Continuity and Discontinuity in Perceptions of Family Relationships From Adolescence to Young Adulthood

The present 8-year longitudinal study examined how multiple aspects of family relationships change across the transition from adolescence (Mage=15years) to young adulthood (Mage=22years) among 821 individuals. Results showed that there was more discontinuity than continuity in family relationships across this transition. Whereas a normative decline was evident in all measured aspects of family relationships during adolescence, this decline persisted for only a few dimensions of family relationships during young adulthood. Other aspects of family relationships stabilized or rebounded. There was little variation in these trajectories as a function of ethnicity or gender, suggesting that these changes in family relationships are generally normative. Results suggest that the transition to adulthood is a period of significant transformation in family relationships.