Family disruption and intergenerational transmission: Comparing the influences of married parents, divorced parents, and stepparents

TY - JOUR

T1 - Family disruption and intergenerational transmission: Comparing the influences of married parents, divorced parents, and stepparents

AU - Kalmijn, M.

PY - 2015

Y1 - 2015

N2 - The transmission of individual characteristics and behaviors across generations has frequently been studied in the social sciences. For a growing number of children, however, the biological father was present in the household for only part of the time; and for many children, stepfathers were present. What are the implications of these changes for the process of intergenerational transmission? To answer this question, this article compares intergenerational transmission among married, divorced, and stepparents. Two forms of reproduction are studied: educational attainment and church attendance. For education, divorced fathers were as influential as married fathers, whereas stepfathers were less influential. For church attendance, married fathers were most influential, divorced fathers were least influential, and stepfathers were in between. Divorced mothers, in contrast, appeared to be more influential than married mothers. These findings lend negative support for the social capital hypothesis and positive support for notions of value socialization. The strong role of the divorced father for educational transmission is consistent with genetic processes and hypotheses about early advantages.

AB - The transmission of individual characteristics and behaviors across generations has frequently been studied in the social sciences. For a growing number of children, however, the biological father was present in the household for only part of the time; and for many children, stepfathers were present. What are the implications of these changes for the process of intergenerational transmission? To answer this question, this article compares intergenerational transmission among married, divorced, and stepparents. Two forms of reproduction are studied: educational attainment and church attendance. For education, divorced fathers were as influential as married fathers, whereas stepfathers were less influential. For church attendance, married fathers were most influential, divorced fathers were least influential, and stepfathers were in between. Divorced mothers, in contrast, appeared to be more influential than married mothers. These findings lend negative support for the social capital hypothesis and positive support for notions of value socialization. The strong role of the divorced father for educational transmission is consistent with genetic processes and hypotheses about early advantages.

KW - divorce

KW - education

KW - religion

KW - intergenerational reproduction

KW - social capital

KW - SSCI

U2 - 10.1007/s13524-015-0388-z

DO - 10.1007/s13524-015-0388-z

M3 - Article

SN - 0070-3370

VL - 52

SP - 811

EP - 833

JO - Demography

JF - Demography

IS - 3

ER -