Abstract
Using data from 11,339 youth participating in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health), this study explored the influence of cohesion within the family of origin and family structure during adolescence on the number of adult romantic relationships. Multiple regression analyses were performed using Mplus (Version 7.3; Muthén and Muthén in Mplus User’s Guide, 5th Ed, Muthén & Muthén, Los Angeles, 2007) finding adolescent family cohesion was positively associated with marriage and negatively associated with cohabitation. However, race/ethnicity and parental marital status provided meaningful context for these findings. Family cohesion was only linked with marital transitions for White adolescents. In addition, family cohesion only reduced cohabitation for participants whose parents were married during adolescence. Results point to the importance of socialization and modeling in families where parents are married, as well as in families who are demographically more likely to be married. Implications for couple and family therapists are discussed.
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Acknowledgements
This research uses data from Add Health, a program project directed by Kathleen Mullan Harris and designed by J. Richard Udry, Peter S. Bearman, and Kathleen Mullan Harris at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and funded by Grant P01-HD31921 from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, with cooperative funding from 23 other federal agencies and foundations. Special acknowledgment is due Ronald R. Rindfuss and Barbara Entwisle for assistance in the original design. Information on how to obtain the Add Health data files is available on the Add Health website (http://www.cpc.unc.edu/addhealth). No direct support was received from Grant P01-HD31921 for this analysis.
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Rollins, P., Williams, A. & Sims, P. Family Dynamics: Family-of-Origin Cohesion During Adolescence and Adult Romantic Relationships. Contemp Fam Ther 40, 128–137 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10591-017-9430-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10591-017-9430-1