Intergenerational Associations of Parental Age at First Birth: Do Emotional and Behavioral Problems Matter?

Objectives: Parental age at first birth tends to be transmitted across generations, and multifaceted factors are involved in the mechanisms that underlie these intergenerational associations. The current study examined the potential mediating role of emotional and behavioral problems in this process.Methods: We investigated intergenerational transmission of age at first birth and the potential mediating role of internalizing and externalizing problems in the Dutch population (N = 2,674), using data from the TRacking Adolescents’ Individual Lives Survey. Cox regression and mixed models with random slopes were used to examine associations between 1) parental age at first birth and offspring’s age at first childbirth by age 33, 2) parental age at first birth and emotional and behavioral problems in offspring from age 11 to 22, and 3) emotional and behavioral problems from age 11 to 22 and age at first childbirth.Results: Our analyses yielded two main findings. First, parental age at first birth predicted the timing of transition to parenthood in the next generation, in both mother-to-child and father-to-child pairs. Second, emotional and behavioral problems in adolescence and young adulthood were not predicted by parental age at first birth, nor did these problems in youth predict their age at first childbirth in adolescence and young adulthood. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that mental health problems do not play a mediating role in the intergenerational associations of parental age at first birth in the Netherlands. Several social and psychosocial factors may have contributed to the null findings in our study population.