ABSTRACT
The Three Generational Study, which was initiated in the 1990s, is an extension of the Oregon Youth Study, which began in 1984 with 9- and 10-year-old boys and their parents living in higher-delinquency neighbourhoods of a medium-sized western U.S. city. The goal of the Three Generational Study is to answer questions concerning intergenerational transmission of antisocial behaviour, substance use, and related problem behaviours. In this chapter, we present key elements of the study design, including the focus on fathers in Generation 2 who were recruited as boys in the Oregon Youth Study. We review the theory underlying the current study aims and the findings to date. Overall, intergenerational associations in problem behaviours from second-generation fathers (and mothers) to their offspring are relatively modest. Thus, understanding intergenerational discontinuity and moderators of intergenerational effects is a current focus.
