Investing in the Health and Well-Being of Young Adults (2015) / Chapter Skim
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3 Relationships
3 Relationships
Pages 77-122
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From page 77... ...
These variations can lead to health disparities and differing patterns of social and achieve ment role transitions across the life course. • Increasingly diverse levels of social networks that develop from family relations, romantic/sexual partners, peers, work, com munity, and educational institutions and other organizations have direct and indirect impacts on the health, safety, and well-being of young adults.
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From page 78... ...
. Indeed, central to the life course of young adults is developing more permanent romantic relationships, forming their own families, and potentially becoming parents and forging relationships with their own children.
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From page 79... ...
This chapter examines in turn four broad areas of relationship development in the lives of young adults: social relationships, romantic relationships and union formation, the transition to parenthood, and intergenerational relationships. Within these areas, we examine trends and patterns of relationship development as they relate to the themes of young adulthood described in Chapter 2.
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From page 80... ...
. This similarity reflects a complex process by which individuals select networks and network members that share characteristics, attitudes, behaviors, and even genetic makeup within structural constraints often defined by socioeconomic position, race, ethnicity, and geography, and in which network influence is bidirectional (Boardman et al., 2012; CohenCole and Fletcher, 2008)
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From page 81... ...
. Depending who say, ‘Oh, I know that on their nature, social ties are vari- person from Facebook,' ably equipped to offer opportunities but they don't talk to for different forms of social capital them." (Burt, 1992)
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From page 82... ...
ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIPS AND UNION FORMATION Young adulthood is a critical period in the formation of romantic unions. Young adults engage in a wide variety of romantic activities during their early 20s, but the nature of these activities has changed considerably over time.
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From page 83... ...
. In other words, the modern style of union formation (cohabitation that may or may not be followed by marriage)
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From page 84... ...
Family demographers Casper and Bianchi (2002) propose a basic typology of cohabitation that is not specific to young adulthood but is highly relevant to this period of the life course.
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From page 85... ...
Yet simply transitioning into a romantic partnership can have implications for the life course, as union formation itself can facilitate healthier and more prosocial behavior (Umberson et al., 2010b)
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From page 86... ...
Health selection occurs when underlying processes operate to increase the chances that healthier people enter marriage, leaving less healthy individuals unmarried or in cohabiting relationships. For example, observed differences in socioeconomic position and, in turn, better health are important selection factors that give individuals a higher probability of being married and of having better health over their life course (Goldman, 1993; Haas, 2006)
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From page 87... ...
, and body mass index among cohabiting versus married and single young adult men and women, controlling for health selection prior to union formation. Consistent with some of the previous research, the authors report mixed findings.
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From page 88... ...
Among young adult women aged 20-24, blacks have the highest rate of nonmarital fertility (103.5 births per 1,000 unmarried black women) , followed by Hispanics (96.5)
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From page 89... ...
Explanations for this pattern of childbearing among young adult women of low socioeconomic position include the low opportunity costs associated with childbearing (i.e., because employment and career opportunities are lower for these women, they do not suffer a loss of opportunities due to childbearing) and a lack of marriageable men, together with the increasing economic independence of women and deteriorating economic fortunes of men in their occupational and economic stratum (Edin and Kefalas, 2005; Oppenheimer, 2003; Wilson, 1987)
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From page 90... ...
. Having children by more than one partner is an overlooked yet important component of family formation and family structure.
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From page 91... ...
. As noted above, despite the increasing prevalence of nonmarital childbearing in the mainstream young adult population, there remain significant differences by socioeconomic position, with nonmarital childbearing being more common among women with lower levels of education and income and disadvantaged parental backgrounds (Lichter and Qian, 2008; Lichter et al., 1992)
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From page 92... ...
Although research has yet to uncover the mechanisms through which this additional health disadvantage operates, the stress experienced by single mothers and the disadvantaged environments in which nonmarital births occur are likely explanations (Williams et al., 2011)
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From page 93... ...
. The lack of a partner's potential resources and of social networks within the world of work further isolates poor and low-educated single mothers in particular.
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From page 94... ...
This evidence indicates that the poorer outcomes of young adult parents and their children are due to preexisting differences in family background (primarily lower socioeconomic position) compared with those who do not become parents in young adulthood and delay both marriage and childbearing (Oesterle, 2013)
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From page 95... ...
The problems associated with growing up in a hazardous environment are compounded as individuals attempt to manage their life circumstances. Specifically, feeling helpless, hopeless, distressed, anxious, depressed, and unable to change one's life course may lead to maladaptive coping strategies (e.g., alcohol/substance use, risky sexual practices)
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From page 96... ...
For example, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation launched an ambitious postsecondary education program for low-income students in 2008; the Foundation for Child Development added a two-generation component to its PreK3rd initiative; the Annie E Casey Foundation launched an initiative to expand and study implementation strategies for two-generation human capital interventions (see Box 3-1)
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From page 97... ...
The evaluation is using a mixed methods longitudinal design that compares participants in CareerAdvance with a matched group of families in which the children are enrolled in CAP Tulsa's early childhood education centers, but the parents are not enrolled in CareerAdvance. The Annie E
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From page 98... ...
. INTERGENERATIONAL RELATIONSHIPS The changes discussed thus far in social relationships, union formation, and the transition to parenthood among young adults have been occurring in the context of another notable change: the delays in leaving home and the return to the parental home of adult children.
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From page 99... ...
Returning home is a common response to the economic needs of adult children, regardless of the prior relationship quality. Intergenerational Relationship Quality, Social Support, and Parenting Young adults can be both children and parents at the same time, so they represent a major connector of family generations -- a theme of this report.
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From page 100... ...
. Close, positive, and supportive family relationships during childhood and adolescence make key contributions to development and psychological adjustment.
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Further, studies of parents' interactions with children over the life course are quite rare. To fill this gap, Ward and colleagues (2009)
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From page 102... ...
. Young adults from families of higher socioeconomic position are more likely to receive assistance from their parents to purchase a home or advance their education, which in turn influences their subsequent standard of living and ability to become self-sufficient (Semyonov and Lewin-Epstein, 2001)
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From page 103... ...
This pattern occurs among many racial/ethnic minorities, but most notably among African Americans. Compared with other racial/ethnic groups, African American young adults have consistently lower earnings and assets at every level of education, a situation that has changed little since the civil rights movement (Murry and Li, 2014)
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From page 104... ...
attribute these differential patterns to the high aspirations, fields of employment and education, family support, and immigrant status that collectively constitute high human capital for these ethnic minorities. Nonetheless, that economic and employment disparities persist for African Americans, regardless of family income, parental education, or community context, suggests that these differences may be attributable in part to systematic discrimination experienced by this population (Brody et al., 2006)
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From page 105... ...
Whereas Simons and colleagues (1993) found that modeling was the strongest predictor of intergenerational transmission of constructive parenting, young adults' perception of their upbringing did not affect their subsequent reports of their own parenting practices in middle adulthood.
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From page 106... ...
. While incarcerated fathers are embedded in social networks that include their family of origin, relatives, romantic partners, children, and friends, studies examining this population focus primarily on the incarcerated individuals.
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From page 107... ...
Advances in communication and social media have had a profound impact on the context, access, and interactions of social relationships and social networks among young adults. More advanced educational credentials and job skills are needed for successful employment trajectories in the predominantly service-oriented and high-tech occupations of the 21st century.
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From page 108... ...
As detailed throughout this chapter, moreover, relationship patterns and trends vary by gender, race/ethnicity, and socioeconomic position, which can lead to health disparities and differing patterns of social and achievement role transitions across the life course. Social relationships, union formation, the transition to parenthood, and intergenerational relationships have direct and indirect impacts on the health, safety, and well-being of young adults.
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From page 109... ...
In sum, social, romantic, and family relationships are central to the lives of young adults. And young adulthood clearly is a period entailing some of the highest rates of disadvantage-defining risks, including nonmarital, unintended childbearing and multiple-partner fertility; poverty and material hardship; incarceration; alienation and loss of extended family support; social isolation; and social and economic disconnection.
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From page 110... ...
Research is needed to understand how social media could be used to identify potential vulnerabilities of these young adults, including mental illness and depression, and respond with interventions that can reduce their vulnerabilities, increase their social integration, and link them to needed resources and contexts for support. • Rising rates of incarceration among young adults have destabi lized intergenerational family patterns, which may suggest the need for more concerted efforts to devise rehabilitation programs.
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From page 111... ...
• Shoring up the economic circumstances of at-risk families can help promote entry into the education and career development pathway over the early family formation pathway in young adulthood. As discussed in Chapter 4, for disadvantaged youth who cannot meet demands for increased educational credentials and high-tech job skills, vocational training can help open up alternative pathways into adulthood that provide the economic security needed to form families within stable, committed relationships.
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2008. Parental bond and life course transitions from adolescence to young adulthood.
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2009. Connected: The surprising power of our social networks and how they shape our lives.
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1986. Problem behavior and family relationships: Life course and intergenerational themes.
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2008. Family structure effects on maternal and paternal parenting in low-income families.
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2010. Mobile social networks and urban public space.
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2008. Serial cohabitation and the marital life course.
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2014. Are African Americans living the dream 50 years after passage of the Civil Rights Act?
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2014. The place where our social networks reside: Social media and sociality.
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2010b. Social relationships and health behavior across the life course.
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2002. Nonmarital childbearing: Influences of education, marriage, and fertility.
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2006. Gender, the marital life course, and cardiovascular disease in late midlife.
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