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Abstract:
Research has been done on the success of relationships and their preexisting factors. (Burges 1939). The conclusions made have been quite universal, variables such as age contributes to the long term success of relationships (Burges 1939). Divorces have similarly predictive conditions such as household income levels, which have a negative correlation with chances of divorce (Kiernan, 1998). These relationship factors which can lead to long lasting relationships or divorce seemingly have an impact on the next generation, as those whose parents get divorced tend to be of a lower economic status and get married earlier, both of which have a positive association with divorce (Jaquet, 2001)(Burges, 1939)(Kieran, 1998). Scientifically there are many predictors which correlate to relationship longevity, but not much has been found on the correlation between childhood perceptions of love and future relationship health.
The research on perceptions of love establishes a correlation between changes in perceptions of love during different parts of a person’s life (Nieder, 2001) (Sumter et al, 2013). As their priorities shift with age, that does not consider the relationship status of those in question. Since there are many predictors in relationships, specifically with parental divorce (Jaquet, 2001), the question becomes why do these factors change the next generation of relationships. Specifically, whether the association is with the conditions in which a divorce happens being passed down to the next generation, or if the divorce itself changed the perceptions of love in the next generation, leading to a lack of relationship longevity in the future..
There is little research done one perceptions of love as children and the relationship seen as adults, but there are troves of evidence about how perceptions of love are affected by many things. Gender, porn use, family , friends and self-perception all effect perceptions of love and an ideal relationship (Seiffge-Krenke, 2016) (McCormack, 2017). Although all the research connecting causes to changes in perceptions of love, there comes the question of the manifestation of those perceptions. One research study asked about perceptions of love at different stages of one relationship, and the only difference they found was confidence (Aloni, 2004). Although interesting, this doesn’t answer the question of how perceptions of love changes and effects relationships in the future, which would carry many implications on what’s important in teaching relationship ideals to adolescents.
The goal of the analysis presented will be to examine associations between adolescent perceptions of love and adult ones. That is, this study will analyze different adolescent’s concept of an ideal relationship and compare those results to the relationships they foster in the future, in search of a trend between these two. Factors such as, whether or not an adolescent wanted to be married or have kids, will be cross referenced to whether or not they got married or had kids as adults, in search of a correlation between childhood expectations and adult relationships.
After using the ADDHEALTH data set comparing WAVE I and WAVE IV results, there was a correlation found between believing that marriage is part of an ideal relationship as an adolescent and being married as a young adult. Although biological sex had a larger effect as a predictor for marriage as a young adult, perceptions of love still was shown as a statistically significant factor.
Perceptions of love from an adolescent is a type of synthesis of other factors, whether it be parental relationship status or income, overall perceptions of love can be seen as a single gauge of other outside factors, an internalization of external factors around the adolescent.
Biological sex being a predictor relates more to the age in which this sample was taken, as women are more likely to marry at a young age than men are.
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