Family Structure, Quality of Relationship, and Next Generation Parenting

I-Fen Lin, Bowling Green State University

The consequences of growing up in single-parent families on children’s development and their transition to adulthood have been well documented. Yet our understanding of the long-term consequences remains limited. We know little about how these children raise their offspring after they enter parenthood and the extent to which their parental behavior is affected by early family experience. In this paper, I intend to fill this gap by looking at whether adults from one-parent families have different parenting styles than adults from two-biological-parent families. I will also examine whether growing up in single-parent families leads to a poorer relationship with partner later on and whether having a better quality of the relationship with partner will reduce the negative consequences of growing up with one parent on one’s parenting practices. The analysis is based on data from the 1968-1997 Panel Study of Income Dynamics and 1997 Child Development Supplement.