Perceptions by Adult Children of Elderly Parents' Needs

1996 ◽  
Vol 78 (2) ◽  
pp. 571-577 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Halpern ◽  
Mary Ann Shroder ◽  
Maryalice Citera

The purpose of this study was to examine the accuracy of adult children's perceptions of their elderly parents' concerns. Factors associated with moderate involvement between the elderly parent and adult child were predicted to lead to the greatest accuracy. 48 pairs of elderly parents and adult children filled out questionnaires regarding the parents' concerns about seven areas of functioning. Analysis showed that concerns about health and emotional support were rated as most important by elderly parents. Adult children accurately perceived these concerns to be most important to their parents. For health concerns, opposite-sex pairs of parents and children showed greatest agreement. For emotional support concerns, however, both sons and daughters were more accurate predicting their fathers' concerns than their mothers'. Middle-born children tended to be more accurate in their predictions of parents' concerns than oldest or youngest children. Living arrangements also influenced accuracy. In predicting the concerns of elderly parents, adult children were most accurate for parents living in retirement communities, moderately accurate for parents living independently, and least accurate for parents living in the adult child's home. Further, children sharing a household with an adult parent tended to overestimate their parents' concerns on some issues. The results were consistent with the moderate involvement hypothesis. The implications of these results and suggestions for research are discussed.

2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 677-697 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fang Chang ◽  
Yaojiang Shi ◽  
Hongmei Yi ◽  
Natalie Johnson

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the effect of adult children migration on the health status of elderly parents. Increased labor migration in developing countries that lack adequate social security systems and institutionalized care for the elderly is a phenomenon that is important to understand. When their adult children go away to work, it is not clear what effect there will be on “left-behind” elderly parents. Design/methodology/approach This study employs nearly nationally representative data from five provinces, 25 counties, 101 villages and 2,000 households, collected from two waves of data in 2007 and 2011. This sample comprises a subset of households which include both elderly individuals (above 60 years old) and their grown (working-aged) children in order to estimate the impact of adult child migration on the health of elderly parents in rural China. Findings This study finds that adult child migration has a significant positive impact on the health of elderly family members. Practical implications These findings are consistent with the explanation that migration raises family resources, which in turn may contribute to better health outcomes for elderly household members. Originality/value This is the first paper to attempt to identify the relationship between household migration and the health of elderly parents within the Chinese context.


1990 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 179-189 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barry L. Hall

Many acute-care hospital beds are increasingly being occupied by chronically ill older persons. The hospital health-care team must begin to view the family of elderly patient along with their community contacts as an important resource in the delivery of services. A questionnaire was mailed to 27 adult children to determine the type of help they provide to their hospitalized chronically ill elderly parents. The results indicate that adult children are a major resource for the older person. Despite the formal caregiving structures of the hospital the adult child provides the most amount of help in the areas of psychological support, personal care, and bureaucratic mediation services. Not only do adult children provide help to the parent inside the hopsital, but through tasks carried out on behalf of the parent outside of the hospital they are able to maintain the elderly parent's link to their community network. This involvement offers many therapeutic opportunities for professional staff to link hospital resources with the resources of the community-based family.


Author(s):  
Shamsul Azhar Shah ◽  
Nazarudin Safian ◽  
Saharuddin Ahmad ◽  
Wan Abdul Hannan Wan Ibadullah ◽  
Zulkefley bin Mohammad ◽  
...  

Happiness is an essential component to experience healthy ageing. Hence, understanding the factors that contribute to happiness is important. This study aimed to determine the factors associated with happiness among the elderly population in Malaysia. In this study, 1204 respondents were recruited from urban and rural areas in Selangor. A face-to-face interview was conducted using the Bahasa Malaysia version of the Japan Gerontological Evaluation Study questionnaire. The inclusion criteria include Malaysians who are 60-years old and above and can converse in the Malaysian language. Those who encounter less than seven scores for the Abbreviated Mental Test were excluded from the study. Among the 1204 respondents, 953 (79.2%) were happy. Sociodemographic characteristics showed that being a men, age of 60 to 74 years, and living in urban areas were significantly associated with happiness. A logistic regression model showed that locality (aOR 1.61), income category (Bottom 40% aOR 0.49; Middle-class group 40% aOR 1.40), social engagement (active aOR 1.77; less active aOR 1.25), receiving emotional support (aOR 2.11) and handgrip strength (aOR 1.02) were significantly associated with happiness. Thus, ensuring the elderly population in receiving emotional support and active social engagement among them can enhance their happiness level.


2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 117-125 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pelin Önder Erol ◽  
Elif Gün

Purpose A long-established cultural norm of filial piety may cause ambivalent feelings for adult children who are considered the primary caregivers for their elderly parents in Turkish culture, and whose parents have been placed into nursing homes. The purpose of this paper is to provide an insight to the lived experiences of adult children of elderly people living in a nursing home in Turkey. Design/methodology/approach Drawing upon dramaturgical theory and phenomenological methodology, the authors conducted interviews with ten adult children whose elderly parents had been admitted to a nursing home in Izmir, Turkey. Multi-stage purposeful random sampling was used as the sampling scheme. Thematic analysis was performed to interpret the data. Findings Three themes emerged from the data: adult children’s coping strategies, the ways in which the adult children rationalize their decisions, and the ways in which the adult children manage the placement process. The interviews revealed that the adult children often feel like social outcasts and experience a wide range of difficulties, including social pressures, their own inner dilemmas, and negotiations with their elderly parents. Originality/value An exploration for the lived experiences of adult children relating to the nursing home placement of their elderly parents contributes an insight about the well-established cultural norms that produce feelings of ambivalence.


2009 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 108-124 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charlene Harrington ◽  
Taewoon Kang ◽  
Jamie Chang

Abstract This study examined need, predisposing, market, and regional factors that predicted the likelihood of individuals with developmental disabilities living in state developmental centers (DCs) compared with living at home, in community care, or in intermediate care (ICFs) and other facilities. Secondary data analysis using logistic regression models was conducted for all individuals ages 21 years or older who had moderate, severe, or profound intellectual disability. Client needs were the most important factors associated with living arrangements, with those in DCs having more complex needs. Men had higher odds of living in DCs than in other settings, whereas older individuals had lower odds of living in DCs than in ICFs for persons with developmental disabilities and other facilities. Asians/Pacific Islanders, African Americans, and Hispanics were less likely to live in DCs than to live at home. The supply of residential care beds for the elderly reduced the likelihood of living in DCs, and the odds of living in a DC varied widely across regions. Controlling for need, many other factors predicted living arrangements. Policymakers need to ensure adequate resources and provider supply to reduce the need by individuals with intellectual disability to live in DCs and to transition individuals from DCs into other living arrangements.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Azade Safa ◽  
Mohsen Adib-Hajbaghery ◽  
Mahboubeh Rezaei ◽  
Marzieh Araban

Abstract Background After losing their child, elderly parents look for a meaning in this phenomenon. This meaning comes out from their experiences, and their responses to and actions in life are shaped based on this meaning. Therefore, this study was conducted with the aim of “understanding the meaning of losing a child in older adults.” Methods This qualitative study was conducted using conventional content analysis method. Using semi-structured face-to-face interviews, data were collected from 15 older adults who had experienced of losing their adult child. Data analysis was performed according to the steps proposed by Graneheim and Lundman, 2004. To prove the trustworthiness of the data, credibility, dependability, confirmability and transferability were used. Results The age range of participants was between 61 and 83 years and 73.3% of them were female. The two main categories of “tasting the bitter flavor of life” and “searching for a positive meaning in losing a child” together with the theme of “finding hope in the heart of darkness” were extracted from the participants’ experiences. Conclusions Despite the grief of losing a child, which had cast a dark shadow over the parents’ lives, the child’s liberation from worldly sufferings, his/her presence in a better world, and being hopeful about the grace of God had caused the elderly parents to find hope in the heart of darkness. After identifying the parents with a deceased child, they should be helped through psychological counseling and care of the healthcare team so that they can adapt to this situation by finding a positive meaning in losing their child.


1996 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 46-59 ◽  
Author(s):  
GARY R. LEE ◽  
JEFFREY W. DWYER

Several recent studies have concluded that coresidence between aging parents and their adult children is caused by the children's dependency needs, whereas parental characteristics are irrelevant. We argue that these studies are based on samples that contain insufficient proportions of elderly parents who possess the characteristics that eventuate in coresidence. Such elders, however, represent a large and important segment of the elderly population. Data from the National Long-Term Care Survey, a sample of Medicare beneficiaries, indicate that the probability of coresiding with children is elevated by parents' advanced age, failing health, and absence of a spouse. At the same time, children's characteristics (marital status and employment status) are also important predictors of coresidence.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
QINGYUAN XUE ◽  
NOPPHOL WITVORAPONG

Based on three waves of the nationally representative survey conducted in 2005, 2008-2009, and 2011-2012, this study investigates the effect of living arrangements on intergenerational transfers in China. Outcomes of interest include monetary transfers, contact, informal care, and emotional support that adult children provide to older parents. Both actual living arrangements and the discrepancy between actual and preferred living arrangements are considered. Endogeneity bias is accounted for through fixed-effects instrumental-variable regression modeling. It is found that co-residence serves as a substitute for monetary transfers and is positively associated with the probability that parents would receive contact, informal care and emotional support from adult children. Living alone with children in the same city is positively associated with the receipt of monetary transfers and contact by older parents but is not statistically related to the other two outcomes. There is an expressed desire for independent living among older people, which impacts transfer behaviors in a complex manner. This study provides a better understanding of the role of the family amidst ongoing social security reforms in China.


1993 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 257-270 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kwang Chung Kim ◽  
Won Moo Hurh ◽  
Shin Kim

Generation differences between Korean immigrant adult children and elderly parents are examined in terms of their life conditions in the United States. Data for this study were collected through interviewing 622 Korean adult immigrants in the Chicago area in 1986. The life conditions of adult children and elderly parents are inferred from the two groups of respondents: the young and the elderly. The life conditions of these two groups are found to be highly differentiated in terms of their current adult statuses and roles, family-kinship ties, and experiences of Americanization. Implications of the differentiated life conditions of adult children and elderly parents are discussed.


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