Childhood Family Instability and Young-Adult Union Experiences: Black-White Differences in Outcomes and Effects.

ABSTRACT: Today's young adults have diverse union experiences; some enter enduring marital or cohabiting unions at young ages, but many delay or dissolve their unions or remain single. Childhood family instability-defined as parents' transitions into or out of romantic coresidential unions-offers one explanation for why some people are more likely than others to enter and exit unions. We evaluate whether this family instability hypothesis-a union-specific version of the general hypothesis that instability affects people across multiple life domains-can explain Black and White young adults' union formation and dissolution. Using data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics' Transition into Adulthood Supplement (birth cohorts 1989-1999), we find that the marginal effects of childhood family instabilit

SUBMITTER: Bloome D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10456991 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature