RELAÇÃO E CUIDADOS FILIAIS NA VELHICE: CONTRIBUTOS DA ANSIEDADE FILIAL

One of the consequences of an aging society is the growing need for caregivers, particularly informal caregivers. Research suggests that older adults care needs are becoming increasingly a responsibility of adult children. In this context, concepts such as filial maturity and filial anxiety are very useful because they allow us to understand the changes that occur in the relationship aged parents-adult children. Research in this field has gathered evidence that suggest the relevance of filial anxiety for filial care, as it plays an important role in the availability and quality of care provided and it may in advance constrain the ability of the caregiver to provide care. In this context, this study aims to (1) assess filial anxiety in middle-aged Portuguese adult children and (2) explore the relationship of filial anxiety with characteristics of the informal caregivers. Participated in the study 130 adults, aged between 35 and 64 years (M = 50.25, SD = 7.97), with at least one elderly living relative, that were assessed with the Filial Anxiety Scale. The results suggest that women have higher levels of filial anxiety, as well as the less educated adults. These results go in the same direction of the international literature in the field, which seems to strengthen the role of filial anxiety in the quality of filial relationship in adulthood, with strong implications for informal caregivers and for the elderly.Keywords: informal caregivers; filial care; filial anxiety; filial maturityResumo.Uma das consequências de uma sociedade envelhecida é a crescente necessidade de cuidadores, particularmente cuidadores informais. A investigação sugere que as necessidades de cuidados dos adultos mais velhos estão a tornar-se cada vez mais uma responsabilidade dos filhos adultos. Neste contexto, conceitos como maturidade filial e ansiedade filial são muito uteis pois permitem compreender as transformações que ocorrem na relação pais envelhecidos-filhos adultos. A investigação neste âmbito tem reunido evidências que sugerem a relevância da ansiedade filial para os cuidados filiais, na medida em que desempenha um papel importante na disponibilidade e qualidade do cuidado proporcionado, pois pode, antecipadamente, condicionar a capacidade do cuidador informal para cuidar. O presente estudo tem como objectivos (1) avaliar a ansiedade filial em filhos adultos portugueses de meia-idade e (2) explorar a sua relação com características destes cuidadores informais. Participam no estudo 130 adultos de ambos os sexos, com idades compreendidas entre os 35 e os 64 anos (M = 50.25; DP = 7.97) e com pelo menos um familiar idoso vivo, avaliados com a Escala de Ansiedade Filial. Os resultados sugerem que as mulheres apresentam níveis mais elevados de ansiedade filial, assim como os adultos menos instruídos. Estes resultados vão no mesmo sentido dos da literatura internacional no domínio, o que parece reforçar o papel da ansiedade filial na qualidade das relações filiais na vida adulta, particularmente ao nível dos cuidados filiais na velhice, com fortes implicações para os cuidadores informais e os idosos.Palavras-chave: cuidadores informais; cuidados filiais; ansiedade filial; maturidade filial

Intergenerational Solidarity and Satisfaction With Life: Mediation Effects With Emerging Adults

The increasing dependency of emerging adults (EA) on their family of origin and their lower future expectations challenge intergenerational family support exchanges and may affect their impact on satisfaction with life. This study aims to examine the mediation effect of familism, filial maturity, and relationship satisfaction between different directions of support (received, given and anticipated between both) and satisfaction with life. Data was collected through the administration of self-report questionnaires to a convenience sample of 243 EA (18-30 years old) of both genders, students and workers, of different socioeconomic statuses. Results corroborate the mediation effect of the study variables and suggest that the magnitude of this impact depends on the direction of the support: partial mediations are observed for the received support, whereas total mediations are observed for the given support.

Imminent Concerns Of Filial Caregivers Reporting Recent Experiences Of Crisis

The purpose of this descriptive study was to generate information about imminent concerns of adult children that could serve as initial context for development of a meaningful framework for coping with an ongoing parent care situation. Ninety-two adult children pre-selected for self-reports of crisis were interviewed about their concerns and goals for caregiving and asked to discuss experiences of crisis in the previous six months of caregiving. Key issues pertaining to their experiences were extracted from notes of the interviews and classified according to their common properties. Cohen's kappa for interrater reliability of the classifications was .79 while percentage agreement was 98 percent. The results of the study point to the presence of multiple issues pertaining to significant life and death events, relational burdens, early experiences with the family of origin, and focal patterns of distress and coping. Synthesis of the findings reveals overriding concerns for making improvements in one's family of origin, created family of adulthood, and middle-aged self. Findings have implications for experiential adult education in the area of filial maturity and caregiving.

Negotiating Family Relationships: Dementia Care as a Midlife Developmental Task

This article is based on interviews with a 44-year-old woman who exemplified the concepts of filial anxiety and filial maturity. These two concepts were initially defined by Blenkner in 1965, but more recently they were developed into a conceptual framework for understanding adult child caregiving responsibilities. The process of becoming “filially mature” is one of grieving, mourning, and letting go of previously secure rules and regulations about relationships with parents. This adds to a previously mandated imperative of developmental tasks that one must face at midlife (e.g. dealing with mortality). Augmenting these midlife tasks, parent care can be defined as a positive, growth-enhancing experience, versus the burden-stress model that has previously characterized this experience.