Compared with other peers, adolescents with higher levels of church attendance and higher reported salience of religion were more likely to marry and less likely to cohabit.
Among teenage girls aged 15 to 19, compared to those living with two biological or adoptive parents, those living with one biological, adoptive, or step parent had, on average, 56 percent higher odds, and those with a single biological parent had 50 percent higher odds, and those in other living arrangements had 65 percent higher odds of having had sexual experience. This was true controlling for adolescents’ age, race/ethnicity, nativity status, early age at menarche, maternal employment status, mother’s teen parenthood status, and parental education.
Compared to individuals affiliated with mainline Protestant and Catholic traditions, those affiliated with theologically conservative Protestant denominations appeared to hold different views on economic issues, such as seeking divine guidance in personal finances, weatlh accumulation, and charitable giving.
Compared with peers who did not experience family transitions in early childhood, fifth-graders who experienced more family instability before the first grade exhibited lower levels of social competence and more behavior problems and said that they were more lonely than other children.
Compared with peers whose families were more stable, fifth graders who had experienced more family transitions were more likely to say that they were lonely.
Compared with peers whose families were more stable, fifth graders who had experienced more family transitions exhibited lower levels of social skills and engaged in higher levels of problem behavior.
Compared with peers in intact families, children in blended or step families tended to have significantly lower GPAs and less positive engagement with school tasks and relationships.
The mean net worth of married-couple households ($187,102) was substantially higher than that of cohabitant households ($77,093), male-headed households ($92,045) and female-headed households ($48,726), which was the lowest of all family structures.
The more often parents watched television with their teens and the more they limited television viewing, the less likely adolescents were to have sex.
In a sample of youths from the National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health, those living in intact families were less likely to engage in delinquency than peers in single-parent families and those in other family forms (excluding those in stepfamilies).
In a sample of youths from the National Educational Longitudinal Study of 1988, youths in intact families were less likely to engage in delinquency compared to peers in single-parent families, stepfamilies, and other family forms.
Compared to peers living in traditional intact families (two married-biological parents), youths living in two-biological-parent blended families, two-biological-parent cohabiting families, biological-mother-stepfather families, biological-mother-cohabiting-partner families, biological-mother-only families, biological-father-cohabiting-partner families, biological-father-only families, grandparent-only families, and foster families engaged, on average, in higher levels of anti-social behavior (ranging from running away from home, being suspended from school, and substance abuse to committing minor property crime, engaging in violent behavior, and becoming arrested). This was true taking into consideration youths’ gender, race, age, and their residential and family environment.
Compared with peers who had not cohabited, young adult females who had exited a cohabiting relationship were more likely to experience an increase in depressive symptoms and less likely to experience a decline in depression. Young adult males who had exited a cohabiting relationship, likewise, were less likely to experience a decline in depressive symptoms from adolescence to young adulthood than peers who had not cohabited. About one half of the cohabiting young adult respondents had experienced a breakup of their cohabiting relationships.
Compared to young men, ages 18 to 28, in cohabiting relationships, married peers were no more or less likely to report being perpetrators or victims of relationship violence, adjusting for their and their partners’ education level, employment status, income, the presence of children in the home, race, age, family of origin factors, and religiosity.
Compared to young adult (ages 18 to 28) female respondents in cohabiting relationships, married peers were less likely to report being victims of relationship violence (the odds were one-third less) in the 12 months prior to the survey, controlling for relationship quality and duration, respondents’ and their partners’ education level, employment status, income, presence of children in the home, race, age, family of origin factors, and religiosity. Compared to young adult female respondents in cohabiting relationships, married peers were also less likely to report perpetrating relationship violence (the odds were one-half less), controlling for the same set of factors.
Compared to individuals from intact families, those living with divorced single parents or in stepfamilies at age 14 and did not experience any changes in their family situation during late adolescence (between the ages of 14 and 18) had, on average, lower levels of educational attainment, lower annual earnings, and less prestigious occupations at age 26. The two groups had similar chances of having ever attended college and living poverty at age 26. Compared to individuals in intact families, those living with divorced single parents or in stepfamilies at age 14 but experienced changes in their family situation during late adolescence reported, on average, worse outcomes on college attendance, educational attainment, income, poverty status, and occupational prestige. The negative effects of living in non-intact families that experienced family transitions during late adolescence appeared to be twice as large as the negative effects of living in non-intact families that did not undergo any family structure changes during late adolescence relative to growing up in intact families.
Differences in educational attainment, income and occupational prestige at age twenty-six outcomes between children of divorce living with single parents or stepfamilies at age 14 that did not experience any changes in their family situation during late adolescence and peers who did remained significant after adjusting for differences in family financial and social resources at age 14, such as family income, educational savings, frequency of parent-child discussion about school and activities, extent to which parents trusted respondents as adolescents, number of school changes, and number of friends’ parents known by respondents’ parents.
Differences in educational attainment, income, and occupational prestige at age twenty-six between individuals from intact families and peers from stable non-intact families may be partially or fully explained, depending on the specific outcome, by differences in their families’ financial and social resources at age 14, such as family income, educational savings, frequency of parent-child discussion about school and activities, extent to which parents trusted respondents as adolescents, number of school changes, and number of friends’ parents known by respondents’ parents.
Individuals who lived in single-parent families or stepfamilies prior to the 8th grade and experienced changes in their family structure between the ages of 14 and 18 fared, on average, poorer on measures of attendance at a post-secondary educational institution, overall educational attainment, income, poverty status, and occupational prestige at age 26 compared to peers raised in intact families.
Compared to individuals from intact families, those from single-parent families or stepfamilies without any changes in their family situation during late adolescence (between the ages of 14 and 18) had, on average, lower levels of educational attainment, lower annual earnings, and less prestigious occupations at age 26. Individuals from non-intact families that did not experience changes in their family structure during late adolescence had similar rates of attendance at post-secondary educational institutions and poverty compared to peers from intact families.
For wives, their pre-parenthood reports of leisure time spent with their husbands were negatively associated with reports of marital conflict a year after the birth of their first child (more time together, less conflict); for husbands, their reports of pre-parenthood leisure time spent with individuals other than their wives was positively associated with marital conflict a year after the birth of their first child (more time with others, more conflict).
New parents experienced declines in leisure time with their spouses in the initial months after the birth of their first child; although, shared leisure time increased in the latter half of the child’s first year, the amount of time spouses spent in shared leisure activities at the end of their child’s first year did not return to pre-parenthood levels.
Among recently married couples, those who completely paid off their consumer debt (e.g., credit card debt, installment loans) over a period of five years reported being more satisfied with their marriage. Couples who paid off some of their consumer debt and couples who assumed large amounts of debt during the five-year period tended to report declines in their marital satisfaction, while couples who assumed relatively small amounts of consumer debt tended to report increases in marital satisfaction. Changes in marital satisfaction associated with changes in debt levels were partially explained by changes in time spent together, conflict over money, and spouses' perception of fairness regarding how money was spent in their households. Finally, changes in mortgage debt and student loan debt were not associated with any changes in marital satisfaction.
Among recently married couples, changes in student loan debt over a period of five years were not associated with changes in time spent together, work hours, conflict over money, or spouses' perception of fairness regarding how money was spent in their households.
Among recently married couples, those who assumed increased mortgage debt over a period of five years tended to work longer hours and spend less time together. Changes in mortgage debt were not associated with changes in conflict between the spouses over money matters or in spouses’ perception of fairness regarding how money was spent in their households.
