Delinquent behavior, future divorce or nonmarital childbearing, and externalizing behavior among offspring: A 14-year prospective study

in a longitudinal study of a national sample, more externalizing behavior p roblems were found among 222 children from never-married and 142 children f rom divorced families than among MO children from married families. However , delinquent behavior reported when future mothers were single, childless a dolescents prospectively predicted their future marital status and behavior problems among their offspring 14 years later. Maternal history of delinqu ent behavior accounted for much, but not all, of the relationship between m arital status and children's externalizing behavior. Divorce and nonmarital childbirth do not occur at random, and these findings demonstrate that mar ital status is predicted by individual characteristics as well as by demogr aphic factors. These findings highlight the importance of cautiously interp reting the much-discussed correlation between marital status and children's behavior problems.