Adolescents' Plans for Family Formation: Is Parental Socialization Important?

This study examines adolescents' plans for family formation (marriage and parenthood) and the congruence between their plans and their mothers' expectations and behaviors within these spheres. Using log-linear and ordinary least squares (OLS) regression models to analyze data from the National Survey of Children (N = 724), this study addresses mechanisms of family socialization (e.g., modeling and defining influence) informed by social learning and symbolic interactionist theories. It also reveals whether and how these mechanisms vary according to gender. Results reveal that family factors best predict children's plans, although peer groups also may be important. In addition, defining influence is stronger than modeling influence. Key Words: adolescents' plans, ecological, family formation, marriage, parenthood, socialization. Intergenerational similarity with regard to attitudes, orientations, and behaviors has been an important focus of family research. Behaviors and attitudes often are transmitted from parents to children and vice versa. Intergenerational consistency has been explored with respect to phenomena such as romantic relationships (Benson, Arditti, Reguero de Atiles, & Smith, 1992; Benson, Larson, Wilson, & Demo, 1993), gender-role attitudes (Blee & Tickamyer, 1995; Moen, Erikson, & Dempster-McClain, 1993; Starrels, 1992), parenting beliefs (Simons, Beaman, Conger, & Chao, 1992), and sexual attitudes and behavior (Hogan & Kitigawa, 1985; Newcomer & Udry, 1984; Thornton & Camburn, 1987). Recently, social scientists have shown increasing interest in life-course patterns. Researchers have reported changes in the female life cycle in terms of greater educational attainment, later marriage and childbearing, smaller families, child-free marriages, continuation of employment after marriage and childbirth, and an increase in divorce rates (Dennehy & Mortimer, 1993; Hardy, Astone, Brooks-Gunn, Shapiro, & Miller, 1998; McLaughlin et al., 1988). Women increasingly value status-attainment goals, such as income and occupational success (Fiorentine, 1988). Furthermore, recent research demonstrates a link between female adolescents' future aspirations and their expected role timing. Specifically, East (1998) found that female adolescents with optimistic aspirations for school and job have a later desired age at first birth than do adolescents with pessimistic school and job aspirations. Two key life-course events are a first marriage and a first birth. It is important to understand more fully the factors that predict the occurrence and timing of these events, as well as adolescents' intentions. Many scholars have found that an individual's ideal age for marriage and parenthood influences the timing of marriage and parenthood (e.g., Hogan, 1986; Thornton & Freedman, 1982). Early marriage is linked to higher levels of marital instability for both men and women. In addition, for women, it also is associated with increased fertility, less attachment to the labor force, and other outcomes that are generally detrimental to socioeconomic achievement (Teachman, Polonko, & Scanzoni, 1987). Notwithstanding scholarly interest in lifecourse patterns and the risks associated with early marriage, research has not assessed definitively either the effects of parents on adolescents' plans for family formation or the relative impact of parental, nonparental (e.g., sibling), and nonfamilial influences on adolescents' intentions to marry and to become parents. In addition, previous research has focused mainly on females, perhaps because the family realm (marriage and parenting) is perceived as more central to women's than to men's day-to-day lives. Nonetheless, the family realm is important to the life course of both men and women. Therefore, it is important to further examine intergenerational influence with regard to female and male adolescents' plans for family formation and to determine the conditions under which intergenerational congruence is more or less likely to exist. …