Parenting During Childhood Predicts Relationship Satisfaction in Young Adulthood: A Prospective Longitudinal Perspective

Abstract

Using three waves of data drawn from the National Survey of Families and Households (n = 438 young adult children) we examined the process by which parental warmth and harsh parenting during childhood influences children's romantic relationship satisfaction in young adulthood. Harsh parenting was directly associated with children's relationship satisfaction, independently and in conjunction with parental warmth, whereas parental warmth was indirectly associated with relationship satisfaction through family cohesion during adolescence. Results were consistent across male and female young adults involved in married, dating, and cohabiting relationships. Findings from this prospective, longitudinal study coincide with previous research using adult children's retrospective reports of parenting behavior and highlight the importance of family of origin influences on romantic relationships in young adulthood.

KEYWORDS:

• early adulthood
• family of origin
• parenthood/parenting
• relationships

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The first wave of the National Survey of Families and Households was funded by a grant (HD21009) from the Center for Population Research of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development; and the second and third waves were funded jointly by this grant and a grant (AG10266) from the National Institute on Aging. The survey was designed and carried out at the Center for Demography and Ecology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison under the direction of Larry Bumpass and James Sweet. The field work for the first two waves was done by the Institute for Survey Research at Temple University, and the third wave by the University of Wisconsin Survey Center.

Notes

*p < .05. **p < .01.

Values in parentheses are standard errors.

Note: χ² (5) = 19.53, p < .00; CFI = .95; NFI = .94; RMSEA = .08.