Barr Ashley B, Simons Leslie Gordon, Simons Ronald L, Beach Steven R H, Philibert Robert A
State University of New York, Buffalo.
University of Georgia.
Am Sociol Rev. 2018 Feb;83(1):143-172. doi: 10.1177/0003122417751442. Epub 2018 Jan 10.
For many African American youth, the joint influences of economic and racial marginalization render the transition to stable adult roles challenging. We have gained much insight into how these challenges affect future life chances, yet we lack an understanding of what these challenges mean in the context of linked lives. Drawing on a life course framework, this study examines how young African Americans' experiences across a variety of salient domains during the transition to adulthood affect their mothers' health. Results suggest that stressors experienced by African Americans during the transition to adulthood (e.g., unemployment, troubled romantic relationships, arrest) heighten their mothers' cumulative biological risk for chronic diseases, or allostatic load, and reduce subjective health. These results suggest that the toll of an increasingly tenuous and uncertain transition to adulthood extends beyond young people to their parents. Hence, increased public investments during this transition may not only reduce inequality and improve life chances for young people themselves, but may also enhance healthy aging by relieving the heavy burden on parents to help their children navigate this transition.
对于许多非裔美国青年来说，经济边缘化和种族边缘化的共同影响使得向稳定的成人角色过渡充满挑战。我们已经深入了解了这些挑战如何影响未来的生活机会，但我们并不了解在相互关联的生活背景下这些挑战意味着什么。本研究借鉴生命历程框架，考察了非裔美国青年在成年过渡期间在各个显著领域的经历如何影响他们母亲的健康。结果表明，非裔美国人在成年过渡期间经历的压力源（如失业、麻烦不断的恋爱关系、被捕）会增加其母亲患慢性病的累积生物学风险，即应激负荷，并降低主观健康水平。这些结果表明，向成年过渡日益脆弱和不确定所带来的代价不仅影响年轻人，还波及他们的父母。因此，在这一过渡期间增加公共投资，不仅可以减少不平等现象，改善年轻人自身的生活机会，还可以通过减轻父母帮助子女度过这一过渡的沉重负担来促进健康老龄化。
