Fast Track intervention effects on family formation.

Lansford, J. E., Godwin, J., Copeland, W. E., Dodge, K. A., Odgers, C. L., Rothenberg, W. A., Rybińska, A., & Conduct Problems Prevention Research Group (2023). Fast Track intervention effects on family formation. Journal of family psychology : JFP : journal of the Division of Family Psychology of the American Psychological Association (Division 43), 37(1), 54–64.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1037/fam0001039

Abstract: The present study examines whether the Fast Track intervention, a 10-year randomized controlled trial with children at risk for conduct problems, affects family formation in adulthood, as indexed by partnerships, parenthood, and family structure and whether the intervention effect differs across participants’ gender and race/ethnicity. Participants included 891 children (intervention n = 445; control n = 446; 69% male; 51% Black, 47% White) who were recruited in kindergarten and followed to age 32 or 34 (80% participation of still-living participants), when they reported on their romantic partnerships, parenthood, and family structure. Controlling for numerous covariates that are related to family formation, intervention participants were more likely than those in the control group to be married rather than single and to have a larger number of children; the intervention and control groups did not differ on cohabitation status, age at first marriage, whether they had ever divorced, their likelihood of being a parent, the age at which they first became a parent, the spacing of births, family structure (partnered or not, with or without children), or in whether they were residentially independent of their parents and grandparents. Intervention effects were not moderated by gender, but race/ethnicity moderated the effect of the intervention on the probability of having any children and the number of children. These findings suggest that several elements of family formation may remain unchanged by an intervention that changes many other behavioral and psychological trajectories of participants.

Keywords:
Family formation, Family Structure, intervention, marriage, parenthood