The Effects of Family Structure of Origin on Offspring Cohabitation Duration

Essay by ssstexUniversity, Bachelor'sA+, December 2002

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The Effects of Family Structure of Origin on Offspring Cohabitation Duration

Research has been done to understand if different family structures, or living situations, have an effect on offspring cohabitation duration. Research in such areas as divorce, living separations, parental education, remarriage, and death has been done to help one understand cohabitation. Different tests, exams, and observations have been produced to exam this sociological question.

Researchers on the contrary have decided that children of divorce are compared to people from intact families. People from intact families are less likely to marry at all. If these children do marry and it ends in failure than they are much less likely to give marriage a second chance. When divorce is compared to death, it is said to be a more devastating on the children. The effects of death expose children to far less stress and upheaval, than divorce. Where as divorce sets trauma in a child's life and may contribute to the low levels of marital satisfaction observed in the adult children of the divorced.

Different situations have been observed to help one understand the side effects of parental divorce. The situations considered are: divorce and remarriage. Parental divorce has a negative effect on the offspring, but remarriage usually ameliorates some of the negative effects of divorce. According to the research model of Nicholas H. Wolfinger, parental divorce significantly decreases the chance that a cohabitation union will end in marriage. Meaning that a child from a divorced family that is living with someone will probably not marry the person that they are living with. In this same study of Wolfinger, it states that children of step- or adoptive parents have a negative effect on the likelihood that a cohabitating union will end in marriage. The chance that these children will get married...