1. Do mothers or females without children have better health-related quality of life across their reproductive years?
- Author
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Jin C, Tooth LR, Xu X, and Mishra GD
- Subjects
- Adolescent, Female, Humans, Child, Middle Aged, Young Adult, Adult, Longitudinal Studies, Australia, Women's Health, Mothers, Quality of Life psychology
- Abstract
Purpose: To compare health-related quality of life (HRQoL) between mothers and females who were voluntarily or involuntarily childless, across their reproductive years., Methods: 4100 females born in 1973-78 from the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health were followed for 22 years. Motherhood status was defined by females' reports in Survey 8 (2018, 40-45 years) on their fertility, attempts to conceive, use of in vitro fertilization and fertility hormones, and number of children. HRQoL was assessed in each survey using the 36-Item Short Form Survey (SF-36). Linear mixed models were used to assess the associations between motherhood status and HRQoL., Results: Over 22 years, compared with females who were voluntarily childless, mothers on average had better HRQoL (shown by scores 1.5 to 3.4 points higher on five of the eight SF-36 subscales), while females who were involuntarily childless scored 2.2 to 3.0 points lower on three of eight SF-36 subscales. Compared with females who were voluntarily childless, teen mothers (age at first birth < 20 years) scored lower on role limitations due to physical problems subscale (b = -5.5, 95% CI: -9.3, -1.6), while females with either two, or three or more children scored 1.6 to 4.8 points higher on seven of eight SF-36 subscales., Conclusions: Females who were childless had poorer HRQoL than mothers. Further research is needed to understand the underlying mechanisms, which could inform policymakers on how to reduce the health disparities and improve long-term health outcomes for females., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.)
- Published
- 2023
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