Work and family roles entail divergent responsibilities, which can be a source of conflict especially in young adulthood – the so-called “rush-hour” of life. Combining these multiple social roles can result in an accumulation of stress but also be a valuable resource for mental health. The aim of this study is to investigate combined employment, parenthood and partnership trajectories of men and women during early adulthood, and to analyse the relationship of these multiple roles with depressive symptoms at older age.

We used harmonised data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) and the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) with retrospective information on employment, partnerships and parenthood histories between age 25 and 40 for 18,816 men and 24,686 women (n = 43,502). We applied sequence analysis and clustering to group trajectories into four clusters for women and three clusters for men. We then used multilevel models to analyse the links between combined employment and family roles and later mental health in different historical labour market contexts (indicated by female employment rates).

Women and men who did not combine work and family roles between age 25 and 40 report higher levels of depression than those who combined work and family. Results differ by gender and labour market context, with stronger differences between women in countries with higher female employment rates.

Overall, combining multiple roles in early adulthood is associated with decreased rather than increased risk for depressive symptoms in older Europeans.

工作和家庭角色需要承担不同的责任，这可能成为冲突的根源，尤其是在成年初期，即所谓的生活“高峰期”。这些多重社会角色的结合可能会导致压力积累，但也成为心理健康的宝贵资源。本研究的目的是调查成年早期男性和女性的就业、养育和伴侣关系轨迹，并分析这些多重角色与老年抑郁症状的关系。

我们使用了欧洲健康、老龄化和退休调查 (SHARE) 和英国老龄化纵向研究 (ELSA) 的统一数据，以及 18,816 名男性和 24,686 名女性在 25 岁至 40 岁之间的就业、伴侣关系和生育历史的回顾性信息（ n = 43,502）。我们应用序列分析和聚类将女性轨迹分为四个聚类和男性三个聚类。然后，我们使用多层次模型来分析不同历史劳动力市场背景（以女性就业率表示）中就业和家庭角色的结合以及后来的心理健康之间的联系。

25 岁至 40 岁之间没有兼顾工作和家庭角色的女性和男性比兼顾工作和家庭的女性和男性患抑郁症的比例更高。结果因性别和劳动力市场环境而异，在女性就业率较高的国家中，女性之间的差异更大。

总体而言，在成年早期结合多种角色与欧洲老年人抑郁症状的风险降低而不是增加相关。