Session: Mechanisms of Intergenerational Adversity Across Three Generations (Society for Social Work and Research 15th Annual Conference: Emerging Horizons for Social Work Research)

Research has consistently documented that adversity and problem behaviors in one generation are associated with adversity and problem behaviors in the next generation. However, little is known about the mechanisms underlying this intergenerational transmission, in part because long-term prospective studies across two or more generations are rare. Data from the three papers in this organized paper symposium are drawn from two linked longitudinal studies spanning three generations: the Seattle Social Development Project (SSDP) and the SSDP Intergenerational Project (TIP). SSDP is a 25-year longitudinal study that has followed a community sample of 808 youths (G2) and their parents (G1) from elementary school (1985) to adulthood with 91% retention. The goal of SSDP has been to increase understanding the causes and consequences problem and positive development across the lifespan. SSDP panel members are now adults and many are having and raising children of their own (G3). The Intergenerational Project (TIP, n=268 families) extends the SSDP panel by examining the intergenerational continuity and discontinuity in adversity and problem behavior across three generations. The first study in this symposium examines intergenerational continuity and discontinuity in poverty from G1 to G2, and whether adolescents' academic expectations and aspirations contribute to these patterns of poverty across generations. The second and third studies in this symposium focus on a particular behavior, G2 adolescent gang membership, as ask whether the consequences of gang membership on an individual's adult development reproduce the conditions that foster gang membership in the next generation (G3). The identification of such mechanisms should indicate key targets of interventions designed to reduce intergenerational transmission. We encourage discussion and reserve time following these papers to discuss the implications of the findings for social work practice, policy and research.