Abstract

The Great Recession, rooted in the collapse of the housing market and a cascading host of problems including mortgage defaults, sharp market losses, and persistently high unemployment, began in the USA in December 2007 and lasted until June 2009. Much of the public discourse about the Great Recession has focused on how young people, in particular, are faring as they seek to establish independence in the context of high levels of economic insecurity. Current health, an important indicator of later health, union formation, and socioeconomic attainment, is a domain that might be especially vulnerable to rising levels of economic uncertainty. Guided by the life course perspective and its emphasis on historical time and social context, I considered several health indicators among two cohorts of 20-to-25-year-olds (2005, 2009) of US young adults who bookend the Great Recession and participated in the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) and its supplemental Transition to Adulthood (TA) Study. The most compelling evidence relates to self-reported health. Young people in the 2009 cohort reported significantly worse health than did those in the 2005 cohort. Further exploration suggested a cohort by parental education effect on self-reported health, with young people in lower socioeconomic status (SES) families doing worse in 2009 than in 2005.

Introduction

The transition to adulthood is marked by change. At the start of the third decade of life, most contemporary young people begin the movement away from the family of origin and toward more independent lives. Extended schooling, increased attachment to the labor force, and longer-term romantic unions are just some of the major role transitions that young adults make during this period. Related to this, young adults continue to undergo significant cognitive, emotional, and brain development during this period (Steinberg 2012). These changes, although not uniform across young people, allow them to plan more effectively and make decisions about the role transitions described earlier (Crosnoe 2014; Fuster 2008).

Health, and health behaviors, is another domain of life that undergoes change during this period. Compared to adolescents, young adults have higher mortality rates, engage in more health damaging behaviors like drinking and smoking, and report rising levels of chronic conditions like obesity (Mulye et al. 2009).