Open AccessIntergenerational continuity and stability in early family formation.
Author(s) -
Jennifer E. Lansford,
Gregory S. Pettit,
Amy Rauer,
Carlynn E. Vandenberg,
John E. Schulenberg,
Jeremy Staff,
Justin Jager,
Kenneth A. Dodge,
John E. Bates
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
journal of family psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.138
H-Index - 120
eISSN - 1939-1293
pISSN - 0893-3200
DOI - 10.1037/fam0000497
Subject(s) - psychology , psycinfo , developmental psychology , marital status , young adult , demography , perspective (graphical) , adult development , life course approach , population , medline , sociology , artificial intelligence , political science , computer science , law
This study examines intergenerational continuity (mean level similarity) and stability (maintenance of rank ordering of individuals) in age and marital status at the time of becoming a young parent using prospective data from 3 generations of 585 families. G2 participants were recruited at the age of 5 years and followed until the age of 28, by which time 227 had become parents themselves. The findings suggest that despite dramatic intergenerational discontinuities with young adults, on average, now being more likely to be unmarried and older at the time of becoming parents than in previous generations, intergenerational stability in age and marital status at the time of becoming a young parent is still substantial. This intergenerational stability was, for the most part, not moderated by demographic, familial, or behavioral factors, suggesting that a developmental, multigenerational perspective is necessary to understand what has previously been considered a largely demographic issue. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).