PARENTAL GENDER-ROLE NONTRADITIONALISM AND OFFSPRING OUTCOMES

Using data from a longitudinal study of a representative sample of 471 parents and their adult offspring, we examined whether nontraditional gender roles and attitudes among parents are associated with later li fe outcomes of children. We found very little evidence that mother's p articipation in the labor force, father's participation in household t asks, and parents' gender role attitudes had adverse or positive effec ts on offspring well-being. However, offspring of nontraditional paren ts were less likely to reside with parents and had slightly poorer rel ationships with their fathers; the latter finding is accounted for by the greater likelihood of nontraditional parents to divorce. In additi on, daughters of nontraditional parents were more likely to cohabit. F inally, offspring of nontraditional parents tended to have nontraditio nal gender role attitudes. In all cases the relationships were modest.