The Intergenerational Transmission of Relationship Quality

Abstract

Abstract Using a social learning perspective and the spillover assumption of the family systems perspective, the current study sought to examine the assumptions that remarriage quality is potentially a stronger predictor of adult children's later relationship attitudes, behaviors, and quality than the parents' first marriage. A total of 513 young adults completed a questionnaire regarding the quality of their parents' marital relationships and various aspects of their own committed relationships. Although quality of parents' first marriage predicted aspects of adult children's current committed relationships, for children whose parents remarried, results suggested that parental remarriage quality has more influence on current relational dimensions than the quality of their parents' first marriage. For adult children's intimate relationships, a parental remarriage may provide the more current model of marital interactions and may carry the greater potential for influence.