Family structure and mothers’ mental health: A life course perspective on stability and change

We describe how a life course perspective can be used to examine the intersection of various patterns of stability or change in family structure over the life course with women's trajectories of psychological distress. Our approach in this chapter addresses both conceptual issues and methodological developments that we believe can advance our understanding of the intricate interplay between social structure and mental health over the life course. With information derived from life history calendars and a 14-year longitudinal study of a large sample of single and married mothers, we demonstrate how latent class cluster analysis can be used to construct trajectories of both family structure and psychological distress. We contend that such trajectories capture the dynamics of change over the life course. We conclude with a discussion of the ways in which four kinds of experiences may assist us in explaining variations in these trajectories. We argue that adversities in childhood and adolescence, precocious role transitions, early onset of depression, and the operant burden of stress each play important roles in influencing trajectories of family structure and psychological distress.