Work

Just the Two of Us? How Parents Influence Adult Children's Marital Quality

Year: 2010

Type: article

Abstract: We work from a life-course perspective to explore how relationships with parents affect adult children's marital quality. We further ask whether the effects of parents on adult children's marital quality depend on the adult child's gender, age, marital duration, and childhood family experiences. Growth-curve analysis of national, longitudinal data (Americans' Changing Lives) indicated that relationships with fathers (n = 336) and mothers (n = 520) differentially affected the marital quality of adult children over time. Findings suggest that the effects of the parent - adult child relationship on adult children's marriages depend on age, marital duration, and levels of family stress experienced in childhood.

Source: Journal of Marriage and the Family

DOI: 10.1111/j.1741-3737.2010.00759.x

Authors: Corinne Reczek, Hui Liu, Debra Umberson

Institutions: The University of Texas at Austin, Michigan State University

Language: English

Topic: Family Dynamics and Relationships

Subfield: Demography

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: green

Funders: National Institute on Aging, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development

Awards: Same-sex Family Structures and Child Health: The Role of Family Resources, G2882475566, G3650261931