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Family Structure History and Adolescent Romance
Author(s) -
Cavanagh Shan E.,
Crissey Sarah R.,
Raley R. Kelly
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
journal of marriage and family
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.578
H-Index - 159
eISSN - 1741-3737
pISSN - 0022-2445
DOI - 10.1111/j.1741-3737.2008.00515.x
Subject(s) - romance , psychology , national survey of family growth , developmental psychology , family history , association (psychology) , demography , medicine , family planning , sociology , population , research methodology , psychoanalysis , psychotherapist , radiology
This study examined the association between family structure history and adolescent romance. Using a national sample drawn from Add Health ( N = 13,570), family structure at Wave I was associated with the likelihood that adolescents were involved in a romantic relationship at Wave II and, among those in a relationship, the number of relationships they had since Wave I. Cumulative family instability and its timing were also associated with these outcomes and largely drove the family structure effects. Gender and age interactions suggest that experiences of family instability were more consequential to the romantic lives of boys and younger teens.