School of Public Health, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, 4072, Australia.
School of Public Health, Menzies Health Institute, Griffith University, Mount Gravatt, QLD 4122, Australia.
Qual Life Res. 2018 Apr;27(4):923-935. doi: 10.1007/s11136-018-1786-7. Epub 2018 Jan 16.
We examine timing of motherhood in a longitudinal cohort of young Australian women, and its relationship with mental health-related quality of life (SF-36 MHI-5), and with sociodemographic, health behaviour and health-related variables.
We analysed longitudinal self-report data from a nationally representative cohort of 10,332 Australian women born 1973-1978, surveyed 6 times between 1996 (aged 18-23) and 2012 (aged 34-39).
Group-based trajectory modelling identified four groups. Normative Mothers (46%, mean age at motherhood 30.5 years) made the transition to motherhood close to the Australian median age. Early Mothers (25%, 25.2 years) and Very Early Mothers (7%, 20.0 years) made this transition earlier; Not Mothers (22%) had not given birth. Generalised linear mixed models showed that all groups improved mean MHI-5 scores over time. Patterns of group differences were complex: Normative and Early Mothers scored consistently highest; Very Early Mothers scored lowest at most surveys; Not Mothers' scores increased relative to others over time. Most effects disappeared after adjustment for confounders. Early and Very Early Mothers showed multiple indicators of social disadvantage, while Not Mothers had very low rates of marriage.
Timing of motherhood is embedded in sociodemographic and personal contexts. Women with socioeconomic advantages were characterised by higher mental health-related quality of life and later transition to motherhood, but adjustment for relative advantage attenuated differences in mental health-related quality of life. The overall findings suggest a pattern of positive adaptation to circumstances, with mental health-related quality of life improving through early adulthood regardless of timing of motherhood.
我们在一项对年轻澳大利亚女性的纵向队列研究中考察了生育年龄，并研究了其与心理健康相关的生活质量（SF-36 MHI-5）以及与社会人口统计学、健康行为和健康相关变量的关系。
我们分析了 1973-1978 年出生的 10332 名澳大利亚女性的全国代表性队列的纵向自我报告数据，这些女性在 1996 年（18-23 岁）和 2012 年（34-39 岁）之间进行了 6 次调查。
基于群组的轨迹建模确定了四个群组。正常生育的母亲（46%，生育年龄的平均值为 30.5 岁）接近澳大利亚的中位数年龄完成生育的转变。早育的母亲（25%，25.2 岁）和非常早育的母亲（7%，20.0 岁）更早地完成了这一转变；未生育的母亲（22%）没有生育。广义线性混合模型显示，所有组的平均 MHI-5 评分都随时间推移而提高。群组差异的模式较为复杂：正常生育的母亲和早育的母亲得分始终最高；非常早育的母亲在大多数调查中得分最低；未生育的母亲的得分随着时间的推移相对高于其他人。调整混杂因素后，大多数影响消失了。早育和非常早育的母亲表现出多种社会劣势指标，而未生育的母亲的婚姻率非常低。
生育年龄嵌入社会人口统计学和个人背景中。具有社会经济优势的女性具有更高的心理健康相关生活质量和较晚的生育年龄，但调整相对优势后，心理健康相关生活质量的差异就会减弱。总体结果表明，她们适应环境的模式是积极的，无论生育年龄如何，心理健康相关生活质量在整个成年早期都在提高。
