ABSTRACT
Intergenerational studies of delinquency and related problem behaviours focus on two key questions. First, to what extent do children follow in the footsteps of their parents with respect to involvement in problem behaviours? Second, what are the mediating and moderating processes that account for the observed levels of continuity and discontinuity in these behaviours? The Rochester Intergenerational Study, begun in 1999, extends the original Rochester Youth Development Study to include a third generation of the study families to address these two questions. In particular, the oldest biological child of each of the original study participants was selected, starting as young as age 2, as the focal participant in the intergenerational study. Eighteen annual assessments have been conducted with the Generation 3 (G3) child, the Generation 2 (G2) parent, and the child’s other primary caregiver as we have followed the G3 children from childhood through adolescence, the developmental stage at which they overlap with the G2 parents. In the present chapter we describe the theoretical and methodological approach of the Rochester Intergenerational Study and address such issues as sample selection, attrition and retention, and measurement. We also summarize some of the key findings of the study to date focusing on patterns of continuity and discontinuity in problem behaviours, the identification of mediating processes that help account for intergenerational continuity, and the investigation of intergenerational resilience when G3 children manage to avoid the risk that the G2 parent’s earlier antisocial behaviour may have created for them. Future directions for intergenerational study are also discussed.
