The Impact of Work and Family Trajectories on Mortality: New Insights on Cumulative Stratification

John R. Warren, University of Minnesota
Andrew Halpern-Manners, University of Minnesota
Ti-Fen Yeh, University of Wisconsin at Madison

Motivated by theoretical and empirical research on cumulative stratification and the life course, we examine relationships between long-term trajectories of work and family roles and the timing and cause of death. Using group-based trajectory modeling techniques and data from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (WLS), we identify discrete trajectories of work and family roles between adolescence and age 53. We then model mortality after age 53 as a function of (1) long-term trajectories of work and family roles and (2) measures of work, family, health, and other circumstances at age 53. We find that the work and family lives of WLS respondents have typically followed a small number of discrete trajectories and that these trajectories are shaped by gender as well as early life attributes and circumstances. Do respondents’ trajectories of work and family roles independently influence mortality outcomes? Our findings will have important implications for theories of cumulative stratification.