Adolescent Relationship Quality: Is There an Intergenerational Link?

• Author: Sara S. McLanahan,Michelle Eilers,Marta Tienda,Rachel E. Goldberg
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/jomf.12578
• Published date: 01 August 2019
• Date: 01 August 2019

R E. G University of California Irvine

M T Princeton University∗

M E University of Texas at Austin∗∗

S S. ML Princeton University∗∗∗

Adolescent Relationship Quality: Is There an

Intergenerational Link?

Objective: This study examines intergenera-

tional continuities in relationship instability,

general relationship quality, and intimate

partner violence (IPV) between mothers

and adolescents.

Background: A growing body of literature has

observed similarities in relationship quality

between parents and their adult offspring. Less

attention has focused on whether intergener-

ational continuities are present in adolescent

relationships.

Method: Using age 3, 5, 9, and 15 data from

the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing birth

cohort study (N=3,162), the authors examined

the associations between maternal reports of

relationship instability, generalquality, and IPV

Department of Sociology, Universityof California, Irvine,

3151 Social Science Plaza, Irvine, CA 92697

(rachel.goldberg@uci.edu)

∗Department of Sociology and Ofce of Population

Research, Princeton University,184 Wallace Hall,

Princeton, NJ 08544-2091.

∗∗Department of Sociology, University of Texasat Austin,

2.620B Patton Hall, Austin, TX 78712.

∗∗∗Department of Sociology and Center for Research on

Child Wellbeing, Princeton University, 265 WallaceHall,

Princeton, NJ 08544.

Key Words: adolescent peer relations, family process,inter-

generational transmission, relationship quality, romantic

relationships.

in early and middle childhood and similar ado-

lescent reports at age 15. Variations based on

the timing and persistence of exposures were

considered.

Results: In general, exposures to low-quality

maternal relationships were associated with a

higher risk of forming adolescent partnerships

and lower relationship quality. Intergener-

ational links in quality were predominantly

construct specic, consistent with observa-

tional learning processes. Adolescents exposed

to maternal relationships of poor general

quality in middle childhood were less likely

to report high-quality relationships themselves,

and those exposed to any maternal physical

IPV victimization during childhood were more

likely to perpetrate IPV in their own rela-

tionships. Exposure to maternal relationship

instability in both early and middle childhood

was associated with more adolescent romantic

partners.

Conclusion: The study illuminates addi-

tional pathways through which healthy and

unhealthy relationships are reproduced across

generations.

I

Adolescent romantic relationships have been

linked to short- as well as long-term outcomes,

with the developmental signicance of these

relationships depending on their quality.

812 Journal of Marriage and Family 81 (August 2019): 812–829

DOI:10.1111/jomf.12578

Intergenerational Links in Relationship Quality 813

High-quality adolescent relationships can

promote emotional health, support identity

development, and foster competencies that

benet adult relationships (Collins, Welsh,

& Furman, 2009; Furman & Shaffer, 2003;

Harden, 2014). Conversely, low-quality rela-

tionships can trigger depression, weaken school

engagement, and set in motion patterns of rela-

tionship instability and conict that persist into

adulthood (Cui, Gordon, Ueno, & Fincham,

2013; Davila, 2008; Raley, Crissey, & Muller,

2007).

Despite its developmental signicance, ado-

lescent relationship quality is less frequently

examined in empirical work than behaviors

such as sexual activity in part because rel-

atively few adolescent surveys measure the

emotional and relational contents of teen part-

nerships (Giordano, Manning, & Longmore,

2010; Harden, 2014). Existing evidence on

adolescent relationship quality shows substan-

tial variation, ranging from very positive to

very negative (Collins et al., 2009; Giordano,

2003). Some relationships include both positive

and negative elements, such as high levels of

affection co-occurring with conict or jeal-

ousy (Giordano, Soto, Manning, & Longmore,

2010).

Adolescent relationship quality is subject to

family, peer, and individual inuences (Collins,

2003; Giordano, Soto, et al., 2010; Kochen-

dorfer & Kerns, 2017). At the family level,

prior research has linked more supportive

parent–child relationships with higher quality

adolescent romantic ties (Collins, 2003; Rois-

man, Booth-LaForce, Cauffman, Spieker, &

NICHD Early Child Care Research Network,

2009). Adolescents may also be inuenced by

their parents’ romantic relationship dynamics.

Intergenerational continuities in relationship

quality between parents and adult offspring

have been observed across various measures,

including relationship instability (e.g., Amato

& Patterson, 2017; Wolnger, 2000), intimate

partner violence (IPV) perpetration and victim-

ization (e.g., Ehrensaft et al., 2003; Narayan,

Englund, & Egeland, 2013; Stith et al., 2000),

and general relationship quality (e.g., Amato

& Booth, 2001; Conger, Cui, Bryant, & Elder,

2000). Whether such continuities are present

in adolescent relationships is less clear in part

because longitudinal studies spanning child-

hood and adolescence with reports from parents

and youth are rare (the Minnesota Longitudinal

Study of Risk and Adaptation is a notable

exception, e.g., Sroufe, Egeland, Carlson, &

Collins, 2005).

This study uses recently available data from

the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study

(FFCWS; http://www.fragilefamilies.princeton

.edu/), a population-based birth cohort study

of children born in large U.S. cities at the

turn of the millennium, to examine whether

childhood exposures to maternal relationship

instability, poor romantic relationship quality,

and physical IPV victimization are associated

with the number of relationships adolescents

form, the general quality of their relationships,

and whether their relationships involve physical

violence (i.e., pushing, hitting, or throwing

objects that can hurt). We contribute to the lit-

erature on intergenerational continuities in four

main ways. First, we link adolescents’ reports

of relationship quality with similar maternal

reports measured in early and middle child-

hood. Second, we examine continuities across

multiple constructs of relationship quality. Prior

research has focused primarily on one dimen-

sion of quality (e.g., instability), leaving open

questions about whether observed continuities

reect construct-specic processes due to obser-

vational social learning or more generalized

disruptions of social–emotional functioning.

Third, our data allow us to control for harsh

parenting, which is important because children

learn not only from observing parental rela-

tionship dynamics but also from parents’ direct

interactions with them (Cui, Durtschi, Lorenz,

Donnellan, & Conger, 2010). Harsh parent-

ing often co-occurs with interparental conict

(Holt, Buckley, & Whelan, 2008; Nomaguchi,

Johnson, Minter, & Aldrich, 2017) as well as

with later life IPV perpetration/victimization

(e.g., Linder & Collins, 2005; Stith et al., 2000;

Swinford, DeMaris, Cernkovich, & Giordano,

2000) and poor adult relationship quality (e.g.,

Kretschmer, Vollebergh, & Oldehinkel, 2017)

among offspring. Finally, building on evidence

that the developmental salience of childhood

events often depends on both the duration (e.g.,

Narayan et al., 2013; Rutter & Sroufe, 2000)

and developmental stage of exposures (e.g.,

Elder, 1998; Holt et al., 2008; Narayan et al.,

2013), we assess how the timing and persistence

of maternal relationship difculties is associ-

ated with variation in adolescent relationship

outcomes.