Intergenerational Relations in Later-Life Families

Discrepancies in Parent-Child Perception of Parental Control and Associations with Children's Anxiety: The Buffering Effect of Parent-Child Closeness

Previous research has predominantly relied on single-informant reports to establish the association between parental control and children's anxiety. However, there remains ambiguity regarding the extent to which discrepancies in parent-child reports of parental control are related to children anxiety. This study examined parent-child perceived discrepancies in parental control and their association with children's anxiety, along with the moderated effect of parent-child closeness through cross-sectional and prospective analysis. The sample consisted of 790 children (Mage = 11.34, SD = 6.73, 45.60% for girls), with 741 father-child dyads and 760 mother-child dyads included. Data were analyzed using polynomial regressions with response surface analysis. The results indicated that children tended to perceive higher levels of parental psychological control and lower levels of behavioral control compared to their parents' perceptions. In the cross-sectional analysis, a significant association between greater incongruence in psychological/behavioral control and higher levels of children's anxiety at T1 was observed exclusively in father-child dyads. In prospective analysis, for both father-child and mother-child dyads, congruence in higher levels of psychological control was associated with higher levels of children's anxiety at T2, while congruence in higher levels of behavioral control was associated with lower levels of children's anxiety at T2. Additionally, greater incongruence in psychological/behavioral control was linked to higher levels of children's anxiety at T2. Furthermore, mother-child closeness emerged as a significant moderator such that perceived incongruence in psychological/behavioral control could not affect children's anxiety at T2 in the high mother-child closeness condition. These findings highlight the significance of considering parent-child congruence and incongruence when examining the impact of parental control on children's anxiety.

Childhood Parental Disfavoritism and Chinese Adults' Psychological Well-Being in Middle and Later Life: The Moderating Effect of Gender

OBJECTIVES

Parental differential treatment of children, particularly disfavoritism, has been found to detrimentally affect adult children's psychological well-being in the United States. However, no study has investigated the long-reaching influence of parental disfavoritism in China, where there is an absence of equal treatment norms. Drawing from theories of social comparison, life course, and gender dynamics in China, we tested how perceptions of childhood parental disfavoritism affect midlife and older Chinese adults' depressive symptoms, and how the effects differ by own and parent's gender.

METHODS

Random-intercept models were used based on a sample of 17,682 midlife and older Chinese adults, drawn from 5 waves of China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study.

RESULTS

Recollections of childhood parental disfavoritism were associated with higher depressive symptoms among Chinese adults. Perceptions of paternal disfavoritism predicted both men's and women's depressive symptoms, whereas perceptions of maternal disfavoritism predicted women's depressive symptoms only. Paternal disfavoritism was more detrimental than maternal disfavoritism, but only for men. Maternal disfavoritism was more detrimental for women than men.

DISCUSSION

These findings shed light on the universality of the long-reaching detrimental effect of perceptions of parental disfavoritism across cultures as well as the unique gendered patterns in China shaped by patriarchy. Findings suggest that the implementation of Three-Child Policy in China should be accompanied with parental education programs involving fathers on equal treatment of children.

Cohabiting Adult Children's Transfers to Parents in the United States

Objective

This brief report presents national estimates of transfers of time and money from cohabiting adult children (ages 18 to 65) to their parents (own and in-laws) to test whether cohabiting adults give differently from their counterparts.

Background

Previous U.S. studies use data collected in the late 1980s and mid-1990s, when cohabitation was an emerging family form; they find mixed results. Rising rates of cohabitation and an aging population of parents who may rely on transfers from adult children necessitate updated estimates that can help develop the theory of institutionalization of cohabitation.

Method

This study used the 2013 Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) Rosters and Transfers Module, a sample of U.S. households (N=6,340), and logistic and negative binomial models to estimate the likelihood of giving any time or any money to parents by the respondent's union status, the amounts given, and parent type (own, in-laws).

Results

Cohabitors were less likely to give time to their own parents than their never married counterparts, and gave fewer hours, but were more likely to give time and gave more hours than married adults. For financial transfers to own parents, cohabitors and married respondents gave similarly, but both were less likely to give any money than are single respondents. Cohabitators gave more hours to their in-laws than married respondents.

Conclusion

Cohabitors behave somewhere in-between marital "greedy institution" norms and broader norms of solidarity with parents. More work should be done to understand how union status affects transfers to parents.

Sources of Intergenerational Conflict in Chinese Immigrant Families in the United States

Studies of family relations have not kept pace with the acceleration of international migration. To address this gap, this study relied on a survey of 545 Chinese immigrants in Chicago who reported information of 869 older parents to examine the sources of intergenerational conflict in five domains: norms/values, relationship itself, money, health, and parenting. The results of logistic regression showed that maintaining one's traditional culture, in the form of endorsing a sense of filial obligation, was a significant protective factor against all types of conflict. Immigrants with a higher level of acculturation were more likely to report conflict regarding norms/values and relationship itself, but not more so regarding practical issues such as health, money, and parenting. Helping parents with ADLs, not IADLs, was associated with more conflict regarding monetary and health issues. Immigrants' greater sense of mastery was associated with a lower chance of reporting norm/value-related intergenerational conflict.

Taking Diversity Seriously: Within-Group Heterogeneity in African American Extended Family Support Networks

OBJECTIVE

This study examined the correlates of involvement in extended family social support networks among African Americans.

BACKGROUND

Previous literature has documented the importance of informal social support from extended family members for the African American population. Most research has investigated black-white differences in network involvement or has focused on impoverished African American families. Both approaches conceal important within-group variation in participation among the total African American population.

METHOD

This study relied on nationally representative data from the African American sub-sample of the National Survey of American Life (n=3,538). It employed ordinary least squares regression analysis to examine the sociodemographic and family factors that are associated with four key measures of involvement in extended family support networks: receiving and providing extended family support, frequency of family contact, and degree of subjective closeness.

RESULTS

African Americans routinely interacted with members of their family, displayed a high degree of family closeness, and exchanged support fairly frequently. Findings also revealed significant variation in network involvement by sociodemographic characteristics: women, younger adults, and Southerners were typically most involved; individuals who experienced greater material hardship, were previously incarcerated, or served in the military reported less involvement. Results also showed that family closeness and family contact were particularly salient factors shaping the extent to which network members engaged in support exchanges.

CONCLUSION

The magnitude of within-group heterogeneity in network involvement underscores the importance of considering issues of intragroup diversity in the developing literature on African American extended family networks.

How Families Give and Receive: A Cross-Class Qualitative Study of Familial Exchange

Support of family members has been a long-standing interest of social scientists. Contemporary American families must provide support to members in a historical context wherein family inequality continues to rise. Based on the life course perspective, and utilizing qualitative, in-depth interviews with 50 multi-generational participants from the Family Exchanges Study, this article explores the mechanisms through which families across the socioeconomic spectrum engage in and perceive family support. We discuss both direct and indirect requests by family members for help and identify differences by family socioeconomic status. We also discuss how issues of reciprocity, views toward request propriety, and perceptions of appreciation guide family member responses to need. We argue that this cross-class comparison is particularly essential to further scholarly understands of family functioning and support amidst growing inequality in the United States.

Midlife Children's and Older Mothers' Depressive Symptoms: Empathic Mother-Child Relationships as a Key Moderator

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to evaluate the link between midlife children's and older mothers' depressive symptoms, whether this link is exacerbated in highly empathic mother-child relationships (i.e., shared strong feelings of being loved, cared for, and understood in the mother-child tie), and whether these associations vary by children's gender.

BACKGROUND

Empathic mother-child relationships in later life may intensify the link between midlife children's and older mothers' depressive symptoms. Yet little is known about the emotional implications of the mother-child tie for midlife daughters and sons.

METHOD

The sample included 234 midlife children (M = 49.75 years) and their mothers (M = 75.27 years) from Wave 1 of the Family Exchanges Study. Linear regressions were estimated to determine the link between midlife children's and older mothers' depressive symptoms and the potential moderating role of highly empathic mother-child relationships.

RESULTS

Midlife children had greater depressive symptoms when their mothers had greater depressive symptoms in the context of highly empathic mother-child relationships. This association was not moderated by children's gender.

CONCLUSION

These findings underscore the enduring emotional salience of the mother-child tie and emphasize the importance of relationship characteristics that may heighten the link between midlife children's and their mothers' depressive symptoms.

IMPLICATIONS

Interventions to prevent or treat depressive symptoms among midlife adults may benefit from accounting for the role that their mothers' depressive symptoms might play in maintaining these symptoms, particularly when mother-child ties are highly empathic.

Parent-Child Discrepancies in Perceived Parental Favoritism: Associations with Children's Internalizing and Externalizing Problems in Chinese Families

Previous studies have found discrepancies between parent and child reports of parental favoritism. Some studies have also found that these discrepancies have unique effects on children's psychosocial adjustment. Nonetheless, much is still unknown about discrepancies between parent-reports and child-reports of parental favoritism and how they are associated with children's development. The current study examines discrepancies in multi-informant reports on parental favoritism in relation to children's internalizing and externalizing problems. The sample consisted of 556 mother-child dyads and 554 father-child dyads (46% boys, M_age = 12.52 years, SD_age = 1.18). Polynomial regression analyses and response surface analyses were used to disentangle the effects of parent-child discrepancies in perceived parental favoritism. The results indicate that children reported higher parental favoritism than their parents. And the highest internalizing and externalizing problems occurred when both the mother and the child reported high maternal favoritism, and when both the father and the child report high paternal favoritism. Therefore, these findings partly support the assumptions based on the operations triad model. The findings also highlight the importance of the discrepancy between child- and parent-reports on parental favoritism in the development of children's internalizing and externalizing problems.

Conflict Strategies in the Parent-Adult Child Tie: Generation Differences and Implications for Well-Being

Objectives

Irritations often arise in intergenerational ties. Middle-aged individuals report that their relationships with adult children are more important and more negative than ties with aging parents. However, it is unclear whether midlife individuals use different interpersonal conflict strategies with adult children compared to aging parents, and whether the strategies used have implications for psychological well-being.

Method

This study examined middle-aged individuals' reports of conflict strategies with their adult children and their aging parents and their own depressive symptoms. Participants were from the Family Exchanges Study; middle-aged adults (N = 365, ages 45 to 66 years) reported on the conflict strategies used with each of their adult children and their aging parents.

Results

Models revealed that middle-aged individuals use more active strategies (e.g., discussing problems) with their adult children than their aging parents. In contrast, individuals used more passive strategies (e.g., avoidance) with aging parents than adult children. Further, passive strategies used with adult children are associated with greater depressive symptoms.

Discussion

Findings are consistent with the intraindividual stake hypothesis and imply that conflict strategies used with adult children may be more consequential for psychological well-being than those used with aging parents.

Intergenerational support and life satisfaction of young-, old- and oldest-old adults in China

OBJECTIVES

This study investigated variation across different old-age groups in the association between intergenerational support and elderly life satisfaction in China, taking into account both exchange patterns and different types of support.

METHOD

Using the first two waves (2010 and 2012) of China Family Panel Studies, we applied the fixed-effect approach to examine the moderating effect of age separately for exchange patterns and different types of intergenerational support. The sample included 3989 elderly people.

RESULTS

There were age differences in the association between intergenerational support and elderly life satisfaction, for both exchange patterns and different types of support. Particularly, there was significant difference between the young-old (61-70) and the oldest-old (85+) in terms of the association.

CONCLUSION

Theoretically, this study helps to elaborate on social exchange and equity theories by introducing explanations from socio-emotional selectivity theory. It further highlights how policies for elderly care should be developed considering the diverse needs, characteristics and goals of elderly people rather than treating them as a singular homogenous group, in particular in relation to different old-age groups.

Social Relations and Technology: Continuity, Context, and Change

Social relations, although basic to human nature, health and well-being, have become increasingly complicated as a result of changing population demography and technology. In this essay, we provide a historical overview of social relations, especially as they affect older people. We briefly review the evolution of theory and measurement surrounding social relations as well as early empirical evidence. We consider how social relations have changed over time as well as continuity and change regarding basic characteristics of social relations. Of special interest is the emerging influence of technology on how people maintain contact, especially the changing ways people can use technology to increase, decrease, maintain, or avoid social relations. We consider both negative and positive aspects of these new technologies and their influence on health and well-being. Finally, we conclude that new and emerging technologies hold great promise for the future by overcoming traditional barriers to maintaining social contact, support exchange, and information acquisition. Nevertheless, we caution that these new technologies can have the dehumanizing effect of distance thus creating the potential for insensitivity and increased negativity. In sum, we are cautiously optimistic about the promise of technology to expand, but not replace, traditional forms of social contact.

Adult Children's Serious Health Conditions and the Flow of Support Between the Generations

Purpose

The life course perspective suggests that serious physical or mental health conditions that limit the daily activities of any one family member are likely to be consequential for other family members as well. In this article, we explored whether adult children's serious health conditions affected the flow of expressive and instrumental support between mothers and both the offspring with health conditions and other offspring in the family.

Design and Methods

We used data collected from 369 older mothers (M = 78 years) regarding 1,338 of their adult children (M = 49 years), as part of the Within-Family Differences Study-II.

Results

Adult children with serious health conditions were more likely than their siblings to be given support by their mothers. The presence of adult children with health issues did not reduce mothers' provision of expressive or instrumental support to their children without health conditions. However, in families in which a higher proportion of children had serious health conditions, mothers received expressive support from a greater proportion of their healthy adult children than in families with a smaller proportion of adult children with health conditions.

Implications

These findings contribute to a growing body of research demonstrating the ways in which conditions in adult children's lives affect their mothers.

Role of Perceived Maternal Favoritism and Disfavoritism in Adult Children's Psychological Well-Being

Objectives

The detrimental consequences of parents' differential treatment on children's well-being have been documented in earlier stages of the life course; however, little is known about this pattern in midlife. Drawing from theories of equity and social comparison, we tested whether psychological well-being was affected only by adult children's perceptions that their mothers treated some offspring in the family differently or by their perceptions that they were favored or disfavored. Further, we explored the extent to which these patterns differed by race.

Method

Multilevel regression modeling was conducted using data collected from 725 adult children nested within 309 later-life families as part of the Within-Family Differences Study-II.

Results

Depressive symptoms were higher when offspring perceived that they had the most emotional closeness to mothers or the greatest conflict with mothers. Depressive symptoms were also higher when respondents identified themselves as being the children in whom the mothers were most disappointed.

Discussion

The findings shed new light on the role of intergenerational relations in adult children's well-being in midlife by taking into consideration the respondents' direct reports of their perceptions of their mothers' favoritism and disfavoritism. Further, the findings provide evidence that the association between maternal differentiation and psychological well-being in adulthood is stronger in Black than in White families. These patterns suggest that the association between psychological well-being and both favoritism and disfavoritism can be accounted for by processes involving social comparison rather than equity for both Black and White adult children in midlife.

Call Home? Mobile Phones and Contacts with Mother in 24 Countries

This paper explores how the diffusion of mobile phones is associated with communication between adult children and their mothers. The paper analyzes 2001 International Social Survey Program (ISSP) data from 24 countries (N = 12,313) combined with the country-level data on the prevalence of mobile phones. Net of individual-level predictors and country wealth, adult children who resided in countries with high prevalence of mobile phones contacted their mothers more frequently. High prevalence of mobile phones was also associated with larger differences in maternal contact by gender and smaller differences by education. These findings suggest that any impact of new communication technology on intergenerational relations is complex. Although mobile phones point to higher levels of at-a-distance contact with mothers and narrower socio-economic disparities related to access and affordability of communication technology, they are also linked to wider contact disparities following gendered cultural expectations.

Adult Children's Problems and Mothers' Well-Being

This article explores whether understanding of the effects of children's problems on older parents' well-being can be advanced by exploring differences in parent-child relationships within families. Using data from a study in which mothers reported on all adult children, we addressed the question: Do patterns of maternal favoritism moderate the impact of children's problems on psychological well-being? Based on the literature on the effects of children's problems and on parental favoritism, we hypothesized that problems in the lives of favored adult children will have a more detrimental impact than when they affect unfavored offspring. Results revealed strong and detrimental effects of any offspring's problems on mothers' well-being; these effects occurred, however, regardless of parental preference for an adult child. The findings suggest that the well-documented effects of parental preference may be limited in domains such as problems and difficult transitions in adult children's lives.

My Pride and Joy? Predicting Favoritism and Disfavoritism in Mother-Adult Child Relations

In this article, we compare predictors of mothers' differentiation among their adult children regarding emotional closeness, pride, conflict, and disappointment. We distinguish between predictors of relational (closeness, conflict) and evaluative (pride, disappointment) dimensions of favoritism and disfavoritism. Multilevel modeling using data collected from 381 older mothers regarding their relationships with 1,421 adult children indicated that adult children's similarity of values played the most prominent role in predicting mothers' favoritism and disfavoritism, followed by children's gender. Children's deviant behaviors in adulthood predicted both pride and disappointment but neither relational dimension. Contrary to expectations, the quantitative analysis indicated that children's normative adult achievements were poor predictors of both relational and evaluative dimensions of mothers' differentiation. Qualitative data shed additional light on mothers' evaluations by revealing that disappointment was shaped by children's achievements relative to their mothers' values and expectations, rather than by the achievement of specific societal, educational, career, and marital milestones.

Intergenerational Exchange of Resources and Elderly Support in Rural China

This study examines how parental investments on children affect elderly support, and how this effect is contingent on emotional closeness or parental authority. Data collected from 770 elderly parents residing in rural China were analyzed. We gathered dichotomous data for (a) whether parents invested on their children via financial or instrumental means (i.e., parental investments) and (b) whether parents reported closeness to their children (i.e., emotional closeness) and whether children respected them (i.e., parental authority). We examined the relation between these variables and children's elderly support (financial, instrumental, and emotional). We tested models in two ways, one examining the direct effect of investments, and another testing the interactions between investments and closeness or authority. We first found that investments were not directly associated with elderly support, although the closeness and authority were. Additionally, the association between investments and support was found within parents who reported authority or closeness with their children.

Parent-Child Relationships and Parent Psychological Distress: How Do Social Support, Strain, Dissatisfaction, and Equity Matter?

Relationships with children are important for parents' psychological well-being, yet limited research addresses whether and how relationships with adult children matter for aging parents' psychological well-being in mid- to later life. We used four waves of national longitudinal data (Americans' Changing Lives, N = 1,692) and growth curve models to test how multiple dimensions of the intergenerational relationship-social support, strain, equity, and dissatisfaction-shape mid- to later life parents' psychological distress over time. Results showed that social support and strain were associated with parents' distress at baseline but not over time, while relationship equity and dissatisfaction affected change in parents' psychological distress over time. Findings further showed how the effects of dissatisfaction varied for mothers and fathers. This study adds to an understanding of the social context of aging by drawing attention to how specific dimensions of the parent-child tie matter longitudinally for mid- to later life parents' psychological distress.

Do Positive Feelings Hurt? Disaggregating Positive and Negative Components of Intergenerational Ambivalence

Ambivalence has become an important conceptual development in the study of parent-adult child relations, with evidence highlighting that intergenerational relationships are characterized by a mix of positive and negative components. Recent studies have shown that ambivalence has detrimental consequences for both parents' and adult children's psychological well-being. The underlying assumption of this line of research is that psychological distress results from holding simultaneous positive and negative feelings toward a parent or child. The authors question this assumption and explore alternative interpretations by disaggregating the positive and negative dimensions commonly used to create indirect measures of intergenerational ambivalence. Data for the analyses were collected from 254 older mothers and a randomly selected adult child from each of the families. The findings suggest that the negative component is primarily responsible for the association between indirect measures of ambivalence and psychological well-being. Implications of these findings for the study of intergenerational ambivalence are discussed.

Diet and Exercise in Parenthood: A Social Control Perspective

Previous work on social control-the direct and indirect regulation of an individual's health behaviors by others-suggests that parent-child relationships promote healthy diet and exercise. Yet parenthood is associated with less healthy diet and exercise patterns. The authors investigated this paradox by examining social control processes in 40 in-depth interviews with mothers and fathers. They found that parenthood involves social control processes that both promote and compromise healthy behavior, contributing to contradictory perceived effects of parenthood on health behavior. Moreover, the dynamics of social control appear to unfold in different ways for mothers and fathers and depend on the child's gender and life stage, suggesting that gender and age dyads are central to understanding the seemingly contradictory consequences of parenthood at the population level. These articulations of gendered social control processes provide new insight into the consequences of the gendered organization of parenthood for diet and exercise.

Perceptions of Equity, Balance of Support Exchange, and Mother-Adult Child Relations

Equity theory suggests that relationships are more harmonious when both members of a dyad believe that their exchanges are fair. However, the level and frequency of exchange, rather than perceptions of equity, have been the focus of most research on support and the quality of intergenerational relations. Using data from 1,426 mother-child dyads nested within 413 families collected as part of the Within-Family Differences Study, the authors explored whether mothers' perceptions of equity are better predictors of closeness and tension than are mothers' reports of balanced exchanges of support. Mixed-model analyses revealed that mothers' perceptions of equity were more consistent predictors of relationship quality than were the balanced exchanges of support, though the results varied somewhat by gender of adult child. These findings contribute to a growing body of research demonstrating that the psychological processes that shape intergenerational relationships mirror those of other ties.

Continuity and Change in Mothers' Favoritism Toward Offspring in Adulthood

The importance of parental favoritism in childhood and adulthood has been well documented; little is known, however, about changes over time in such within-family differentiation. Drawing on theories of life course processes and developmental psychology, the authors used 7-year panel data collected from 406 older mothers about their relationships with 1,514 adult children to explore patterns of favoritism regarding caregiving and emotional closeness. The findings demonstrated continuity in patterns of mothers' favoritism. Mothers tended to prefer the same children across time, particularly regarding preferred caregivers. It was anticipated that children's social-structural characteristics, similarity to their mothers, structural position in the family, and support provision to mothers would predict favored child status across time; however, only similarity and support processes were strong and consistent predictors of change and continuity in patterns of mothers' favoritism.

Demographic Change and Parent-Child Relationships in Adulthood

Demographic changes in who becomes a parent, how many children parents have, and the marital statuses of parents and children affect the extent to which parents and adult children provide for each other later in life. We describe these demographic changes and their implications for the help parents and children give each other throughout their adult years. The changing demography of US families has increased both generations' need for family assistance among those already disadvantaged and has exacerbated differences between the socioeconomically advantaged and disadvantaged in the availability of kin support. Variations in the marital histories of parents and children also contribute to a divergence between mother-child and father-child relationships in later life. The churning of couple relationships in both generations blurs the boundaries between who is in the family and who is not, threatening the effectiveness of the family safety net among those who may need it the most.

Ambivalence Toward Adult Children: Differences Between Mothers and Fathers

The authors examined how ambivalence toward adult children within the same family differs between mothers and fathers and whether patterns of maternal and paternal ambivalence can be explained by the same set of predictors. Using data collected in the Within-Family Differences Study, they compared older married mothers' and fathers' (N = 129) assessments of ambivalence toward each of their adult children (N = 444). Fathers reported higher levels of ambivalence overall. Both mothers and fathers reported lower ambivalence toward children who were married, better educated, and who they perceived to hold similar values; however, the effects of marital status and education were more pronounced for fathers, whereas the effect of children's value congruence was more pronounced for mothers. Fathers reported lower ambivalence toward daughters than sons, whereas mothers reported less ambivalence toward sons than daughters.