Abstract
This study extends prior research on the intergenerational transmission of relationship instability by examining parents’ history of on-off relationships as a predictor of emerging adults’ own cycling (i.e., breaking up and renewing with the same romantic partner). Data were collected at a large mid-western university from 702 emerging adults (18–25 years old). Multinomial logistic regression was used to predict the likelihood that participants had cycled in a past or current relationship. Results show that parental cycling increased the likelihood of offspring cycling in a past or current relationship relative to never cycling, and greater uncertainty about the future of the relationship was a mechanism through which such transmission occurred. Findings from this study demonstrate that parental relationship instability can even be consequential for the transient relationships within emerging adulthood, making family history a productive area to explore for practitioners working with cyclical partners and/or emerging adults.
摘要
上一代人的关系不稳定对下一代人关系的代际传递影响已有研究，本研究将扩展该研究课题。我们研究调查了父母之间时分时合的关系发展史如何能作为一个预告因子来预测刚踏入成人阶段的青年人自己的感情发展循环 (即与同一情侣分手又和好)。研究人员从美国中西部一所大型大学收集了702名18-25岁的年轻人的数据。多项逻辑回归被用来预测参与者在过去或现在的关系中分分合合的可能性。结果表明，与从不没有分分合合历史的人相比，父母的分分合合关系史增加了子女过去或现在的爱情关系中分分合合的可能性，而对未来关系发展的更大的不确定性是这种代际传递发生的机制。这项研究的结果表明，父母关系的不稳定甚至可能对刚踏入成年期的年轻人较短的情侣关系产生影响，这使得家族的关系发展情况值得特定的一类行医者们视其为一个亟待深入探索研究并多产结果的领域，他们的治疗对象主要是和关系时好时坏的伴侣们和/或刚踏入成年期的年轻人。