The Childhood Echo: How Romantic Biographies Reflect Early Life Events and Abilities

Objective This study examines how childhood experiences predicts the development of romantic relationship trajectories in adulthood and whether individual characteristics moderates the association. We were especially interested in whether childhood experiences and individual resources augmented or compensated each other with regard to relationship trajectories. Background Childhood experiences and socio-cognitive capabilities are associated with a variety of adult outcomes. In particular, previous research suggests that childhood health, residential instability, physical violence, parental absence, and relationships with parents, in addition to academic and social skills, could also be linked to the formation of romantic relationship trajectories, in ways that might vary by gender. Method Drawing upon retrospective interviews from the Survey of Health Ageing, and Retirement in Europe (N=26 469), we assessed how these childhood factors predicted different relationship trajectories of men and women with confirmatory factor analysis and multinomial logistic regression. To construct relationship trajectories between ages 15–50, we employed latent class growth modeling. Results Individuals with positive childhood experiences were more likely to form stable first marriages. Negative childhood experiences were associated with a higher likelihood of having other types of relationship trajectories for both sexes. The probability of arriving at different relationship trajectories by childhood experiences varied less for women with high socio-cognitive capabilities. Conclusion Romantic biographies reflect early life events. The findings partly support resource substitution theory, suggesting that women with high socio-cognitive capabilities are less susceptible to both positive and negative childhood experiences.