Table 4.
Age 40 Self-assessed Health Regressed on Union Status at Birth and Subsequent Union History among Women Whose First Birth Was between the Ages of 15 and 25 (National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, 1979).
| Variable | Self-assessed Health at Age 40 |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total Sample |
Black Women |
|||||
| (1) | (2) | (3) | (4) | (5) | (6) | |
| Marital status at birth | ||||||
| Unmarried (reference = married) | −.23*** | — | — | −.16 | — | — |
| (.05) | — | — | (.09) | — | — | |
| Marital status at birth and later | ||||||
| Nonmarital birth, later married | — | −.37*** | — | — | −.27** | — |
| — | (.07) | — | — | (.10) | — | |
| Nonmarital birth, never married | — | −.15** | .24** | — | −.04 | .24** |
| — | (.05) | (.07) | — | (.09) | (.09) | |
| Married at first birth | — | — | .40*** | — | — | .32** |
| — | — | (.07) | — | — | (.11) | |
| First birth at ages 20–24 (reference = ages 15–19) | −.00 | .02 | .01 | .05 | .08 | .07 |
| (.05) | (.05) | (.05) | (.08) | (.08) | (.08) | |
| R’s mother’s education | .04*** | .04*** | .04*** | .03 | .03 | .03 |
| (.01) | (.01) | (.01) | (.02) | (.02) | (.02) | |
| R’s mother had adolescent birth | .07 | .07 | .08 | .05 | .05 | .06 |
| (.08) | (.08) | (.08) | (.12) | (.11) | (.11) | |
| R used contraception before first | .02 | .02 | .02 | .00 | −.01 | −.01 |
| pregnancy | (.05) | (.05) | (.05) | (.08) | (.08) | (.08) |
| Home environment at age I4a | ||||||
| Lived with both parents | −.03 | −.03 | −.03 | −.10 | −.09 | −.10 |
| (.06) | (.06) | (.06) | (.10) | (.10) | (.10) | |
| Urban | .05 | .05 | .05 | .01 | .00 | .00 |
| (.06) | (.06) | (.06) | (.10) | (.10) | (.10) | |
| South | −.07 | −.07 | −.07 | −.02 | −.03 | −.04 |
| (.05) | (.05) | (.05) | (.08) | (.08) | (.08) | |
| Reading material in home | .04 | .03 | .04 | −.03 | −.03 | −.03 |
| (.07) | (.07) | (.07) | (.10) | (.10) | (.10) | |
| Adult female in home employed | .02 | .02 | .02 | .09 | .08 | .09 |
| (.05) | (.05) | (.05) | (.08) | (.08) | (.08) | |
| Adult male in home employed | .09 | .09 | .08 | −.02 | −.03 | −.03 |
| (.06) | (.06) | (.06) | (.10) | (.10) | (.10) | |
| Religion in childhood (reference = Baptist) | ||||||
| Catholic | .06 | .05 | .05 | −.04 | −.05 | −.06 |
| (.06) | (.06) | (.06) | (.14) | (.14) | (.14) | |
| Liberal Protestant | .04 | .03 | .03 | .02 | .01 | .01 |
| (.07) | (.07) | (.07) | (.12) | (.12) | (.12) | |
| Other religion | −.02 | −.03 | −.03 | −.01 | −.02 | −.02 |
| (.08) | (.08) | (.08) | (.12) | (.12) | (.12) | |
| No religion | .04 | .04 | .04 | .24 | .25 | .25 |
| (.11) | (.11) | (.11) | (.11) | (.10) | (.18) | |
| Health limitation prior to first birth (reference = none) | −.35*** | −.36*** | −.36*** | −.36** | −.38** | −.38** |
| (.08) | (.08) | (.08) | (.13) | (.13) | (.13) | |
| Constant | 3.06*** | 3.07*** | 2.68*** | 3.14*** | 3.15*** | 2 87*** |
| (.12) | (.12) | (.12) | (.22) | (.22) | (.21) | |
| N | 2,201 | 2,201 | 2,201 | 822 | 822 | 822 |
Note: Standard errors in parentheses. R = respondent.
a
Six dichotomous measures of home environment at age 14 coded so that 0 = absence of the characteristic.
*
p <.05
**
p <.01
***
p <.001 (two-tailed tests).