Parents often put their own relationship on the back burner to concentrate on their children, but a new study shows that when spouses (配偶) love each other, their children stay in school longer and marry later in life.
Research about how the affection between parents shapes their children’s long-term life outcomes is rare because the data demands are high. This study uses unique data from families in Nepal to provide new evidence. The study, coauthored by researchers at the University of Michigan and McGill University in Quebec, was published in the journal Demography.
“In this study, we see that parents’ emotional connection to each other affects children’s growth so much that it shapes their children’s future,” said co-author and U-M Institute for Social Research researcher William Axinn. “The fact that we found these kinds of things in Nepal moves us to step closer to evidence that these things are universal.”
The study uses data from the Chitwan Valley Family Study in Nepal. The survey was launched in 1995, and collected information from 151 neighborhoods in the Western Chitwan Valley. Married couples were interviewed at the same time but separately, and were asked to assess the level of affection they had for their partner. The spouses answered “How much do you love your husband/ wife, very much, some, a little, or not at all?”
The researchers then followed the children of these parents for 12 years to document their education and marital (婚姻的) behavior. They found that the children of the parents who reported they loved each other either “some” or “very much” stayed in school longer and married later.
“A family isn’t just another institution. It’s not like a school. It is the place where we also have emotions and feelings,” said lead author Sarah Brauner-Otto, director of the Centre on Population Dynamics at McGill University. The researchers say that their next important question will be to identify why parental love impacts children in this way.
30. Why is the research rarely done about the influence of parents’ love on children’s lives?
A.Because few scientists show passion. |
B.Because the data are demanding. |
C.Because evidence is hard to collect. |
D.Because parents sometimes don’t tell the truth. |
31. What does the underlined word “universal” in the third paragraph mean?
A.Reasonable. | B.Scientific. |
C.Worldwide. | D.Acceptable. |
32. What can be learned about the study from Paragraph 4?
A.It started in the 19th century. |
B.It used information from 151 Western countries. |
C.Couples were interviewed together. |
D.Couples needed to make an assessment of their closeness degree. |
33. Which of the following will Sarah Brauner-Otto agree with?
A.A family is like a school. | B.A family really matters. |
C.Home is the best place. | D.All happy families are alike. |