Family Conflict When Adult Children and Elderly Parents Share a Home

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.

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Family Practices Across Generations and National Borders

Studia Universitatis Babes-Bolyai Sociologia ◽

10.2478/subbs-2018-0015 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 63 (2) ◽

pp. 143-169

Author(s):

Ionuţ Földes ◽

Veronica Savu

Keyword(s):

Adult Children ◽

Family Relationships ◽

Family Members ◽

Spatial Separation ◽

Intergenerational Support ◽

Elderly Parents ◽

Practical Support ◽

Family Practices ◽

And Migration ◽

National Borders

Abstract Part of the mobility and migration process, family relationships and mutual support are subject of various transformations. Spatial separation between family members creates a specific setting for analysis which leads to the necessity of understanding how family practices are arranged and developed across time and distance. The present study focuses on the dyad emigrated adult children and non-migrated elderly parents living in Romania and on the types of intergenerational family practices that occur between these dyads across national borders. Our analysis of family practices relies on tracing certain set of actions taken by family members in order to maintain, consolidate, and ultimately to display family solidarity. We consider here various forms of practices, namely technological mediated contacts, visits, time-consuming practical support and financial assistance. Analyses are based on the national survey entitled Intergenerational solidarity in the context of work migration abroad. The situation of elderly left at home, which provides empirical data about the relationships from a distance between elderly parents living in Romania and their migrant adult children. Descriptive statistics are provided in order to assess the flow directions, the frequency and the intensity of each type of intergenerational support. Our empirical evidence highlights that transnational support is asymmetrical and multidirectional. Results also support that intergenerational support and family relationships can no longer be theoretically approached in terms of a simple dichotomy.

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CHARACTERISTICS OF CAREGIVERS WITH FAMILY CONFLICT

Innovation in Aging ◽

10.1093/geroni/igz038.1809 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽

pp. S487-S487

Author(s):

JoAnna Dieker ◽

Kelsey Bacharz ◽

Kendall Weber ◽

Sara H Qualls

Keyword(s):

Family Environment ◽

Adult Children ◽

Family Conflict ◽

Help Seeking ◽

Well Being ◽

Total N ◽

Present Sample ◽

The Family ◽

Spouse Caregivers ◽

Family Beliefs

Abstract The family environment is often overlooked in caregiver research and assessment, despite having implications for caregiver health and well-being (Zarit et al., 2019). The purpose of the present study was to examine differences on two types of family conflict (beliefs and support) among a diverse sample of caregivers. The present sample consisted of help-seeking (n = 375) and non-help-seeking (n = 415) caregivers (total n = 790). Caregivers filled out the Caregiver Reaction Scale (O’Malley & Qualls, 2017), a multidimensional assessment of the caregiver experience. Results of a 2 (adult children, spouse) x 2 (help-seeking, non-help-seeking) ANOVA indicated that help-seeking caregivers reported significantly more conflict over family beliefs than did non-help-seeking caregivers (M = 1.93 and 1.58, respectively), F(3,606) = 21.10 p < .001. Adult children caregivers reported significantly greater conflict over family beliefs (M = 1.91) than did spouse caregivers (M = 1.60), F(3,606) = 10.66, p < .001. Adult children caregivers also reported significantly greater conflict over family support (M = 1.87) than did spouse caregivers (M = 1.57), F(3,600) = 16.23, p < .001. Results highlight that certain caregiving contexts (e.g., adult children caring for a parent) potentially increase family conflict, which has implications for caregiver burden. Family conflict over beliefs is also related to help-seeking in caregivers. Findings inform appropriate assessment and intervention regarding the family environment in caregiving.

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