The Socialization Effects of Parental Union Behaviors on Young Adult First Union Formation: Gender Differences in Cohabitation and Marriage

Kayo Suzuki, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Many of today’s young adults experience parental marital disruption and family reformation, and the majority of marriages are preceded by cohabitation. Using the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), I examine whether parental union behaviors are associated with young adult children’s first union type: marriage or cohabitation. Using socialization theory, I hypothesize that individuals who experienced an alternative family and those who lived with a cohabiting parent are more likely to cohabit as young adults than those who lived in an intact married family. I also hypothesize that individuals whose mothers married at younger ages (<20) tend to form first unions earlier than those whose mothers married at older ages. I run separate competing risk hazards models by gender to conduct event history analysis and test whether longer exposure to an alternative family has a stronger socialization influence and whether gender differences exists in socialization.