Parental Divorce and Union Disruption among Young Adults in Sweden

Ying Hong, Stockholm University
Eva Bernhardt, Stockholm University

Many studies show that children who experience the disruption of their parents' marriage are more likely to see their own marriage dissolve. Most of these studies are American, and less is known about this relationship in a European context. We know of no specific study of the intergenerational transmission of union disruption in Sweden, the forerunner in the Second Demographic Transition. A recent comparative study, based on FFS data, indicates that Sweden is average in terms of the intergenerational divorce transmission effect, while the effect is substantially lower in the US. On the other hand, the proportion of adult children with divorced parents is substantially higher in the US. We intend to study the impact of childhood family structure on the disruption of first union among young adults in Sweden by means of intensity regression, using survey data with complete union histories for about 2000 respondents, aged 22, 26, 30 and 34 in 2003.