This dissertation explores the consequences of parenthood to women and men's well-being-their employment outcomes and their socioeconomic and health status outcomes across the life course. By exploring both family-level and individual-level measures of well-being, this dissertation research will shed light on the family and work tradeoffs that men and women make across the course of their lives and how these tradeoffs produce inequities in economic and health well-being. This research will also explore period effects and changes in the consequences of parenthood to women's and men's well-being over time. Finally, this research will explore variation in the consequences of parenthood to women's and men's well-being across sub-national political and economic contexts. In addition to gender differences, attention will be paid throughout to consequences of parenthood as they vary by other ascribed and achieved statuses including marital and divorce statuses, race, and social class. Research findings will be based on descriptive longitudinal analyses, fixed effects regression models, and cross-sectional instrumental variable models. Data comes from the five percent Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS), the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY79), and the National Longitudinal Survey of Mature Women (NLSY Mature Women). This research will advance methodological and theoretical debates between sociologists, economists, and demographers, including but not limited to, post-industrial family and employment trends, how to quantify causal relationships, and the permanency of household-level versus individual-level economic well-being. Findings will also inform a number of family policy debates surrounding the tradeoffs between women and children's economic well-being.
