© 1998 by Oxford University Press
TEENAGE FAMILY LIFE, LIFESTYLES AND LIFE CHANCES: ASSOCIATIONS WITH FAMILY STRUCTURE, CONFLICT WITH PARENTS AND JOINT FAMILY ACTIVITY
* MRC Medical Sociology Unit 6 Lilybank Gardens, Glasgow G12 8RZ
**University of Cambridge Centre for Family Research, Free School Lane Cambridge CB2 3RF
This paper draws on data from a longitudinal study of a cohort of around 1,000 young people living in the West of Scotland. It investigates the associations between four aspects of family life in mid adolescence (family structure, reason for family disruption, time spent in joint family activities and parent-adolescent conflict) and a range of indicators of current lifestyle and future life chances (health-related and delinquent behaviours; heterosexual intercourse, pregnancy and partnership formation; educational achievement and labour market position). Results show different ‘outcomes’ to be associated with different aspects of family life, the most consistent relationships occurring in respect of time spent in family activities. The majority of relationships remained after accounting for material deprivation and, apart from the association between reason for family disruption and sexual behaviour, were the same for males and females. Most of the relationships between the different aspects of family life and ‘outcome’ were independent, although some of the associations with family structure could be accounted for by differing levels of time in joint activities. The results are discussed in terms of the meaning of each aspect of family life in contemporary society, and the importance of considering the effects of both structural and process aspects of family life is emphasized.
The data analysis reported in this paper was supported by a grant, ‘Transitions to Adulthood’ from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. The authors would like to thank Barbara Ballard and members of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation advisory committee, Jonathan Bradshaw, Gill Jones, Kathleen Kiernan, Mavis Maclean, Ginny Morrow, Ceridwen Roberts and Helen Roberts, for their advice and encouragement. Thanks are also due to our colleagues Hannah Bradby, Anne Ellaway, Sally Macintyre and Daniel Wight for comments on earlier drafts, Geoff Der for statistical advice and Mary Robins for tracking down elusive references. Finally, we would like to acknowledge the participants, interviewers and all those from MRC Medical Sociology Unit involved in the Twenty-07 Study. Helen Sweeting and Patrick West are supported financially by the Medical Research Council of Great Britain.
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