Adult children's transitions to marriage and parenthood and contact with their parents

성인 자녀의 결혼 및 부모기로의 전이가 세대 간 접촉(만남과 연락)에 미치는 영향

Objectives: Grounded in a life-course perspective, this study examined the effects of non-coresident children's transitions to marriage and parenthood on the frequency of contact with their parents. Gender of adult children and the educational levels of both adult children and their parents were evaluated as potential moderators of the transition-contact linkages. Method: The analytic sample consisted of adult children aged between 20 and 50 whose parents participated in four waves of the Korean Longitudinal Study of Ageing (2006, 2008, 2010, 2012). For analysis, fixed effects regression models were estimated using the xtreg procedure in Stata. Results: First, transition to marriage was associated with a decrease in face-to-face contact, whereas a greater increase in contact with parents via phone, mail, email etc. occurred only among newly married with less than college education compared to the newlywed with college degrees. Second, transition to parenthood was associated with an increase in contact via phone, mail, email etc. In addition, a greater increase in face-to-face contact was found with parents who completed high school or more education compared to those with less than high school education. Conclusions: The findings suggest that adult children's transitions to marriage and parenthood may bring about increases in contact with their parents, particularly for adult children with less than college education and parents with more than high school education.