how sleep trends vary by race/ethnicity. Methods We use data from the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) for U.S. noninstitutionalized adults aged 18–84 from 2004 to 2017 (N = 398 382). NHIS respondents were asked how much they slept in a 24-hour period on average, which we categorized as ≤6 hr (short sleep), 7–8 hr (adequate sleep), and ≥9 hr (long sleep). We used multinomial logistic regression models to examine trends in self-reported sleep duration and assess race/ethnic differences in these trends. Our models statistically adjusted for demographic, socioeconomic, familial, behavioral, and health covariates. Results The prevalence of short sleep duration was relatively stable from 2004 to 2012. However, results from multinomial logistic regression models indicated that there was an increasing trend toward short sleep beginning in 2013 (b: 0.09, 95% CI: 0.05–0.14) that continued through 2017 (b: 0.18, 95% CI: 0.13–0.23). This trend was significantly more pronounced among Hispanics and non-Hispanic blacks, which resulted in widening racial/ethnic differences in reports of short sleep. Conclusions Recent increases in reports of short sleep are concerning as short sleep has been linked with a number of adverse health outcomes in the population. Moreover, growing race/ethnic disparities in short sleep may have consequences for racial and ethnic health disparities.

No abstract

The well-being of older adults is frequently tied to support from their adult children. Here, we assess whether the education of adult offspring is associated with changes to older parents’ short- and long-term health in Mexico, a rapidly aging context with historically limited institutional support for the elderly. Educational expansion over the past half century, however, provides older adults with greater resources to rely on via the education of their children. Using longitudinal data from the Mexican Health and Aging Study (2001–2012), we find that offspring education is not associated with short-term changes in parents’ physical functioning, but is associated with increased parental longevity, net of children’s financial status and transfers. In addition, we find that mothers’ longevity is more sensitive to offspring education than fathers. Our findings add to a growing body of literature that urges policy-makers to consider the multi-generational advantages of expanding educational opportunities in Mexico.

Objective Adverse events in childhood can indelibly influence adult health. While evidence for this association has mounted, a fundamental set of questions about how to operationalize adverse events has been understudied. Method We used data from the National Survey of Midlife Development in the United States to examine how quantity, timing, and types of adverse events in childhood are associated with adult cardiometabolic health. Results The best-fitting specification of quantity of events was a linear measure reflecting a dose–response relationship. Timing of event mattered less than repeated exposure to events. Regarding the type of event, academic interruptions and sexual/physical abuse were most important. Adverse childhood events elevated the risk of diabetes and obesity similarly for men and women but had a greater impact on women’s risk of heart disease. Discussion Findings demonstrate the insights that can be gleaned about the early-life origins of adult health by examining operationalization of childhood exposures.

Objectives Research on the socioeconomic gradient in mental health links disadvantaged family background with subsequent symptoms of depression, demonstrating the “downstream” effect of parental resources on children’s mental health. This study takes a different approach by evaluating the “upstream” influence of adult children’s educational attainment on parents’ depressive symptoms. Methods Using longitudinal data from the U.S. Health and Retirement Study (N = 106,517 person-years), we examine whether children’s college attainment influences their parents’ mental health in later life and whether this association increases with parental age. We also assess whether the link between children’s college completion and parents’ depression differs by parents’ own education. Results Parents with children who completed college have significantly lower levels of depressive symptoms than parents without college-educated children, although the gap between parents narrows with age. In addition, at baseline, parents with less than a high school education were more positively affected by their children’s college completion than parents who themselves had a college education, a finding which lends support to theories of resource substitution. Discussion Offspring education is an overlooked resource that can contribute to mental health disparities among older adults in a country with unequal access to college educations.

Researchers should be cautious making gender comparisons for IADLs without attending to the gender-specific measurement properties of many of the items of which the IADL is comprised.

This article asks how adult children’s education influences older parents’ physical health in Mexico, a context where older adults often lack access to institutional resources and rely on kin, primarily children, as a main source of support. Using logistic and negative binomial regression models and data from the first wave of the Mexican Health and Aging Study (N = 9,661), we find that parents whose children all completed high school are less likely to report any functional limitations as well as fewer limitations compared to parents with no children who completed high school. This association remains significant even after accounting for parent and offspring-level characteristics, including parents’ income that accounts for children’s financial transfers to parents. Future research should aim to understand the mechanisms that explain the association between adult children’s education and changes to parents’ health over time.