Patterns and Processes of Intergenerational Estrangement: A Qualitative Study of Mother–Adult Child Relationships Across Time

2021 ◽  
pp. 016402752110369
Author(s):  
Megan Gilligan ◽  
J. Jill Suitor ◽  
Karl Pillemer
Keyword(s):  
Adult Children ◽  
Adult Child ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Life Course Perspective ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Older Mothers ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Abrupt Changes ◽  
Patterns And Processes ◽  
The Life Course

Drawing from the life course perspective, we explored patterns of estrangement between mothers and their adult children across time, and the processes through which these ties remained estranged, or moved in or out of estrangement. We used a prospective design in which data were collected in face-to-face semi-structured interviews with 61 older mothers about their relationships with their 274 adult children at two time points 7 years apart. We began by examining the patterns of stability and change in intergenerational estrangement and identified movement in and out of estrangement across time. Qualitative analyses of the processes underlying estrangement revealed that movement in and out of estrangement reflected nuanced changes in contact and closeness over time rather than abrupt changes resulting from recent transitions in either mothers’ or children’s lives. Taken together, these findings illustrate the complexity of patterns and processes of intergenerational estrangement in later-life families.

scholarly journals Crowded Nests: Parent–Adult Child Coresidence Transitions and Parental Mental Health Following the Great Recession

2019 ◽  
Vol 60 (2) ◽  
pp. 204-221 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Caputo
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Adult Children ◽  
Living Arrangements ◽  
Adult Child ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Life Course Perspective ◽  
Parental Mental Health ◽  
Demographic Shift ◽  
The Great Recession ◽  
The Life Course

Although many studies have examined contemporary increases in parent–adult child coresidence, questions about what this demographic shift means for the well-being of parents remain. This article draws on insights from the life course perspective to investigate the relationship between parent–adult child coresidence and parental mental health among U.S. adults ages 50+, distinguishing between parents stably living with and without adult children and those who transitioned into or out of coresidence with an adult child. Based on analyses of the 2008 to 2012 waves of the Health and Retirement Study ( N = 11,277), parents with a newly coresidential adult child experienced an increase in depressive symptoms relative to their peers without coresidential adult children. Further analyses suggest that transitions to coresidence that occurred in the southern United States or involved out-of-work children were particularly depressing for parents. These findings highlight the significance of evolving intergenerational living arrangements for the well-being of older adults.

Providing instrumental support to older parents of multi-child families in China: are there different within-family patterns?

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Jia Chen ◽  
Xiaochen Zhou ◽  
Nan Lu
Keyword(s):  
Adult Children ◽  
Latent Profile Analysis ◽  
Profile Analysis ◽  
Multinomial Logistic Regression ◽  
Adult Child ◽  
Instrumental Support ◽  
Older Parents ◽  
Older Mothers ◽  
Family Patterns ◽  
Using Data

Abstract Older parents in China rely heavily on their adult children for instrumental assistance. In different multi-child families, multiple offspring may co-operate in providing instrumental support to older parents in distinct ways in terms of how much support they provide on average and how much differentiation exists between them when they provide such support within a family. We aimed to identify different within-family patterns in relation to multiple offspring's instrumental support to an older parent in Chinese multi-child families, and to investigate potential predictors for different within-family patterns. Using data from the China Family Panel Studies (2016), we had a working sample of 5,790 older adults aged 60+ (mean = 68.54, standard deviation = 6.60). We employed latent profile analysis (LPA) to classify within-family patterns and multinomial logistic regression to investigate predictors. Our findings identified three within-family patterns: dissociated (59.10%), highly differentiated (29.60%) and united-filial (11.30%). Older parents in the highly differentiated families tended to be older, mothers, divorced/widowed and to have poorer physical health compared to their counterparts in the dissociated families. In contrast, the composition characteristics of multiple adult children played more important roles in determining the united-filial within-family pattern. The united-filial families were more likely to have fewer adult children, at least one adult daughter and at least one co-residing adult child.

scholarly journals Do Support and Strain With Adult Children Affect Mothers’ and Fathers’ Physical Activity?

2018 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 164-185 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patricia A. Thomas ◽  
Amy C. Lodge ◽  
Corinne Reczek
Keyword(s):  
Physical Activity ◽  
Adult Children ◽  
Adult Child ◽  
Intergenerational Relationships ◽  
Coping With Stress ◽  
Mothers And Fathers ◽  
Logistic Regression Models ◽  
Nationally Representative ◽  
Nuanced Understanding ◽  
The Life Course

Physical activity is central to health. Parents tend to have lower levels of physical activity than the childless, however, little is known about how adult child–parent relationship quality matters for mothers’ and fathers’ physical activity trajectories. Nationally representative panel data from the Americans’ Changing Lives survey (1986–2012) are used to analyze multilevel-ordered logistic regression models. Greater social support from adult children is associated with more frequent active exercise, and higher strain with adult children is related to more frequent active exercise and walking. A significant gender interaction suggests that strain with adult children is related to greater exercise among men more so than women, but this interaction is attenuated after adjusting for cigarette smoking, another gendered way of coping with stress. This study contributes to a more nuanced understanding of how different dimensions of intergenerational relationships shape health behaviors across the life course.

Situating the life story narratives of aging immigrants within a structural context: the intersectional life course perspective as research praxis

2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 465-484 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shari Brotman ◽  
Ilyan Ferrer ◽  
Sharon Koehn
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Life Story ◽  
Methodological Approach ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Life Course Perspective ◽  
Older Immigrants ◽  
The Everyday ◽  
Canadian Provinces ◽  
Research Praxis ◽  
The Life Course

Research on racialized older immigrants does not fully acknowledge the interplay between the life course experiences of diverse populations and the structural conditions that shape these experiences. Our research team has developed the intersectional life course perspective to enhance researchers’ capacity to take account of the cumulative effects of structural discrimination as people experience it throughout the life course, the meanings that people attribute to those experiences, and the implications these have on later life. Here we propose an innovative methodological approach that combines life story narrative and photovoice methods in order to operationalize the intersectional life course. We piloted this approach in a study of the everyday stories of aging among diverse immigrant older adults in two distinct Canadian provinces with the goals of enhancing capacity to account for both context and story and engaging with participants and stakeholders from multiple sectors in order to influence change.

scholarly journals PREDICTORS OF SELF-CONTINUITY IN LATER LIFE

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S308-S308
Author(s):  
Charikleia Lampraki ◽  
Dario Spini ◽  
Daniela Jopp
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Life Events ◽  
Childhood Adversity ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Life Course Perspective ◽  
Future Expectations ◽  
Critical Life Events ◽  
Multilevel Hierarchical Models ◽  
The Life Course

Abstract Self-continuity is an identity mechanism that inter-connects past and present experiences with future expectations, creating a coherent whole. However, research is limited regarding inter-individual differences and life course determinants of change in self-continuity. Using a life-course perspective on vulnerability, we investigate how the accumulation of resources (e.g., social, hopeful attitude) and the occurrence of critical life events (e.g., childhood adversity, divorce) across the life course may affect changes in self-continuity. Data derived from the LIVES Intimate Partner Loss Study conducted in Switzerland from 2012 to 2016 (3 waves). The sample consisted of individuals having experienced divorce (N = 403, Mage = 55.43) or bereavement (N = 295, Mage = 69.91) in the second half of life, using a continuously married group as a reference (N = 535, Mage = 65.60). Multilevel hierarchical models were used. Results indicated that as individuals grew older they experienced more self-continuity. More childhood adversity was negatively associated with inter-individual differences in self-continuity for all groups. Divorcees with more childhood adverse events felt significantly less self-continuity as they grew older than divorcees with less childhood adversity. In the bereaved group, more childhood adversity and less hope was linked to lower levels of self-continuity. More hopeful married individuals felt more self-continuity as they grew older than less hopeful ones. In sum, findings demonstrate that self-continuity changes as a function of age, but also differs with regard to the critical life events experienced across the life course and the availability of resources.

Becoming and being gendered through the body: older women, their mothers and body image

2007 ◽  
Vol 27 (5) ◽  
pp. 701-718 ◽  
Author(s):  
LAURA HURD CLARKE ◽  
MERIDITH GRIFFIN
Keyword(s):  
Body Image ◽  
Older Women ◽  
Later Life ◽  
The Body ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Theoretical Understanding ◽  
Socially Constructed ◽  
Women's Body Image ◽  
Mother Daughter Relationship ◽  
The Life Course

ABSTRACTFollowing West and Zimmerman's (1987) theoretical understanding of how gender identities are created and maintained, this paper examines the ways in which older women learned from their mothers how ‘to do gender’ through their bodies and specifically their physical appearances. Extracts from semi-structured interviews with 44 women aged 50 to 70 years have been drawn upon to identify and discuss the ways in which women perceive, manage and present their bodies using socially-constructed ideals of beauty and femininity. More specifically, three ways that women learned ‘to do gender’ are examined: from their mothers' criticisms and compliments about their appearance at different stages of the lifecourse; from their mothers' attitudes towards their own bodies when young and in late adulthood; and from the interviewees' own later-life experiences and choices about ‘beauty work’. Interpretative feminism is employed to analyse how the women exercised agency while constructing body-image meanings in a social context that judges women on their ability to achieve and maintain the prevailing ideal of female beauty. The study extends previous research into the influence of the mother-daughter relationship on young women's body image. The findings suggest that mothers are important influences on their daughters' socialisation into body-image and beauty work, and exert, or are perceived to exert, accountability across the life-course.

scholarly journals ”Man får hjälp då man behöver” - äldre närståendevårdtagares vårdval ur ett livsloppsperspektiv

Gerontologia ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 102-114
Author(s):  
Sarah Åkerman ◽  
Fredrica Nyqvist ◽  
Mikael Nygård
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Informal Care ◽  
Life Course Perspective ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Demographic Development ◽  
Negative Attitudes ◽  
Care Recipients ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
The Life Course ◽  
The Relationship

Den demografiska utvecklingen leder till omorganiseringar inom den finländska äldreomsorgen. Privatisering, marknadisering och närståendevård ökar med konsekvenser för vårdbehövande och deras anhöriga. Temat för den här artikeln är närståendevård. Tidigare forskning har fokuserat i större utsträckning på vårdarna, trots att också vårdtagaren är en aktiv part i vården. Enligt livsloppsperspektivet ses åldrande som en livslång process. En individs livslopp påverkas av de begränsningar och möjligheter som styr hennes val och handlingar i en specifik historisk och social kontext. I den här studien har sju vårdtagare intervjuats med kvalitativa semistrukturerade intervjuer. Syftet var att studera äldre närståendevårdtagares vårdval ur ett livsloppsperspektiv. Studiens frågeställningar var: hur kan bakgrunden till närståendevårdtagarnas vårdval förstås ur ett livsloppsperspektiv? Vad har vårdtagarna för tankar om framtiden? Resultaten visade att valet av närståendevård påverkades av den personliga bakgrunden och relationen till närståendevårdaren, men även av delvis negativa attityder till formell äldreomsorg. Vårdtagarna oroade sig för framtida vårdarrangemang. ”You receive help when you need it” – older informal care recipients’ care choice from a life course perspective Demographic development leads to increasing privatization, marketization and informal care in Finnish eldercare. The theme for this study is informal care. Previous research has focused on caregivers, even though the recipient is also an active part in care. According to the life course perspective, ageing is a lifelong process that takes place in a historical and social context. Seven older informal care recipients have been interviewed using qualitative semi-structured interviews. The aim was to study older informal care recipients’ care choice from a life course perspective. The research questions were: how can the background of the recipients’ care choice be understood from a life course perspective? What are the recipients’ thoughts on the future? The results showed that the care recipients’ choice was affected by personal reasons and the relationship with the caregiver, but also by partly negative attitudes towards formal eldercare. The care recipients worried about future arrangements.

scholarly journals Marital Strain and Support and Subjective Well-Being in Later Life: Ascribing a Role to Early-Life Conditions

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 407-407
Author(s):  
Laura Upenieks ◽  
Yingling Liu
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Process Model ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Life Course Perspective ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
Marital Support ◽  
Lagged Dependent Variable ◽  
The Life Course ◽  
Marital Strain

Abstract Decades of research have the beneficial effects of marital support and the detrimental consequences of marital strain on health and well-being. However, we know relatively less about how circumstances in childhood—a key developmental period of the life course—influence the relational structure in which later life is embedded and any implications this may hold for well-being. We integrate the life course perspective with the stress process model to offer a framework for how childhood conditions (childhood happiness, family structure, and financial strain) moderate the relationship between marital support/strain and subjective well-being in older adulthood in potentially different ways for men and women. The consequences of marital strain may be more severe and the benefits of marital support may not be as strongly felt for those adults who experienced greater adversity during childhood. Drawing on longitudinal data from Waves 2 (2010-2011) and 3 (2015-2016) of the NSHAP project (N = 1,376), results from lagged dependent variable models suggest that marital support buffers the effect of not living with both parents in childhood on subjective well-being for men. Meanwhile, women raised in families that experienced financial hardship reported lower subjective well-being in the context of marital strain in later life. No significant interaction effects were obtained for childhood happiness. Taken together, our findings suggest that adverse experiences in childhood can be scarring, particularly in the context of strained intimate relationships. However, a supportive marriage can, in some cases, offset the effects of childhood hardship on subjective well-being in later life.

scholarly journals A Longitudinal Study of Allostatic Load in Later Life: The Role of Sex, Birth Cohorts, and Risk Accumulation

2018 ◽  
Vol 41 (5) ◽  
pp. 419-442 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ioana van Deurzen ◽  
Bram Vanhoutte
Keyword(s):  
Longitudinal Study ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Allostatic Load ◽  
Later Life ◽  
The Body ◽  
Life Course Perspective ◽  
Birth Cohorts ◽  
Wear And Tear ◽  
The Life Course

Are challenging life courses associated with more wear and tear on the biological level? This study investigates this question from a life-course perspective by examining the influence of life-course risk accumulation on allostatic load (AL), considering the role of sex and birth cohorts. Using biomarker data collected over three waves (2004, 2008, and 2012) of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing ( N = 3,824) in a growth curve framework, AL trajectories over a period of 8 years are investigated. Our results illustrate that AL increases substantially in later life. Men have higher AL than women, but increases are similar for both sexes. Older cohorts have both higher levels and a steeper increase of AL over time. Higher risk accumulation over the life course goes hand in hand with higher AL levels and steeper trajectories, contributing to the body of evidence on cumulative (dis)advantage processes in later life.

scholarly journals Intensive Mothers, Cautionary Tale Fathers: Adult Children’s Perceptions of Parental Influence on Health

2019 ◽  
Vol 41 (3) ◽  
pp. 312-337 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandra Kissling ◽  
Corinne Reczek
Keyword(s):  
Adult Children ◽  
Parental Influence ◽  
Adult Child ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Negative Influence ◽  
Family Systems Theory ◽  
Future Health ◽  
Midlife Adults ◽  
Cautionary Tales

Parents strongly influence children’s health, yet how parents continue to shape the health of midlife adult children remains unknown. Moreover, while most adults are married by midlife, research has failed to identify the effects of parent-in-law relationships on midlife adult well-being. Using interviews with 90 individuals in 45 marriages, we investigate how midlife adults perceive the influence of parents and parents-in-law on adult child health. Findings reveal that particularly mothers and mothers-in-law positively influence child’s health via support during, or in anticipation of, illness and injury. The health experiences of parents and in-laws, particularly fathers/in-law, become cautionary tales preparing adult children for future health issues. Yet parents/in-law also have negative influence on adult children during midlife due to parents’ compounding health needs. We use family systems theory to show how parents/in-laws are intertwined in ways that influence health during children’s midlife that has ramifications into later life.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document