Publication type
Journal Article
Authors
Publication date
May 15, 2016
Summary:
We investigate the extent to which people's earlier circumstances and
experiences shape subsequent life-courses. We do this using UK
longitudinal data to provide a dynamic analysis of employment and
caregiving histories for 4339 people over 15–20 years between 1991 and
2010. We analyse these histories as sequences using optimal matching and
cluster analysis to identify five distinct employment-caregiving
pathways. Regression analysis shows that prior to embarking on these
pathways, people are already differentiated by life-stage, gender and
attitudes towards family and gender roles. Difference-in-differences
estimation shows that some initial differences in income, subjective
health and wellbeing widen over time, while others narrow. In
particular, those following the most caregiving-intensive pathways not
only end up poorer but also experience a relative decline in subjective
health and wellbeing. These results confirm that earlier circumstances
exert a strong influence on later life-courses consistent with
pre-determination, persistence and path dependence.
Published in
Social Science and Medicine
Volume and page numbers
Volume: 156 , p.1 -11
DOI
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2016.03.020
ISSN
2779536
Subjects
#523566