CHILDHOOD FAMILY-STRUCTURE AND ENTRY INTO 1ST MARRIAGE

The present study uses data from the National Survey of Families and H ouseholds to examine socialization and stress hypotheses which link fa mily structure during childhood with entry into first marriage. Result s from logistic regressions show evidence for both hypotheses. The fin dings show that years lived with mother only during early childhood an d change from both biological parents to mother-only families signific antly increase chances for delayed marriage for whites. One other fact or, being born into a mother-only family, increased chances for early marriage. Thus, for whites, we found counteracting influences of famil y structure during childhood on marriage. For blacks, the family struc ture measures, overall, show little effect on entry into marriage. Fin ally, we found that family structure had a stronger impact for those b orn in the 1940s than for those born later.