Department of Sociology
Current Faculty Research Projects
J. Jill Suitor, Principal Investigator; Karl Pillemer, Co-PI. "Parent-Adult Child Relations: Within Family Differences II." Funded by the National Institute on Aging (2RO1 AG18869-04; 9/15/2007-9/14/2012).
Overview of project: This project continues the study of within-family differences in parent-adult child relations begun with WFDS-1. In the first phase of the study (2001-2006) we examined patterns and predictors of parents’ favoritism in 566 later-life families, focusing on relationship quality, preferences for care, and the consequences of parents’ differentiation on adult children’s psychological well-being and sibling relations. In the new phase, we are continuing to follow the same parents and adult children, focusing on the consequences of mothers’ differentiation on patterns of caregiving and on her and her children’s well-being.
Loftus, Jeni, Brian C. Kelly, and Sarah Mustillo “Health Trajectories of Girls in Age Discordant Relationships: A Life Course Perspective."
Overview of project: The existing literature generally shows that adolescent girls in age-discordant relationships exhibit a range of negative health outcomes. Most of these studies are cross-sectional and demonstrate associational findings. In addition, most studies examine these outcomes while adolescent girls are in these relationships. We take a broader longitudinal examination of whether age-discordant relationships lead to lasting adverse health outcomes. By taking a life course perspective, we examine the trajectories of development as these adolescent girls transition to young women. Our previous research suggests that, prior to entry into such relationships, adolescent girls who enter into age-discordant relationships are no different from their peers who do not enter into them. After entry, girls in age-discordant relationships exhibit behaviors identifiable as risk behaviors. Our hypothesis is that entry into age-discordant relationships is a product of precocious development. In other words, some young women are making early transitions to adult type behaviors and relationships. By examining these trajectories within the framework of precocious development, we find that young women in age-discordant relationships may risk behaviors related to perceptions of maturity at the time of these adolescent relationships. However, as their cohort ages and their peers “catch up” to them, their long-term behaviors appear to be no different than adolescent girls who do not enter into age-discordant relationships. In other words, as they age, girls in age-discordant relationships “regress to the mean” as their peers begin to adopt these behaviors.