A new study, published on November 13 in the journal PLoS One, has linked the number of partners an adult has to their mother’s relationship history.
The research, using data on thousands of people spanning decades, found that for every additional relationship a mother had, the number of partners their children had increased by an average of six per cent.
So essentially, if your mum’s dating history was patchy, you’re more likely to experience something similar.
For the study, researchers analysed data from national surveys of youth, which follow participants for at least 24 years. They tracked 7,152 people and their biological mothers in terms of marriage, divorce, cohabiting relationships, and breakups.
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Previous research has revealed that children of parents who divorce are more likely to divorce themselves, compared to those whose mother and father stay married, but this latest research widened the picture.
“It’s not just divorce now – many children are seeing their parents divorce, start new cohabiting relationships, and having those end as well,” said Prof. Claire Kamp Dush, who led the research.
“All of these relationships can influence children’s outcomes, as we see in this study.”
The study also revealed that people who were exposed to mothers’ cohabitation for longer stretches had more romantic partners than siblings who were exposed to less cohabitation.
“You may see cohabitation as an attractive, lower-commitment type of relationship if you’ve seen your mother in such a relationship for a longer time,” Kamp Dush said.
“That may lead to more partners since cohabiting relationships are more likely to break-up.”
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