Parent–Child Relationships and Aging Parents’ Sleep Quality: A Comparison of One-Child and Multiple-Children Families in China

2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (10) ◽  
pp. 1602-1613
Author(s):  
Haowei Wang ◽  
Kyungmin Kim ◽  
Jeffrey A. Burr ◽  
Bei Wu
Keyword(s):  
Sleep Quality ◽  
Sleep Problems ◽  
Instrumental Support ◽  
Sleep Difficulty ◽  
Financial Transfers ◽  
Emotional Closeness ◽  
Older Parents ◽  
Logistic Regression Models ◽  
Parent Child Relationships ◽  
Parent Child

Objectives: This study examined the associations between parent–child relationships and sleep difficulty among older parents in the context of Chinese multiple-children and one-child families. Methods: Using the 2014 China Longitudinal Aging Social Survey, this study analyzed older parents’ ( N = 8,450) reports of sleep quality and relationships with each of children. Results: Results from multivariate logistic regression models showed that living alone, greater variations in children’s financial transfers and emotional closeness, and more instrumental support from children were associated with higher risks of sleep difficulty for Chinese older parents with multiple children. The maximum levels of financial transfers and emotional closeness from all children were related to lower risks of sleep difficulty for parents from multiple-children families, while greater instrumental support from children was associated with higher risks of sleep difficulty for parents from one-child families. Discussion: Findings have implications for support programs for Chinese aging population with sleep problems.

scholarly journals PARENT-CHILD RELATIONSHIPS AND SLEEP QUALITY AMONG CHINESE AGING PARENTS

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S672-S672
Author(s):  
Haowei Wang ◽  
Kyungmin Kim ◽  
Jeffrey Burr ◽  
Bei Wu
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Sleep Quality ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Instrumental Support ◽  
Sleep Difficulty ◽  
Financial Transfers ◽  
Older Parents ◽  
Aging Parents ◽  
Parent Child Relationships ◽  
Parent Child

Abstract Relationships with adult children play an important role in older adults’ well-being. However, little is known about the association between parent-child relations and aging parents’ sleep quality, which is an emerging health issue that is closely related to individuals’ physical and mental well-being in later life. With the largest aging population, China has experienced rapid changes of family structure and traditional norms regarding parent-child ties. This study focused on different dimensions of parent-child relationships (i.e., upward/downward financial and instrumental support, emotional closeness) in Chinese aging families. This study examined the association between parent-child relationships and older parents’ sleep quality, comparing one-child and multiple-children Chinese families. Utilizing the 2014 wave of the Chinese Longitudinal Aging and Social Survey, we analyze data from 8,450 respondents (aged 60+) who had at least one living child. Descriptive analysis showed that parents with multiple children engaged in more intense financial exchanges, less frequent instrumental support, and lower levels of emotional closeness with their adult children compared to their counterparts with only one child. Logistic regression models revealed that older parents who received more instrumental support were more likely to report sleep difficulty in both one-child and multiple-children families. For parents with multiple children, the overall level of financial transfers from children was negatively associated with having sleep difficulties, while the variability of financial transfers across multiple children was positively associated with having sleep difficulty. Findings highlight the importance of considering family dynamics in studying sleep quality among Chinese older adults.

scholarly journals Psychological Pathways Linking Parent-Child Relations to Objective and Subjective Sleep Among Older Adults

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Haowei Wang ◽  
Kyungmin Kim ◽  
Jeffrey A Burr ◽  
Bei Wu
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Depressive Symptoms ◽  
Sleep Quality ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
Emotional Closeness ◽  
Subjective Sleep ◽  
Contact Frequency ◽  
Parent Child Relationships ◽  
Insomnia Symptoms ◽  
Parent Child

Abstract Objectives This study investigated whether older adults with better relationships with their adult children have better subjective and objective sleep quality than older adults with less positive relationships with their children. We also examined whether depressive symptoms and loneliness mediated the association between parent-child relationships and sleep among older adults. Methods Data were used from the second wave of the National Social life, Health, and Aging Project, in which 548 respondents (age 62–90) participated in the sleep survey to measure their actigraph sleep activity for three consecutive days. Respondents also reported sleep quality (i.e., sleep duration and insomnia symptoms), contact frequency, and emotional closeness with their children. Results Results from structural equation modeling showed that greater emotional closeness with children was directly associated with better objective sleep characteristics (i.e., sleep fragmentation and amount of sleep). Also, more frequent contact with children was directly related to fewer insomnia symptoms among older adults. Moreover, emotional closeness with children was indirectly linked to insomnia symptoms via depressive symptoms among older adults. Discussion This study provided evidence for psychological pathways linking parent-child relationships and older parents’ subjective sleep. The findings have implications for health professionals and family counselors who help people with sleep problems and relationship difficulties.

scholarly journals Sleep and daytime problems during the COVID-19 pandemic and effects of coronavirus infection, confinement and financial suffering: a multinational survey using a harmonised questionnaire

BMJ Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (12) ◽  
pp. e050672
Author(s):  
Markku Partinen ◽  
Brigitte Holzinger ◽  
Charles M Morin ◽  
Colin Espie ◽  
Frances Chung ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Logistic Regression ◽  
Sleep Quality ◽  
Regression Models ◽  
Sleep Problems ◽  
Poor Sleep ◽  
Poor Sleep Quality ◽  
Logistic Regression Models ◽  
Excessive Sleepiness ◽  
Adjusted Logistic Regression ◽  
Daytime Function

ObjectivesSleep is important for human health and well-being. No previous study has assessed whether the COVID-19 pandemic impacts sleep and daytime function across the globe.MethodsThis large-scale international survey used a harmonised questionnaire. Fourteen countries participated during the period of May–August 2020. Sleep and daytime problems (poor sleep quality, sleep onset and maintenance problems, nightmares, hypnotic use, fatigue and excessive sleepiness) occurring ‘before’ and ‘during’ the pandemic were investigated. In total, 25 484 people participated and 22 151 (86.9%) responded to the key parameters and were included. Effects of COVID-19, confinement and financial suffering were considered. In the fully adjusted logistic regression models, results (weighted and stratified by country) were adjusted for gender, age, marital status, educational level, ethnicity, presence of sleep problems before COVID-19 and severity of the COVID-19 pandemic in each country at the time of the survey.ResultsThe responders were mostly women (64%) with a mean age 41.8 (SD 15.9) years (median 39, range 18–95). Altogether, 3.0% reported having had COVID-19; 42.2% reported having been in confinement; and 55.9% had suffered financially. All sleep and daytime problems worsened during the pandemic by about 10% or more. Also, some participants reported improvements in sleep and daytime function. For example, sleep quality worsened in about 20% of subjects and improved in about 5%. COVID-19 was particularly associated with poor sleep quality, early morning awakening and daytime sleepiness. Confinement was associated with poor sleep quality, problems falling asleep and decreased use of hypnotics. Financial suffering was associated with all sleep and daytime problems, including nightmares and fatigue, even in the fully adjusted logistic regression models.ConclusionsSleep problems, fatigue and excessive sleepiness increased significantly worldwide during the first phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. Problems were associated with confinement and especially with financial suffering.

scholarly journals Early Intergenerational Relationships and Later Support Provided to Older Parents: Time-to-Death as a Contingency

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 320-320
Author(s):  
Merril Silverstein ◽  
Wencheng Zhang ◽  
Douglas Wolf ◽  
Maria Brown
Keyword(s):  
Intergenerational Relationships ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Test Time ◽  
Mortality Data ◽  
Instrumental Support ◽  
Growth Curve Analysis ◽  
Emotional Closeness ◽  
Older Parents ◽  
Time To Death ◽  
The Family

Abstract This paper focuses on whether stronger relationships with parents early in the family lifecycle results in adult children providing more support to them 45 years later, and whether this association is contingent on parents’ remaining years of life. We test time-to-death of parents as an indicator of vulnerability, an easy to ascertain and potentially powerful predictor of support. Data derived from the Longitudinal Study of Generations, a panel of three-generation families, originally fielded in 1971 and continuing to 2016. Focusing on the youngest generation (mean age = 19 in 1971), the analytic sample consists of 356 child-father relationships 473 child-mother relationships. We examined trajectories of instrumental support provided to parents over four waves between 1997 and 2016 as a function of each parent’s remaining years of life (mortality data from the National Death Index). We also examined variation in those trajectories based on frequency of shared activities and intensity of emotional closeness in 1971. Ordinal multi-level growth curve analysis revealed that proximity to death was a significant predictor of instrumental support provided over time. Only in child-father relationships did greater emotional closeness, as expressed in 1971, produce stronger associations between remaining years of life and provision of instrumental support. Findings are discussed in terms of understanding intergenerational dynamics that unfold over many decades and the utility of time-to-death as an alternative metric for assessing vulnerability. This research is timely in light of growing uncertainty about the family as a reliable source of care in later life, particularly for older men.

Reciprocity in material and time support within parent–child relationships during late-life widowhood

2015 ◽  
Vol 36 (8) ◽  
pp. 1668-1689 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. M. ISHERWOOD ◽  
M. A. LUSZCZ ◽  
D. S. KING
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Social Contact ◽  
Primary Source ◽  
Late Life ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Informal Support ◽  
Instrumental Support ◽  
Spousal Loss ◽  
Parent Child Relationships ◽  
Parent Child

ABSTRACTThe exchange of informal support within the social network plays a vital role in enabling older adults to remain living in the community as they age. Following spousal loss in later life, the exchange of instrumental support is of particular importance in order to meet the practical and financial needs of the bereaved spouse. Adult children are typically the primary source of social contact and informal support for older widowed adults following bereavement. However, very little is known of the longitudinal changes that occur in the exchange of instrumental support with children during the transition to late-life widowhood. Trajectories and predictors of change in material and time support exchange in parent–child relationships were modelled over a 15-year period for 1,266 older adults (mean age 76.7 years). Widowed older adults received more material and time support from their children than their married peers. Proximity to children, age at spousal loss, self-rated health, cognitive functioning and income were predictive of levels of exchanged instrumental support in late-life widowhood. Short-term reciprocity appears to continue in parent–child relationships during late-life widowhood. The implications of the findings for policy and practice are discussed, including the role of children in the support networks of older widowed adults and the potential difficulties faced by those who do not have access to informal avenues of support.

scholarly journals Psychological Pathways Linking Parent-Child Relationships to Subjective and Objective Sleep Among Older Adults

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 579-579
Author(s):  
Haowei Wang ◽  
Kyungmin Kim ◽  
Jeffrey Burr ◽  
Bei Wu
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Depressive Symptoms ◽  
Sleep Quality ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
Subjective Sleep Quality ◽  
Subjective Sleep ◽  
Parent Child Relationships ◽  
Parent Child

Abstract This study investigated whether older adults’ relationships with their children were associated with their self-reported subjective sleep quality and actigraphy-measured objective sleep characteristics, as well as whether depressive symptoms and loneliness mediated the association between these parent-child relationships and sleep. Data were taken from the second wave of the National Social life, Health, and Aging Project, in which 569 respondents (age 57-85) participated in the sleep module, along with the social network module that provided relationship information for participants and their children. Results from structural equation modeling showed that (1) parents’ closeness with children was associated with better objective sleep (i.e., fragmentation of sleep and percent sleep), (2) more frequent contact with children was related to better subjective sleep quality, (3) depressive symptoms and loneliness were associated with worse subjective sleep quality, and (4) less closeness with children were related to worse subjective sleep quality via older adults’ depressive symptoms. Part of a symposium sponsored by the Sleep, Circadian Rhythms and Aging Interest Group.

Within-Family Differences in Parent–Child Relations Across the Life Course

2008 ◽  
Vol 17 (5) ◽  
pp. 334-338 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Jill Suitor ◽  
Jori Sechrist ◽  
Mari Plikuhn ◽  
Seth T. Pardo ◽  
Karl Pillemer
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Social Norm ◽  
Differential Treatment ◽  
Childhood And Adolescence ◽  
Older Parents ◽  
The Life Course ◽  
And Control ◽  
Parent Child Relationships ◽  
Parent Child

Despite a powerful social norm that parents should treat offspring equally, beginning in early childhood and continuing through adulthood, parents often differentiate among their children in such domains as closeness, support, and control. We review research on how parent–child relationships differ within families, focusing on issues of parental favoritism and differential treatment of children. We begin by examining within-family differences in childhood and adolescence and then explore differentiation by older parents among adult children. Overall, we find considerable similarities across the life course in the prevalence, predictors, and consequences of parents' differentiation among their offspring.

scholarly journals Social Isolation and Sleep Quality of Older Adults in China: Do Family and Friendship Isolation Differ?

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 575-575
Author(s):  
Dan Zhang ◽  
Zhiyong Lin ◽  
Feinian Chen ◽  
Shuzhuo Li
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Mental Disorders ◽  
Sleep Quality ◽  
Social Isolation ◽  
Sleep Problems ◽  
Complete Information ◽  
Population Based ◽  
Poor Sleep ◽  
Sleep Difficulty ◽  
Physical Impairments

Abstract This study provides one of the first population-based studies investigating associations between social isolation, especially its two sub-dimensions (family isolation and friendship isolation), and sleep quality among older adults in China. We address three major research questions: 1) Does the risk of poor sleep quality vary by social isolation status? 2) Are the associations between social isolation and sleep quality mediated by mental disorders (depressive symptoms and loneliness) and physical impairments (pain and comorbidity)? and 3) Does the isolation from family members and friends differ in explaining sleep quality? We analyzed data from the 2014 wave of the China Longitudinal Aging Social Survey (CLASS), in which 7,597 respondents (aged 60-98) had complete information on measures of sleep quality (self-rated sleep difficulty), social isolation (using the Lubben Social Network Scale), and other analytical variables. Logistic regression models were estimated to predict the risk of sleep difficulty and Karlson-Holm-Breen (KHB) decomposition method was employed to test potential mediating effects. Results showed that social isolation, both family and friendship isolation, was significantly associated with higher risks of having sleep difficulty. The adverse effect of family isolation was found to be stronger than that of friendship isolation. Although both mental disorders and physical impairments mediated significant shares of associations between social isolation and sleep quality, physical impairments explained a lesser extent of them than mental disorders. These findings will be helpful for health policymakers and practitioners to design effective intervention strategies to help older adults with sleep problems.

scholarly journals Receiving Instrumental Support in Late Parent–Child Relationships and Parental Depression

2014 ◽  
Vol 70 (6) ◽  
pp. 981-994 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maja Djundeva ◽  
Melinda Mills ◽  
Rafael Wittek ◽  
Nardi Steverink
Keyword(s):  
Parental Depression ◽  
Instrumental Support ◽  
Parent Child Relationships ◽  
Parent Child

scholarly journals What Could Interfere with a Good Night’s Sleep? The Risks of Social Isolation, Poor Physical and Psychological Health among Older Adults in China

2022 ◽  
pp. 016402752110651
Author(s):  
Dan Zhang ◽  
Zhiyong Lin ◽  
Feinian Chen ◽  
Shuzhuo Li
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Chronic Diseases ◽  
Social Isolation ◽  
Psychological Health ◽  
Sleep Problems ◽  
Population Based ◽  
Sleep Difficulty ◽  
Logistic Regression Models ◽  
Longitudinal Association ◽  
Socially Isolated

This study provides one of the first population-based investigations of the longitudinal association between social isolation and sleep difficulty among older adults in China. We analyzed three waves of longitudinal data from the China Longitudinal Aging Social Survey (2014–2018), in which 8456 respondents contributed 16,156 person-year observations. Results from multilevel logistic regression models showed that social isolation was related to a higher risk of sleep difficulty. We also found that socially isolated older adults were more likely to report higher levels of depressive symptoms, a greater prevalence of loneliness and pain, and more chronic diseases compared to their socially integrated counterparts, which in turn increased their risks of sleep difficulty. Moreover, socially isolated older adults with chronic diseases were particularly vulnerable to the risk of sleep difficulty. These findings provide helpful guidance for policymakers and practitioners to design effective intervention strategies to help older adults with sleep problems.

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