Parent-Child Relationships and Young Adults’ Partner Choice

Jenjira Yahirun, University of California, Los Angeles

In racially stratified countries such as the United States, the societal benefits of intermarriage - as a mechanism that decreases the social distance between groups - are emphasized. Although individual characteristics and structural contexts in part determine who marries whom, previous work pays little attention to the role of family and in particular, parental barriers to intermarriage. In addition, few studies have examined the consequences of intermarriage for parent-child relationships. This study addresses two related questions. First, how do relationships with parents during adolescence affect who young adults marry? Second, how does partner choice affect parent-child relationships after marriage? For both of these questions, does the link between parent-child relationships and partner choice differ for children of immigrants compared to those of native-born parents? Findings from this paper shed light on the link between young adults’ partner choice and parent-child relationships as the U.S. population increases in race-ethnic diversity.