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Title: Delinquent Behavior, Future Divorce or Nonmarital Childbearing, and Externalizing Behavior Among Offspring: A 14-Year Prospective Study
Resulting in 1 citation.
1. Emery, Robert E.
Waldron, Mary
Kitzmann, Katherine M.
Aaron, Jeffrey
Delinquent Behavior, Future Divorce or Nonmarital Childbearing, and Externalizing Behavior Among Offspring: A 14-Year Prospective Study
Journal of Family Psychology 13,4 (December 1999): 568-579.
Also: http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/fam/13/4/568/
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
Publisher: American Psychological Association (APA)
Keyword(s): Behavior Problems Index (BPI); Behavioral Problems; Childbearing; Children, Behavioral Development; Delinquency/Gang Activity; Divorce; Family Income; Family Studies; Marital Status; Mothers, Behavior; Parents, Single; Poverty; Racial Differences

In a longitudinal study of a national sample, more externalizing behavior problems were found among 222 children from never-married and 142 children from divorced families than among 840 children from married families. However, delinquent behavior reported when future mothers were single, childless adolescents prospectively predicted their future marital status and behavior problems among their offspring 14 years later. Maternal history of delinquent behavior accounted for much, but not all, of the relationship between marital status and children's externalizing behavior. Divorce and nonmarital childbirth do not occur at random, and these findings demonstrate that marital status is predicted by individual characteristics as well as by demographic factors. These findings highlight the importance of cautiously interpreting the much-discussed correlation between marital status and children's behavior problems. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)
Bibliography Citation
Emery, Robert E., Mary Waldron, Katherine M. Kitzmann and Jeffrey Aaron. "Delinquent Behavior, Future Divorce or Nonmarital Childbearing, and Externalizing Behavior Among Offspring: A 14-Year Prospective Study." Journal of Family Psychology 13,4 (December 1999): 568-579.