Högnäs Robin S, Thomas Jason R
University of Louisville.
Pennsylvania State University.
J Fam Issues. 2016 Jan 1;37(1):29-52. doi: 10.1177/0192513X13518211. Epub 2014 Jan 9.
The association between childhood family structure and offspring wellbeing is well-documented. Recent research shows that adult children of divorced parents will likely marry someone whose parents' divorced (i.e., family structure homogamy) and are subsequently likely to divorce themselves. This literature has focused primarily on marital unions, despite the rise in cohabitation and nonmarital childbearing. Research suggests that marriage and cohabitation are different types of unions and have different implications for the wellbeing of children. Therefore, we extend the literature by examining the role of family structure homogamy in matching patterns and union stability among unmarried, cohabiting couples. Data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study suggest that unmarried, cohabiting mothers and fathers are both more likely to be from nonintact childhood family structures and are significantly more likely to dissolve their unions compared to married parents who both tend to be from intact childhood family structures.
童年家庭结构与子女幸福之间的关联已有充分记载。近期研究表明，父母离异的成年子女更有可能与父母也离异的人结婚（即家庭结构同质性婚姻），随后他们自己也有可能离婚。尽管同居和非婚生育现象有所增加，但该文献主要关注的是婚姻关系。研究表明，婚姻和同居是不同类型的结合方式，对子女幸福有着不同的影响。因此，我们通过研究家庭结构同质性在未婚同居伴侣的匹配模式和结合稳定性中的作用，对该文献进行了拓展。脆弱家庭与儿童幸福研究的数据表明，与往往来自完整童年家庭结构的已婚父母相比，未婚同居的母亲和父亲都更有可能来自不完整的童年家庭结构，并且他们解除同居关系的可能性也显著更高。
