Women of the 1950s and the "normative" life course: the implications of childlessness, fertility timing, and marital status for psychological well-being in late midlife.

We explore women's psychological well-being in late midlife in relation to childlessness and timing of entry into motherhood. Using two U.S. surveys, Health and Retirement Study (HRS) (1992) and National Survey of Families and Households (NSFH) (Sweet, Bumpass, & Call, 1988), we assess the well-being of childless women in their 50s compared to mothers with early, delayed, or normatively timed first births. We focus on the cohorts born between 1928 and 1941, who experienced strong normative pressures during the baby boom with regard to marriage and child-bearing. We find few differences among childless women but lower well-being among early mothers, related to singlehood and poorer socioeconomic status. Unmarried mothers are significantly disadvantaged regardless of maternal timing, controlling for socioeconomic status. Current maternal demands are independently related to well-being and help to explain observed differences in family satisfaction. Overall, childlessness and off-time child-bearing are related to midlife well-being through their link with more proximate factors, particularly current marital status, health, and socioeconomic status.

It takes two: marriage and smoking cessation in the middle years.

OBJECTIVES: In this prospective study of smoking cessation among married individuals in midlife we examine correspondence in the change of each partner's smoking status with that of the other, independent of established psychosocial correlates of smoking cessation. METHODS: Using longitudinal data from the first two waves of the Health and Retirement Study, 1992-1994, hierarchical logistic regression models were estimated for married male and female smokers separately. RESULTS: Findings support our hypothesis of correspondence in the smoking cessation of married male and female smokers net of other sociodemographic, health, and health behavior characteristics. DISCUSSION: These findings suggest that initiation and maintenance of this positive lifestyle change may be more easily achieved when both marital partners are given information and support to quit smoking at the same time.

Who expects to continue working after age 62? The retirement plans of couples.

OBJECTIVES: This study examines the individual, spousal, and household characteristics associated with the retirement expectations of husbands and wives. METHODS: Using data from the 1992 Health and Retirement Study, subjective probabilities of working full-time after reaching age 62 and age 65 are used to measure retirement expectations. The retirement expectations of husbands and wives are modeled simultaneously using a joint-generalized least-squares approach. RESULTS: Within a marriage, retirement expectations are shaped by individual, spousal, and household characteristics. We observe some gender differences in cross-spousal influence with wives' retirement expectations being more influenced by husbands' resources and constraints than vice versa. Nonetheless, individual and household factors associated with retirement expectations are widely shared by husbands and wives. DISCUSSION: Husbands and wives both respond to individual and joint constraints and opportunities when planning for retirement. Findings support that there is considerable overlap in retirement planning of husbands and wives during early parts of the retirement decision-making process. However, inequity in cross-spousal influences is a defining characteristic of retirement decision making. Implications for both policy makers and practitioners are briefly discussed.