Parental and adolescent health behaviors and pathways to adulthood

Abstract

This paper examines associations among parental and adolescent health behaviors and pathways to adulthood. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health, we identify a set of latent classes describing pathways into adulthood and examine health-related predictors of these pathways. The identified pathways are consistent with prior research using other sources of data. Results also show that both adolescent and parental health behaviors differentiate pathways. Parental and adolescent smoking are associated with lowered probability of the higher education pathway and higher likelihood of the work and the work & family pathways (entry into the workforce soon after high school completion). Adolescent drinking is positively associated with the work pathway and the higher education pathway, but decreases the likelihood of the work & family pathway. Neither parental nor adolescent obesity are associated with any of the pathways to adulthood. When combined, parental/adolescent smoking and adolescent drinking are associated with displacement from the basic institutions of school, work, and family.

A developmental perspective on the impact of chronic pain in late adolescence and early adulthood: implications for assessment and intervention

“…Given the differing context related to functioning and productivity, this may include unique domains from childhood or later adulthood. Vulnerabilities that emerge in late adolescence and early adulthood related to health risk behaviors and poor access to healthcare have significant implications for chronic pain management [2;3;5;10;11;47;48] but have not been fully characterized. Further, chronic pain treatments have not been tailored for this subpopulation.…”

Youth academic achievement, social context, and body mass index

“…These findings have important implications for the health of this cohort, as BMI in youth is predictive of adult BMI, and BMI is associated with other health risks ( Azar Mokdad et al, 2003 ; Roy et al, 2020 ; Sharabiani et al, 2011 ). Adolescence may be the start of a trajectory of worsening health among this group ( Bauldry et al, 2016 ; Martin, Jennifer, Gandarvaka, Allison, & Harris, 2019 ). This finding is particularly concerning because it suggests that the suppressed health benefit of achievement occurs early, before upward socioeconomic mobility is actually achieved.…”

Family Structure and Parents’ Health: Implications for the Reproduction of Health Inequality across Generations

“…Research also suggests that parents' socioeconomic status operates indirectly through its effect on their offspring's health status in childhood, which acts as a "mechanism through which socioeconomic status is transferred across generations" (Haas, 2006, p. 339). Childhood health may also affect educational attainment, as well as family formation, and subsequent socioeconomic status and health in adulthood (Bauldry et al, 2016;Haas et al, 2011;Jackson, 2010). That the social reproduction of inequality across generations operates, at least in part, through health points to the importance of incorporating family context into health studies, as well as health into the study of family processes.…”