Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-27gpq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-28T16:44:06.548Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Transitions to adulthood and psychological distress in young adults born 12 years apart: constraints on and resources for development

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 June 2009

A. Sacker*
Affiliation:
University of Essex, Wivenhoe Park, Colchester, Essex, UK
N. Cable
Affiliation:
University College London, London, UK
*
*Address for correspondence: Professor A. Sacker, Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER), University of Essex, Wivenhoe Park, Colchester CO4 3SQ, UK. (Email: asacker@essex.ac.uk)

Abstract

Background

Later transitions to adult roles and responsibilities have been linked with better psychological well-being yet psychological distress has risen despite young people making the transition to adulthood at older ages over recent years.

Method

We examine the role of structural constraints and adolescent resources in the relationship between the timing of transitions and psychological distress in early adult life in the 1958 National Child Development Study and the 1970 British Cohort Study. Graphical chain models were used to examine the influences on timing of four key transitions and their relationship with psychological distress (Malaise Inventory). The role of structural factors at birth (gender, social class) and adolescent resources (psychosocial problems, exam grades) were modelled.

Results

An earlier transition to adult roles was associated with an increased risk for psychological distress but so was failing to make some key transitions. Structural constraints had negative effects on successful development. Persistent social class and gender inequalities in psychological distress were evident in both cohorts. Social class constraints were mediated by educational resources whereas gender constraints were mediated by psychosocial resources. The influence of structural constraints on the timing of transitions to adult roles was more complex with evidence of positive and negative mediation and moderation effects.

Conclusions

Delaying transition to adulthood promotes psychological health but failure of transition to independent living is associated with psychological distress. Life-course transitions are constrained by social origin and gender and possibly economic environment. Adolescent resources help young adults to make timely transitions to adult roles.

Type
Original Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Arnett, J (2000). Emerging adulthood. A theory of development from the late teens through the twenties. American Psychologist 55, 469480.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bardone, AM, Moffitt, T, Caspi, A, Dickson, N, Stanton, WR, Silva, PA (1998). Adult physical health outcomes of adolescent girls with conduct disorder, depression, and anxiety. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry 37, 594601.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bartley, M, Sacker, A, Schoon, I (2002). Social and economic trajectories and women's health. In Lifecourse Approach to Women's Health (ed. Kuh, D. and Hardy, R.). Oxford University Press: Oxford.Google Scholar
Bewley, S, Davies, M, Braude, P (2005). Which career first? British Medical Journal 331, 588589.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Blanchflower, DG, Oswald, AJ (2000). Well-being over time in Britain and the USA. NBER Working Paper No. 7487. National Bureau of Economic Research: Cambridge, MA.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Breen, R, Goldthorpe, JH (2001). Class, mobility and merit. The experience of two British birth cohorts. European Sociological Review 17, 81–101.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brewer, RI, Haslum, MN, Stewart-Brown, S (1982). Recent findings from the 1970 Child Health and Education Study. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine 75, 781784.Google Scholar
Butler, NR, Bonham, DG (1963). Perinatal Mortality. Livingstone: Edinburgh.Google Scholar
Clausen, JS (1991). Adolescent competence and the shaping of the life course. American Journal of Sociology 96, 805842.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coleman, J, Wolkind, S, Ashley, L (1977). Symptoms of behaviour disturbance and adjustment to school. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 18, 201210.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Compton, W, Conway, K, Stinson, F, Grant, B (2006). Changes in the prevalence of major depression and comorbid substance use disorders in the United States between 1991–1992 and 2001–2002. American Journal of Psychiatry 163, 21422147.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Côté, JE (2000). Arrested Adulthood: The Changing Nature of Identity and Maturity in the Late-Modern World. New York University Press: New York.Google Scholar
Côté, JE, Schwartz, SJ (2002). Comparing psychological and sociological approaches to identity: identity status, identity capital, and the individualization process. Journal of Adolescence 25, 571586.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Department for Children Schools and Families (2007). The Children's Plan. Building Brighter Futures. HMSO: Norwich.Google Scholar
Easterlin, RA (1995). Will raising the incomes of all increase the happiness of all? Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization 27, 3547.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eckersley, R (2006). Is modern Western culture a health hazard? International Journal of Epidemiology 35, 252258.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Elder, GHJ (1998). The life course as developmental theory. Child Development 69, 112.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ferdinand, RF, Stijnen, T, Verhulst, FC, Van Der Reijden, M (1999). Associations between behavioural and emotional problems in adolescence and maladjustment in young adulthood. Journal of Adolescence 22, 123136.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ferri, E, Bynner, J, Wadsworth, M (2003). Changing Britain, Changing Lives: Three Generations at the Turn of the Century. Institute of Education, University of London: London.Google Scholar
Grant, G, Nolan, M, Ellis, N (1990). A reappraisal of the Malaise Inventory. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology 25, 170178.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gutman, LM, Sameroff, AJ (2004). Continuities in depression from adolescence to young adulthood: Contrasting ecological influences. Development and Psychopathology 16, 967984.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Harley, C, Mortimer, JT (1999). Markers of transition to adulthood, socioeconomic status of origin, and trajectories of health. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 896, 367369.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Heinz, WR, Kruger, H (2001). Life course: innovations and challenges for social research. Current Sociology 49, 2945.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hofler, M, Wittchen, HU, Lieb, R, Hoyer, J, Friis, RH (2003). Association chain graphs: modelling etiological pathways. International Journal of Methods in Psychiatric Research 12, 7784.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Joyce, P, Oakley-Browne, M, Wells, J, Bushnell, J, Hornblow, A (1990). Birth cohort trends in major depression: increasing rates and earlier onset in New Zealand. Journal of Affective Disorders 18, 8389.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kasen, S, Cohen, P, Chen, H, Castille, D (2003). Depression in adult women: age changes and cohort effects. American Journal of Public Health 93, 20612066.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kohli, M (1986). The world we forgot: a historical review of the life course. In Later Life (ed. Marshall, V.), pp. 271303. Sage: Beverly Hills, CA.Google Scholar
Krohn, MD, Lizotte, AJ, Perez, CM (1997). The interrelationship between substance use and precocious transitions to adult statuses. Journal of Health and Social Behavior 38, 87–103.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lamb, K, Lee, G, Demaris, A (2003). Union formation and depression: selection and relationships effects. Journal of Marriage and the Family 65, 953962.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leete, R, Fox, J (1977). Registrar General's social classes: origins and users. Population Trends 8, 17.Google Scholar
Macmillan, A, Kolvin, I, Garside, RF, Nicol, AR, Leitch, IM (1980). A multiple criterion screen for identifying secondary school children with psychiatric disorder. Psychological Medicine 10, 265276.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Marsh, C (1986). Social class and occupation. In Key Variables in Social Investigation (ed. Burgess, R.), pp. 123152. Routledge: London.Google Scholar
Materia, E, Baglio, G (2005). Health, science, and complexity. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 59, 534535.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Maughan, B, Lindelow, M (1997). Secular change in psychosocial risks: the case of teenage motherhood. Psychological Medicine 27, 11291144.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Maughan, B, Taylor, A (2001). Adolescent psychological problems, partnership transitions and adult mental health: an investigation of selection effects. Psychological Medicine 31, 291305.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mirowsky, J, Ross, CE (1992). Age and depression. Journal of Health and Social Behavior 33, 187205.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mirowsky, J, Ross, CE (2002). Depression, parenthood, and age at first birth. Social Science and Medicine 54, 12811298.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Moffitt, T (1993). Adolescent-limited and life-course-persistent antisocial behavior: a developmental taxonomy. Psychological Review 100, 674701.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Murphy, J (1986). Trends in depression and anxiety: men and women. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica 73, 113127.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Muthén, LK, Muthén, BO (2004). Mplus User's Guide. Third Edition. Muthén & Muthén: Los Angeles, CA.Google Scholar
Office of Population Censuses and Surveys (1980). Classification of Occupations. HMSO: London.Google Scholar
Plewis, I, Calderwood, L, Hawkes, D, Nathan, G (2004). National Child Development Study and 1970 British Cohort Study. Technical Report: Changes in the NCDS and BCS70 populations and samples over time. Institute of Education, Centre for Longitudinal Studies: London.Google Scholar
Power, C, Manor, O (1992). Explaining social class differences in psychological health among young adults: a longitudinal perspective. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology 27, 284291.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ravanera, ZR, Rajulton, F, Burch, TK (2006). Inequality and the life course: differentials in trajectories and timing of transitions of Canadian women. Discussion Paper no. 06-03. Vol. 2007. Population Studies Centre, University of Western Ontario.Google Scholar
Rodgers, B, Pickles, A, Power, C, Collishaw, S, Maughan, B (1999). Validity of the Malaise Inventory in general population samples. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology 34, 333341.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Royston, P (2004). Multiple imputation of missing values. Stata Journal 4, 227241.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rubin, DB (1987). Multiple Imputation for Nonresponse in Surveys. John Wiley: New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rutter, M, Kim-Cohen, J, Maughan, B (2006). Continuities and discontinuities in psychopathology between childhood and adult life. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 47, 276295.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rutter, M, Maughan, B, Mortimer, P, Ouston, J (1979). Fifteen Thousand Hours: Secondary Schools and their Effects on Children. Open Books: London.Google Scholar
Rutter, M, Tizard, J, Whitmore, K (1970). Education, Health and Behaviour. Longmans: London.Google Scholar
Sacker, A, Wiggins, RD (2002). Age-period-cohort effects on inequalities in psychological distress, 1981–2000. Psychological Medicine 32, 977990.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schoon, I (2006). Risk and Resilience. Adaptations in Changing Times. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shanahan, MJ (2000). Pathways to adulthood in changing societies: Variability and mechanisms in life course perspective. Annual Review of Sociology 26, 667692.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shepherd, P (1993). Analysis of response bias. In Life at 33. The Fifth Follow-up of the National Child Development Study (ed. Ferri, E.), pp. 184188. National Children's Bureau: London.Google Scholar
Shepherd, P (1995). The National Child Development Study: an introduction, its origins and the methods of data collection. National Children's Bureau: London.Google Scholar
Shepherd, P (2004). NCDS and BCS70 update. In Kohort. CLS Cohort Studies Newsletter.Google Scholar
Simon, RW, Marcussen, K (1999). Marital transitions, marital beliefs, and mental health. Journal of Health and Social Behavior 40, 111125.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Veenhoven, R (1999). Quality-of-life in individualistic society. Social Indicators Research 48, 159188.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Veenhoven, R (2005). Return of inequality in modern society? Test by dispersion of life-satisfaction across time and nations. Journal of Happiness Studies 6, 457487.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weissman, MM (1992). Depression: current understanding and changing trends. Annual Review of Public Health 13, 319339.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wermuth, N, Lauritzen, SL (1990). On substantive research hypotheses, conditional independence graphs and graphical chain models. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society. Series B (Methodological) 52, 2150.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Woodward, L, Fergusson, D (1999). Early conduct problems and later risk of teenage pregnancy in girls. Development and Psychopathology 11, 127141.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed