Work-family life course and depressive symptoms in later life among Chinese middle-age and older adults

Previous research has documented the co-occurrence of work and family instability across the life course, but this pattern may not apply to China, where work trajectories have diversified while family patterns remain largely stable. Using retrospective life-course histories (2014) linked to nine-year longitudinal follow-up data (2011-2020), multilevel regression models were estimated to examine how work-family trajectories shape later-life depressive symptoms. Nine distinct trajectories were identified, ranging from lifelong agricultural work with high fertility to modern patterns of non-agricultural employment, later partnerships, and fewer children. A work-anchored cumulative disadvantage was observed: agricultural workers with polarized family trajectories-either early partnership with high fertility or non-normative family patterns-faced higher risks of depressive symptoms than those in non-agricultural and lower-fertility groups. Agricultural women with higher fertility were especially vulnerable, exhibiting elevated depressive symptoms that persisted over time. These findings suggest that policy efforts should focus on rural women with high fertility and individuals in involuntary non-normative family pathways to reduce mental health disparities in later life.