Intergenerational Ambivalence, Loneliness, and Well-Being Among Older Adults in the United States

Intergenerational relationships are important sources of informal social support for older people to maintain their emotional well-being. Previous research has extensively investigated the relationship between intergenerational support and older adult’s psychological well-being. However, the existing research has not adequately examined intergenerational ambivalence – mixed or contradictory feelings toward a family member in another generation or explored the mechanism that links intergenerational ambivalence and psychological well-being. Further, most studies are cross-sectional, which prevents us from establishing causality. This study utilized data from 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014, and 2016 waves of Health and Retirement Study (HRS), a national representative sample of U.S. adults aged 50 and more (N= 8,017). Structural equation models were used to examine the longitudinal relationship between intergenerational ambivalence, loneliness, depression, and life satisfaction. The final model indicated very good fit (χ2 = 113.31, p < .0001, CFI = 0.97, RMSEA = .05). The results revealed that ambivalence in older parent-adult child relationships predicted higher subsequent loneliness (β = 0.21, p < .0001), which in turn predicted depressive symptoms (β = 0.25, p <.0001) and life satisfaction (β = -0.30, p < .0001). The results demonstrated that loneliness mediated the relationship between intergenerational ambivalence and depression, and life satisfaction. Multiple group analysis was performed to test whether the study relationships varied by gender. Gender differences were found. Findings have implications for prevention and intervention initiatives targeting improving relationships between parents and children, thereby protecting against mental problems.

Adult Children’s Monitoring, Knowledge, and Intergenerational Ambivalence

Monitoring aging parents' daily life is an essential task for adult children to ensure their parents’ health and safety. The current study examined domains of parents' lives that adult children monitored as caregivers. Based on social domain theory (Smetana, 1999), we hypothesized that adult children would monitor parents’ health and safety issues as respecting parents’ autonomy in other issues. The study also examined how adult children’s belief in need for monitoring and their perception of having actual knowledge of their parents’ behaviors and thoughts would relate to the intensity of their intergenerational ambivalence. Adults who had at least one living parent (N=398, Mage=60, SD=7.7, range 45-77) participated in online surveys. Issues of parents' lives that adult children monitored were categorized into four domains by factor analysis: parents' financial safety, health and physical safety, substance use, and plans with other adult children. A series of regression analyses revealed that adult children's sense of need to know about parents' financial safety was associated with lower ambivalence, B=-.60, SE=.18, β=-.23, p=.001, whereas parents’ physical safety was associated with greater ambivalence, B=.42, SE=.19, β =.17, p=.03. Adult children's perception of their knowledge about parents' financial safety was positively associated with their ambivalence, B=.58, SE=.20, β=.22, p=.004, whereas adult children's perception of parents' physical safety was negatively associated with their ambivalence, B=-.42, SE=.21, β=-.14, p=.05. Different meanings of different types of parents' safety issues for adult children as their caregivers and suggestions for future research will be discussed.

Mothering in later life: Older mothers and their challenging adult children

This study uses constructivist grounded theory to explore older women's responses to the unexpected need to provide financial, emotional and residential support to their adult children who were experiencing problems with mental illness, substance abuse and/or absence of employment. Twenty-nine American women (>60) were interviewed:55 per cent were poor and half were women of colour. Using the theoretical model of intergenerational ambivalence, three types of structural ambivalence are discovered: mothers’ reactions to their adult children's behaviour that violate expectations for reciprocity; women's dismayed reactions to their adult children's aggressive behaviours towards themselves as their mothers; and the women's struggle regarding balancing their role as a mother to protect their adult children alongside their wish and identified needs for self-care. All of the conflicts were expressed within the frame of their role of mother. The internalised mandate to be ‘a good mother’ resulted in many experiencing shame, self-blame and guilt, and this self-blame was an obstacle to reaching out for help. This study adds to the growing body of feminist gerontological research and examines the ideological and structural variables that influence the predominance of female unpaid family care-givers in later life. The dilemma for older women with troubled adult children is both personal and political.

Dominant theoretical approaches to the study of intergenerational family relations

The paper discusses the dominant theoretical perspectives and concepts which aim to explain various aspects of intergenerational family relations. The intention of this paper is to point out the epistemic potentials and some theoretical and methodological problems of these theories. The first part of this paper includes an overview of the basic concepts necessary for the study of intergenerational relations and transfers, as well as the socio-demographic circumstances responsible for the relevance of this topic during the last few decades. Following this, the dominant theoretical approaches and their contributions to this subject will be introduced: namely, the theory of intergenerational solidarity and the theory of intergenerational ambivalence. In the last section of the paper we will present a critical review of these theoretical perspectives.

Men’s Healing Work: Reconciling Intergenerational Ambivalence Through Fatherhood, Letter Writing, and Community

Due to globalization, new ideals of fatherhood are challenging traditional paternal roles in South Korea. Contemporary fathers striving to emulate more engaged parenting sometimes wrestle with painful recollections of their own fathers’ stern, distant, and patriarchal approach. How do men reconcile their aspirations for their own development as parents when conflicted relationships with their fathers? Motivated by the concept of intergenerational ambivalence, this study analyzes letters South Korean men write to their fathers as assigned homework for Father School, an international men’s movement that aims to make men more nurturing. Under Father School direction, men adopt a life course frame that allows them to reconcile their mixed feelings toward their aging fathers. Analysis points to three life course discursive strategies that permit men to balance negative judgments with positive ones: 1) sharing with their parent the life stage as worker and father; 2) appreciating historically-situated differences between twentieth and twenty-first century lives and parenting imperatives; and, 3) drawing on deeply rooted filial norms to take responsibility for their own role in intergenerational conflicts. In addressing how these men manage intergenerational ambivalence, the article moves beyond prior research to extend the concept to father-son dyads, the Asian context, and the neglected meso-level where organizations may actively structure reconciliation.

TYPOLOGY OF FAMILY RELATIONSHIP AND ELDER MISTREATMENT IN A U.S. CHINESE POPULATION

Early research on family relationship and Elder Mistreatment (EM) often focused on one or two indicators of relations. A typology approach that capture the complexity and variation of relations is a useful tool to understand the association between multifaceted family relationship and EM. EM was measured by a modified Vulnerability to Abuse Screening Scale. Latent Class Analysis was used to construct family typologies, evaluating structural, associational, functional, affectual, and normative aspects of family relationship. Logistic regression was used. Unobligated ambivalent (OR, 1.90; 95%CI, 1.54-2.34) and detached (OR, 1.78; 95%CI, 1.32-2.42) typologies were associated with greater risk of EM, while tight-knit (OR, 0.34; 95%CI, 0.27-0.44) typology was associated with lower risk of EM. Unobligated ambivalent typology, featured by high intergenerational closeness and conflict, was prevalent among US Chinese immigrants, and associated with greater likelihood of EM. Culturally customized social services were suggested to reduce intergenerational ambivalence and prevent EM for immigrants.