Drawing from cumulative inequality theory, we examine the relationship between childhood disadvantage and health problems in adulthood. Using two waves of data from Midlife Development in the United States, we investigate whether childhood disadvantage is associated with adult disadvantage, including fewer social resources, and the effect of lifelong disadvantage on health problems measured at the baseline survey and a 10-year follow-up. Findings reveal that childhood socioeconomic disadvantage and frequent abuse by parents are generally associated with fewer adult social resources and more lifestyle risks. Health problems, in turn, are affected by childhood disadvantage and by lifestyle risks, especially smoking and obesity. Not only was early disadvantage related to health problems at the baseline survey, but childhood socioeconomic disadvantage and frequent abuse also were related to the development of new health problems at the follow-up survey. These findings reveal the imprint of early disadvantage on health decades later and suggest greater attention to resources, even during midlife, can interrupt the chain of risks.

College-educated adults are healthier than other people in the United States, but selection bias complicates our understanding of how education influences health. This article focuses on the possibility that the health benefits of college may vary according to childhood (mis)fortune and people’s propensity to attain a college degree in the first place. Several perspectives from life course sociology offer competing hypotheses as to whether the most or the least advantaged see the greatest return of a college education. The authors use a national survey of middle-age American adults to assess risk of two cardiovascular health problems and mortality. Results from propensity score and hierarchical regression analysis indicate that the protective effect of college attainment is indeed heterogeneous. Further, the greatest returns are among those least likely to experience this life course transition (i.e., compensatory leveling). Explanations for this selection effect are offered, along with several directions for future research on the health benefits of completing college.

Building on prior research, this study elucidates the factors that shape financial strain and provides evidence that the Great Recession not only affected the financial well-being of older adults but also had adverse effects on mental health.

Accumulated financial strain has long-term effects on women's health during middle and later life. The findings demonstrate the importance of measuring life course exposure to stressors in studies of health trajectories.

We aimed to determine the impact of resilience on well-being in chronically ill adults, hypothesizing that resilient participants would have higher quality of life, life satisfaction, and happiness and less psychological distress than those with low resilience. Patients who received treatment for a chronic illness at Baylor Scott & White Health and self-identified an informal caregiver (nonpaid friend/family member who provides regular care) were eligible. After the Center for Community Research and Development administered a phone survey from March to June 2017, we built linear and ordinal logistic regression models to assess the effect of resilience on well-being while adjusting for health, finances, marital status, and gender. Forty-one participants completed the study. The average age was 67 ± 10 years; the most common illness was heart failure (39%). Participants had high resilience (median 4 [quartile 1 ¼ 3, quartile 3 ¼ 5], scale: 1-5), low psychological distress (4 [2, 7], scale: 0-24), high quality of life (8 [5, 9], scale: 0-10) and life satisfaction (5 ± 2, scale: 1-7), and 81% were pretty/very happy. The effect of resilience was significant in the expected directions in unadjusted analyses. After accounting for demographic, social, and clinical factors, resilience remained highly significant for psychological distress and happiness (b ¼-1.91, P ¼ 0.002; odds ratio ¼ 4.71, P ¼ 0.003, respectively). Psychological resilience may be a resource to preserve well-being for chronically ill individuals.

The findings reveal the importance of future time perspective for older people and suggest that it is more useful to query older people about their future health expectations than about how their health has changed.

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