Parental Death and Filial Adult Mortality: Population Findings from a Longitudinal Study from the U.S. Southwest

The long-term effect of early life adversity over the adult life cycle, and specifically in later life has been a persistent and consistent topic of research for demographers, sociologists and population studies. Decades ago, this became of central interest for US Sociology when investigating adult experiences and the timing of mortality for children growing up during the US Depression in the 1930s and early 1940s. Less is known, however, on how the experience of early life trauma and parental mortality affects older disadvantaged populations. This question is addressed here using 2020-2022 mortality data from a longitudinal study of middle age and older Mexican Americans residing in the US Southwest, along the Texas Mexico border began in 1994/1995 (Wave I).

Methods: Data from the Border Epidemiological Study on Aging, a 18-year prospective probability sample of 1226 Mexican American border residents (1994-2008), and mortality data from the Texas Department of Health 2022/2023 were used in examining the effects of early life adversity on morbidity and mortality for this population.

Results: Among the initial sample, 130 participants experienced loss of a parent between ages 5- 17. Those who experienced a father’s death reported poorer health, lower education and income, higher BMI and increased all-cause mortality risk decades later, after adjusting for demographic, socioeconomic and physical health in later years. Elevated mortality risk was not substantially different between men and women. Loss of a father in early childhood had long -term consequences on the child’s education and later occupational and economic achievements. It also increased the probability of an earlier death when compared to those who experienced no paternal loss. Findings should help health care professionals and educators understand the mental and physical health disadvantages resulting from parental death, especially for low-income children who lose a parent at an earlier age.