Relative Earnings and Depressive Symptoms among Working Parents: Gender Differences in the Effect of Relative Income on Depressive Symptoms

Disentangling the multigenerational transmissions of socioeconomic disadvantages and mental health problems by gender and across lineages: Findings from the Stockholm Birth Cohort Multigenerational Study

There is a paucity of research examining the patterning of socioeconomic disadvantages and mental health problems across multiple generations. The current study therefore aimed to investigate the interconnected transmissions of socioeconomic disadvantages and mental health problems from grandparents to grandchildren through the parents, as well as the extent to which these transmissions differ according to lineage (i.e., through matrilineal/patrilineal descent) and grandchild gender. Drawing on the Stockholm Birth Cohort Multigenerational Study, the sample included 21,416 unique lineages by grandchild gender centered around cohort members born in 1953 (parental generation) as well as their children (grandchild generation) and their parents (grandparental generation). Based on local and national register data, socioeconomic disadvantages were operationalized as low income, and mental health problems as psychiatric disorders. A series of path models based on structural equation modelling were applied to estimate the associations between low income and psychiatric disorders across generations and for each lineage-gender combination. We found a multigenerational transmission of low income through the patriline to grandchildren. Psychiatric disorders were transmitted through both the patriline and matriline, but only to grandsons. The patriline-grandson transmission of psychiatric disorder partially operated via low income of the fathers. Furthermore, grandparents' psychiatric disorders influenced their children's and grandchildren's income. We conclude that there is evidence of transmissions of socioeconomic disadvantages and mental health problems across three generations, although these transmissions differ by lineage and grandchild gender. Our findings further highlight that grandparents' mental health problems could cast a long shadow on their children's and grandchildren's socioeconomic outcomes, and that socioeconomic disadvantages in the intermediate generation may play an important role for the multigenerational transmission of mental health problems.

Women's relative earnings and depressive symptoms in dual-earner households in South Korea: Traditional gender role attitudes as moderators

This study investigated the association between relative earnings and depressive symptoms among 578 married women from dual-earning households. We also examined the moderating role of both spouses' traditional gender role attitudes. Women's relative earnings in their households did not directly predict their depressive symptoms. However, there was a significant three-way interaction effect of women's relative earnings and both spouses' traditional gender role attitudes on women's depressive symptoms. Particularly, women with considerably stronger-than-average traditional gender role attitudes reported more depressive symptoms when their relative earnings were greater and when their husbands showed strong traditional gender role attitudes. However, women holding even slightly weaker-than-average traditional gender role attitudes reported significantly fewer depressive symptoms as their relative earnings increased, even when their husbands showed strong traditional gender role attitudes. These results indicate that traditional wives with high relative earnings may feel threatened by the discrepancy between their values (traditional gender role attitudes) and behaviors (high relative earnings), especially when their husbands hold strong traditional gender role attitudes.